Promulgates definitions of instructional maze and cloze procedures, clarifies the basic facets of the techniques, and discusses both the instructional and diagnostic functions of each. (FL)

Reviews information about three major dimensions along which phonics measures vary: (1) group v individual administration, (2) production response (say or write) v recognition response, and (3) the stimuli or materials used to evaluate phonics. (HOD)

Compared the rate of literacy acquisition in orthographically transparent Welsh and orthographically opaque English using reading tests that were equated for frequency of written exposure. Year 2 English-educated monolingual children were compared with Welsh-educated bilingual children, matched for reading instruction, background, locale, and math…

Measured both reading speeds and comprehension in two groups of learners exposed to intensive and extensive reading programs. The extensive group was exposed to a regime of graded readers, while the intensive group studied short texts followed by comprehension questions. Results indicate that subjects exposed to extensive reading achieved both…

Mounting pressure in the policy arena to improve teacher productivity either by improving signals that predict teacher performance or through creating incentive contracts based on performance--has spurred two related questions: Are there important determinants of teacher productivity that are not captured by teacher credentials but that can be…

Reading Recovery is part of the Every Child a Reader strategy to enable children to make a good start in reading. Reading Recovery is well known to have impressive effects in the shorter term, but less is known about its long-term effectiveness. The present study followed up at the end of Year 4: 120 comparison children, 73 children who had…

A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted of Gordon, Kane, and Staiger's (2006) proposal to raise student achievement by identifying and replacing the bottom quartile of novice teachers, using value-added assessment of teacher performance. The cost effectiveness of this proposal was compared to the cost effectiveness of voucher programs, charter…

A study answered the question: are there significant differences in scores for two forms of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, Third Edition? Subjects, 23 fifth graders, were given Forms K and L, Level 5/6, of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. The tests were administered by the regular classroom teacher in two testing sessions. Students were…

Attempts to determine whether three reading tests made separate contributions to a placement and diagnostic system developed for an open admissions municipal community college. (Author/DEP)

Discusses a study of the readability of the prose passages of the General Educational Development (GED) Test in comparison with high school texts, adult reading materials, and commercial GED tests. (JOW)

Seven passages of a published reading comprehension test were administered to college students to compare the regular multiple choice test scores with scores on two forms of a cloze test and with readability formula values. (HOD)

Reports on introspective and retrospective accounts from test takers, in an attempt to examine the validity of reading and test-taking "skills." It is noted that there are clearly certain skills or processes involved in answering test items in a particular format that are not necessarily specified by the test writer. (15 references) (GLR)

Compares reading-disabled students' instructional levels yielded by the Ekwall Reading Inventory and the Metropolitan Achievement Test. Finds that both instruments provide instructional-level designations to help place students in appropriate materials but little correspondence between the instructional levels of the two measures. Suggests that…