This study aims to expand our understanding of the relations of oral reading fluency at word, sentence, and passage levels to reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking secondary school-aged students. In total, 80 participants (46 males and 34 females) ranging from 13 to 15 years old joined this study and were tested on tasks of oral reading…

A common belief underlying the dimensional comparison theory is that reading self-concept has a positive relation to reading achievement but a negative relation to math achievement. However, this belief is incomplete and potentially misleading as supporting evidence is usually derived from studies without simultaneously considering the mediated…

The United States Agency for International Development, World Vision, and the Australian government established All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD) to address problems that prevent children from gaining foundational reading skills. ACR GCD mobilizes the private sector, academia, and nongovernmental organizations in…

This study examines the hypothesis that having an older sister causes one to perform relatively better at reading. For the analysis, a cross-subject analysis is conducted to examine a student's relative reading test score (reading test score minus math test score) based on older sibling gender. We found that a student's relative reading test score…

Using a rich dataset that merges student-level school records with birth records, and leveraging three alternative identification strategies, we explore how increase in access to charter schools in twelve districts in Florida affects students remaining in traditional public schools (TPS). We consistently find that competition stemming from the…

High-level literacy skills are required for full participation in the democratic process through voting. Consequently, adults with low-level literacy skills are at a disadvantage. This work investigated the disparity between the readability of U.S. ballot propositions for year 2022 state elections and grade level reading estimates ([less than or…

There is consensus that, for student achievement, teachers matter. However, providing reliable research evidence for the effects of observable teacher characteristics, such as qualification measures, has been difficult. The current study uses panel data based on register information from teachers and students to estimate effects of teacher…

In the past decade, teachers and researchers have recognized the vital role school climate plays in the public school setting in the United States (Thapa, Cohen, Guffey & Higgins-D'Alessandro, 2013). One of the greatest indicators of achievement is the relationship between school and student socioeconomic status (Sirin, 2005). According to…

Background: Rapid growth in early childhood device usage has raised critical questions about the potential impact of digital storybooks on children's reading outcomes. The current study examined how two types of multimedia animations in digital storybooks -- animations of storyline elements or details in the illustrations -- influenced the story…

This paper presents the results from a randomized controlled trial of Chapter One, an early elementary reading tutoring program that embeds part-time tutors into the classroom to provide short bursts of 1:1 instruction. Eligible kindergarten students were randomly assigned to receive supplementary tutoring during the 2021-22 school year (N=818).…

Early literacy is a key developmental milestone for succeeding in school, yet far too many children in America, particularly the most socially vulnerable, are not meeting this key milestone. For example, NAEP data from 2013 shows that over 80% of Black and Latinx students are below proficient in reading by the end of fourth grade, as compared to…

Despite decades of prior research, the mechanisms of skilled reading development remain elusive. Numerous studies have identified word recognition and oral language ability as key components to explain later reading comprehension performance. However, these components alone do not fully explain differences in reading achievement. There is ongoing…

In this brief, we use a nationally representative sample of ever-English learners (ELs; N = 783) to examine relations between EL concentration within classrooms and reading growth between kindergarten and Grade 5. Piecewise growth models were used to estimate relations for four developmental periods (K-1, Grades 1-2, Grades 2-3, and Grades 3-5).…

In this article, the authors sought to discover if participation in formal debate programs translates into better academic achievement and attainment for students. First, individual debaters' reading and math test scores over time were looked at and students were compared to themselves in years when they did and did not participate in debate. The…

Aiming to verify the predictive value of oral narrative structure on reading acquisition, we followed 253 children (first and second graders) during an entire school year, assessing oral narratives and reading performances in five sessions. Transcriptions of oral narratives were represented as word-recurrence graphs to measure connectedness…