This digest investigates seven of the most prevalent and damaging myths about literacy in the United States. In response to various claims about American elementary and secondary students' test score declines in reading achievement, the author interprets data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the International…

Reading/writing skills of prospective elementary and secondary school teachers from 7 colleges located in 4 geographical areas of the United States were examined to discover what test-performance differences, if any, occurred among the 375 subjects. Test instruments included: the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Form D); a Criterion-Referenced Test of…

A collection of four years worth of data analyzing reading discrepancies for the Cleveland (Ohio) Public Schools is contained in this report, the fourth in a series addressing this issue. An introduction notes that data were gathered to determine the nature and extent of disparities in the reading test scores of elementary and secondary school…

A study was conducted to determine if knowledge of the purposes of written language facilitated reading achievement in preschool children. The study also compared the performance of boys and girls to determine if boys' generally poorer reading abilities could be related to differences in print awareness. Scores from the comprehension subtest of…

To examine the effects of the language experience approach (LEA) on beginning reading achievement, a study analyzed five projects conducted as part of the United States Office of Education first grade studies and 32 additional studies comparing basal reading approaches to LEA. Using two methods of quantitative synthesis (vote-counting and…

The IBM Writing to Read program for children in kindergarten and first grade uses computers with voice output and IBM selectric typewriters to encourage writing and hence reading development. A study examined whether increased writing activity without the use of the technology would produce similar gains in reading. A classroom from the IBM…

A study was conducted to assess the effect of contrasting mastery learning procedures on the reading achievement of high and low ability students. Subjects were 48 high and 40 low ability first grade students randomly assigned to either a typical commercial basal reading series mastery treatment or an alternative mastery learning treatment that…

To find an area of weakness in disabled readers that might profitably be strengthened, the level of language development of disabled secondary readers was compared with that of competent secondary readers. The group of disabled readers used in the study consisted of 20 high school students in a corrective reading class; the comparison group…

A small-scale investigation of the school performance and progress of Mexican Americans in Colorado during the 1970's indicated that the overall achievement pattern was similar to one noted for Hispanics nationally and in the Southwest: a consistently low and regularly decreasing performance in standardized tests of math and reading after grade…

This paper discusses an investigation that compared college students' reading gains when using general or specific diagnosis. It reports that significant gains were made on many subskills of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test by the group that had the prescriptions developed as a result of a differential (specific) diagnosis and that there were…

This minireport deals specifically with one classroom environment variable, the physical structure of the classroom as an open-space or a self-contained room. The data for the analyses were drawn from 190 primary grade classes (grades 1-6) and 182 intermediate grade classes (grades 4-6). Classes were analyzed as units, using class means. A total…

A study was conducted to measure the effect and compare the results of developmental reading instruction for college students as prescribed from the specific results of a diagnostic reading test and a general, more traditionally used, survey reading test. The sample consisted of 226 students enrolled in different sections of a reading course…

THE FOURTH-GRADE READING PROGRAMS IN 285 PUBLIC, PAROCHIAL, AND PRIVATE RHODE ISLAND SCHOOLS WERE SURVEYED TO IDENTIFY THE POLICIES, PROGRAMS, MATERIALS, PERSONNEL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT PRIMARY GRADE READING INSTRUCTION. STATE-TESTING-PROGRAM SCORES WERE USED TO COMPARE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 20 READING TREATMENTS. A QUESTIONNAIRE…

THIS STUDY EVALUATED THE EFFECTS OF A BASAL READER PROGRAM, A MODIFIED LINGUISTIC APPROACH, AND A LINGUISTIC READER PROGRAM AS MEASURED BY THE READING ACHIEVEMENT OF 469 CHILDREN IN 21 CLASSES AT THE END OF FIRST GRADE. ACHIEVEMENT COMPARIONS WERE ALSO MADE ON THE BASES OF (1) SEX, (2) INTELLIGENCE, AND (3) RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN READING READINESS…

During the 1979-80 school year, California public school students in grades 3, 6 and 12 were tested in the basic skills of reading, written expression, and mathematics. Complete statewide results of this California Assessment Program (CAP) are presented, including the following features that have become standard: (1) detailed findings including…