In the fall of 2001, a local middle school decided to implement a new elective course. This course was designed to assist struggling middle school readers in acquiring the reading proficiency that would be required to succeed in higher level course work. Students remained in their regular English classes, but devoted the elective period that their…

Numerous studies have focused on attitudes toward reading and how to measure such attitudes. The present study examined the effects of both the survey format and the reading abilities of 82 sixth graders at a middle school in McDuffie County, Georgia. Since all of the students had taken the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, the language arts composite…

This report describes a program for enhancing reading comprehension and vocabulary development through the use of multiple instructional strategies and technology. The targeted elementary population exhibits both poor reading comprehension and poor vocabulary acquisition and understanding, which interfere with academic achievement. Evidence for…

A study was conducted to determine and compare the literacy beliefs, knowledge bases, and practices of early childhood educators who espouse emergent literacy and reading readiness philosophies; to explore the relationship among beliefs, knowledge bases, and practices; and to examine the degree to which beliefs, knowledge bases, and practices were…

A study determined the perceptions of Indiana public school superintendents regarding their role in influencing the development of a community of readers in Indiana middle-grades schools. In 1993-94, subjects, 292 out of a total of 297 public school superintendents, completed surveys related to 10 selected reading issues, including students'…

A practicum targeted a need to develop and improve student attitudes toward reading for fun and pleasure. The target group was 30 second-grade pull-out Chapter 1 reading students identified as primarily non-leisure-time readers based on a student/teacher interview questionnaire. A pre- and post-reading attitude survey was administered. Parents of…

This practicum was designed to provide low-achieving first graders with the opportunity to improve their concept of what a word is and motivate children to become more enthusiastic about the reading process. Cooperative learning, cross-age tutoring, and skill-oriented instruction were utilized in the classroom during the 3-month period to…

A program to improve sixth through eighth grade underachieving students' reading comprehension was developed. Students were identified by comparing their anticipated and actual national percentile scores on the Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS) and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). A survey of students' reading behavior, a review of…

A program was designed to improve the progress of average and below average readers in a first-grade, a second-grade, and a sixth-grade classroom in a multicultural, multi-social economic district located in a three-county area northwest of Chicago, Illinois. Classroom teachers noted that students were having difficulty making adequate progress in…

A year-long study determined the long-term effects of a comprehensive learning approach to elementary reading and writing instruction on students' achievement, attitudes, and metacognitive awareness. Subjects, 529 students in 29 second- through sixth-grade classes in a suburban Maryland school district, participated in the Cooperative Integrated…

A practicum developed and implemented an integrated reading program to raise reading vocabulary and comprehension scores and reading attitudes in a fourth-grade classroom. A classroom of 23 students was used to implement the program. A standard diagnostic test was used to record pre- and post-test scores in vocabulary and comprehension, and a…

The effectiveness of using volunteer reading tutors to work with students with reading difficulties was examined. Changes in academic engaged time, active responding time, achievement, and student attitude were assessed, along with information from tutor evaluations. Nine intervention and 8 control students (grades 3-5) with mild handicaps…

This study describes a program designed to improve reading achievement. The targeted population consisted of primary and middle school students in two communities in northern Illinois. Both communities were suburbs of a major metropolitan area and the status of family incomes ranged from low to middle levels. Evidence for the existence of the…

A month-long study examined students' attitudes toward aspects of a specific reading workshop based on the whole language theory of instruction. Of the 23 students in a fifth-grade classroom, 11 became part of the experimental group who participated in the process which incorporated four primary aspects of language arts: reading, writing,…

A program was designed to improve reading comprehension of first-grade students in one school and second-grade students in another school of an urban neighborhood school district in a medium-sized midwestern city. The problem has been addressed both at the district level and the building level, although scores in reading comprehension have…