Describes the successful use of the beginning reading program called Sing, Spell, Read, and Write (SSRW) in Aberdeen (Mississippi) elementary schools. Using a whole language rather than basal reading approach and emphasizing phonics and total immersion, SSRW has been instrumental in dramatically improving achievement test scores and in combating…

Describes how the Centre of Excellence for Literacy and Literacy Education in Nigeria strives to promote reading clubs at the grass-roots level to foster literacy empowerment. Shows how these reading clubs enhance democratic participation and critical thinking. Offers a sample of material for discussion and discussion questions for mature readers.…

Describes an extraordinary experience teaching comprehension strategies to fourth-grade reluctant readers through literature study. Notes how the experience was a fusion of three critical elements: an extraordinary group experience, a text that taught itself, and an instructional model that met the students' needs. (SR)

Explains how one Houston (Texas) educator (Thaddeus Lott) has turned failing schools into laboratories for learning. It describes how Lott used a charter giving him freedom to train staff, develop a curriculum, and make hiring, firing, and promotion decisions at four schools to improve reading and math skills. Concluding comments address the…

Uses excerpts from children's conversations to illustrate talk that occurs in three regular contexts in which struggling readers can work: weekly visits to a day care center where they read to younger children, daily partner reading, and daily inquiry project time. Suggests ways to promote talk in each context that will empower these learners. (SR)

Discusses a project developed at Damiansville Elementary School (Illinois) to improve reading scores on state reading tests and encourage students to improve reading achievement. Topics include funding; the Standardized Tests for Assessment of Reading; the Accelerated Reader program; planning; the role of the library; and community participation.…

Examines the extent to which fostering learning communities can improve literacy skills. Shows possibilities for improvements in writing and reading by fostering a community of learners that focuses on scientific inquiries using computer technology, and that learning communities can enhance the reasoning, problem solving, and learning strategies…

Describes the specific aspects of a collaborative project designed to encourage teen parents to read to their children and discusses how various organizations were involved. Includes a bibliography of children's books and support materials purchased for the program. (NH)

Describes a program in which preservice teachers served as tutors for at-risk first, second, and third graders in a tutorial model incorporating play and phonological awareness activities using puppets and comprehension strategy instruction using manipulatives. Finds that the program improved reading achievement for children at the first grade…

This practicum project developed and implemented a program to teach young children reading readiness skills before they entered first grade. A target group of 20 students ranging in age from 4 to 6 years old in an elementary school kindergarten class was established for the program. During the 12-week implementation, the target group participated…

A privately funded project that placed reading aides in the first three grades of the public schools was initiated in a rural county of Mississippi. The program provided a paraprofessional assistant reading instructor who worked under the direction of a classroom teacher to strengthen and enrich children's work in small groups or in an educational…

Migrant children who move constantly have trouble establishing a firm academic foundation. Poor readers experience problems in other learning situations, which in turn, have a marked impact on their self-esteem. The Early Reading Intervention program, a pilot project at San Joaquin Elementary School in Fresno County, California, targeted…

This program was developed and implemented to help students in the secondary school vocational area raise their reading test scores and reading comprehension through the use of the Individualized Manpower Training Systems (IMTS) lab. The program's aims were to increase the reading comprehension percentage scores on major tests and to assist the…

A description is provided of 12 reading skills strategies that were developed as part of a Reading across the Curriculum project to help students bridge the gap between their reading levels and the reading level of their textbooks. Following introductory information on the Reading across the Curriculum project, the 12 strategies are explained and…

A supplemental instruction program was designed to assist students in mastering course concepts and to increase student competence in reading, reasoning, and study skills. Supplemental leaders, upper division students whose course competency has been certified by course instructors, attend course lectures where they take notes and complete…