Although numerous studies have reported the predictive power of various factors for academic performance in regular students, little is known about the predictive power of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN). In the present study, we investigated the relative importance of thoroughly selected factors like prior performance, intelligence,…

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, control group design study was to investigate the effects of Response to Intervention (RtI) and computer-based programs on addressing literacy acquisition skills. This study is important because there is an inordinate number of students who are designated as requiring special…

Each year, all Australian students in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit nationwide large-scale tests in literacy and numeracy which have their validity frequently questioned. We compared the performance of grade 3 twins on these large-scale reading tests with their performance on three individually administered literacy tests in comprehension, word reading…

Teachers' skill in inferring students' reading motivation influences their ability to provide responsive literacy instruction. Yet, studies show that convergence between students' and teachers' reports of students' affective experience with reading is moderate to poor. The present study, with a sample of 140 students, and 15 middle school…

In 2012, the Ministry of Education, Afghanistan, engaged the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) as a partner to support the development of a national learning assessment program in Afghanistan. To achieve this goal, the Learning Assessment unit of the Ministry of Education and ACER have collaborated to design and implement the…

The middles grades are critical to public school systems and our nation's economy. It's the make-or-break point in students' futures. Studies repeatedly show when students are not engaged and lose interest in the middle grades, they are likely to fall behind in ninth grade and later drop out of school. When this happens, the workforce suffers, and…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to examine middle and high school students' perceptions of the relationship between their Biblical literacy practices and academic performance (i.e. grades, test scores, reading ability) and academic success (i.e. attendance, behavior, motivation, goals, decision-making) according to…

Catch Up® Literacy is a structured one-to-one literacy intervention for pupils between the ages of 6 and 14 who are struggling to learn to read. It teaches pupils to blend phonemes (combine letter sounds into words), segment phonemes (separate words into letter sounds), and memorise particular words so they can be understood without needing to use…

The ability to read is well-recognized as essential to being successful in school history. To be able to read history textbooks effectively, students can be made aware of some features typical of history discourse. Knowledge of how nominal groups are functional in history discourse can help students and teachers engage with the meanings presented…

In order to systemically improve student achievement in elementary literacy, a large urban school district partnered with a local university to develop a model for high-quality professional development that hopefully would result in long-term changes in teachers' literacy instructional/practices. Schools were selected based on their Adequate…

Every assessment is a literacy test. It matters not whether the content is science, social studies, or mathematics; if students are not able to make sense of the words, their ability to decipher the meaning of the assessment questions is suspect. Comprehending the language of a task becomes even more important as educators strive to move the…

The author works as an academic adviser and adjunct instructor at a small, public, four-year university that provides the usual spread of bachelor's degree programs, as well as several master's degrees. He has done similar work at a private liberal arts college and at a branch campus of a large state school. He brings to this work not only a PhD…

A study involving 147 Missouri school districts serving students with visual impairments found that 77% who were identified as print readers, Braille readers, or print and Braille readers were reading at or above grade level. Of the 127 who were Braille readers, 57 were reported to perform grade-level activities. (Contains 4 references.) (CR)

Six years ago the late Commissioner of Education, James Allen, proclaimed the "Right-to-Read" as the educational target of the current decade. The object of this program was to develop reading skills among Americans lacking such skills. An evaluation of that program was presented. (Author/RK)

Most Americans oppose establishing a set of universally required texts--not because creating a core curriculum is inherently undemocratic, but because it's an un-American idea. The Chall curve shows graphically what is at stake in teaching literate culture to everyone. (MLW)