Presents guidelines for use in examining the comprehensibility of a textbook, questions to ask about the book, and suggestions for using the guide questions. (FL)

Argues that many children have difficulty learning school mathematics because its abstract and formal nature is much different from the intuitive and informal mathematics the children acquire. Begins by differentiating form and understanding and then focuses on young children's beginning skills and older children's knowledge. Concludes by…

Discusses the importance of determining the reading difficulty of vocational materials. Explains how to determine the readability of materials, using the FORECAST Readability Formula, presenting guidelines on how to select sample passages, apply the Formula, and analyze the data. An example showing the Formula's use is provided. (LRA)

This executive summary reports particulars concerning the development of guidelines and strategies for training preservice and inservice elementary school educators about parent involvement, and provides a copy of the training materials. After a brief introduction, major recommendations from previous research on parent involvement training for…

This extensive review of research on the development of print materials covers text readability, structure of the prose, and organizational and format features of the text. Practical guidelines for developing textual materials that can be supported by empirical research are also presented. Conclusions are then drawn from the literature, and areas…

Proposes four guidelines to help educators evaluate vocabulary instruction: (1) instruction should help students relate new vocabulary to their background knowledge, (2) instruction should help students develop elaborated word knowledge, (3) instruction should provide for active student involvement, and (4) instruction should develop students'…

Listening skills are the most used and least taught of the communication skills. However, in 1978 the United States federal government, through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, added listening and speaking to reading, writing, and arithmetic as determinants of literacy and needed basic competencies. Through the 1978 legislation, funds…

Discusses elements other than reading level that can affect ease of understanding vocational materials. Groups these elements into four major areas: (1) vocabulary, (2) sentence structure, (3) organization (the way sentences are arranged into paragraphs), and (4) relevance (the way the author relates the topic to the reader's experience). (LRA)

The National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP) is a collaborative effort that is conducting research to make large-scale assessments of reading proficiency more accessible for students who have disabilities that affect reading. There are two projects that comprise the NARAP partnership, Designing Accessible Reading Assessments (DARA)…

Elaborated as a response to a traditional set of secondary school poetry examinations that are called "sterile and outmoded," this report resulted from a series of seminars held in England by literature educators. The report offers extensive guidelines for modernizing the exams, examples of student critical writing about particular poems, and…