New technologies have had a large and transformative impact on education. This study explored the benefits of a comprehensive, computer-adaptive reading program for the literacy skills of young learners. Second grade students enrolled in a public school district used a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program and were evaluated at the beginning…

This paper details how a 7-month reading-focused professional development initiative, centered on the assessment-to-instruction cycle, supported teachers' growth by combining small group sessions with related individualized literacy coaching. Analysis of participants' experiences revealed the significance of differentiated professional learning in…

The purpose of this session is to describe a research project that involved preservice teacher education candidates in a field experience incorporating individualized tutoring for at-risk elementary students. Specifically, do these struggling elementary readers improve their reading? The first and second graders (n = 190) were all given the…

Using an experimental research design, this project investigated the effects of teacher read-alouds when students did, and did not, have access to companion texts. Based on Connectionist theory, the researchers hypothesized that students in the Companion Text group would outperform students in the Listen Only group on the three examined variables:…

This study examined the effects of desegregation on the achievement scores of second grade students in Louisville, Kentucky, who participated in the system's desegregation plan. The Stanford Achievement Tests were administered to students at the end of first grade to determine achievement levels in reading and mathematics. At the end of second…

Twenty second grade students were tested to determine the possible relationships between concrete operations and reading and between cognitive clarity and reading achievement. The subjects performed six Piagetian conservation tasks and four tasks on cognitive clarity. Reading achievement was based on student records. The data on the relationship…

A study investigated whether predictions of reading achievement could be improved by studying the relative contributions of alphabetic knowledge and invented spelling over time. Subjects, 38 upper middle-class children enrolled at an elementary school in the Midwest, were administered an alphabetic knowledge task (measuring letter names and letter…

A study examined the effects of teacher feedback on the oral reading performance of nine low-ability second grade readers. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment sequence conditions. A single-subject format was incorporated by using a Latin Square design for presenting the three treatment conditions--graphophonemic immediate,…

Progress in a primary-grade reading program was determined for 106 first-born, second-grade students at the end of the school year. Previous data available for this sample included Thomas-Chase-Birch temperament ratings, family intactness and socioeconomic status at age four, and Metropolitan Readiness Test scores at age six. The value of these…

In this study, 100 second graders from a midwestern city were given an oral syntax test which measured seventeen syntactic competencies and a parallel written syntax test. Metropolitan reading and Slosson intelligence tests were also administered. Significant relationships between syntax attainment and reading achievement (R = .70) and between…

A longitudinal study was conducted to compare the reading achievement of students involved in the Right-to-Read Project with that of those not involved in the project. Specifically, to assess the long term effects on pupils whose parents participated in a program stressing parent involvement in the learning process, measures of the achievement of…

A study examined the relationship between sex differences and the development of reading proficiency, specifically investigating if sex differences related to achievement on measures of silent reading comprehension, sight vocabulary, recognition of vocabulary in context, and use of structural analysis in word recognition taken separately or in…

First and second graders (n=285) received one of three types of classroom reading programs: (1) direct instruction in letter-sound correspondence; (2) less direct instruction in sound-spelling patterns; and (3) implicit instructions in the alphabetic code while reading connected text. Results show advantages of reading programs that emphasize…

Two separate research methodologies, quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis, were employed to determine the differences in second grade children on method of reading instruction. Fifty children in two classrooms from one school in North Carolina were subjects. One of the two teachers employed a literature based methodology, while the…

Two studies investigated the role of phonological activation in children's silent reading and listening comprehension. The first study addressed the interaction of reading skill level and phonological sensitivity. Subjects, 32 second-grade students, read eight short passages (four rhymed and four not rhymed) and chose one picture (out of three…