Current conversations about children's literacy have focused on the need for more phonics and decoding instruction and have sidelined the importance of children's language development, argues George Hruby. Language development involves more than the ability to decode written language. The ability to understand the meaning of those words is also…

Systematically observing instruction for students with learning disabilities (LD) provides information regarding the quality of school-based interventions, allocation of instructional time, and other implementation variables associated with student outcomes. In this synthesis, observation studies of reading and mathematics instruction from 2000 to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the existing research on early literacy and the types of approaches used in schools at the time of this writing. Although researchers could not agree on which types of reading programs are the most effective, there was a large amount of research supporting the work done in 2000 from the National Reading…

The First Grade Pre-Screening is designed to be used at the start of the first grade school year so that teachers can obtain information about their incoming students. This information is intended to give teachers insight about what math and reading skills a student may or may not have at the beginning of the year. The information can aid teachers…

Fluency is known as the bridge between phonics and comprehension. Teachers of reading provide high-quality instruction in phonics and decoding strategies, usually in a small-group format, but may be unsure how to insert fluency instruction into the small-group lesson. This article presents key concepts in fluency instruction and a description of…

This article explores some of the deficits in our educational system in regard to non-hearing students. It has become agonizingly clear that non-hearing students are being left out of the gallant sweep to enrich our children's educations. The big five areas of literacy, at best, present unique challenges for non-hearing students and, in some…

For a number of students, early failure is highly predictive of later failure, severely limiting the development of skilled reading. Students who do not read fluently generally do not become good readers. In addition, students with inadequate fluency are likely to avoid reading because of fear of failure and negative attitudes--and students who…

"Read Well"[R] is a reading curriculum for kindergarten and first-grade students whose goal is to increase students' literacy abilities. The program provides instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviewed five studies on "Read Well"[R] for English…

This booklet contains over 35 sample student activities designed by teachers to support the development of prerequisite skills for reading comprehension and to offer opportunities for mastery learning. Activities are suggested in the areas of letter/sound relationships, word recognition, experiential concept development, cognitive concept…

The instruction provided by two beginning reading programs (the Ginn 720 and the Palo Alto 1973 reading programs) are analyzed and compared in this paper on the basis of such factors as phoneme-grapheme correspondence and phonics instruction, sight word learning, and the development of reading comprehension. The comparison focuses primarily on the…

CONTAINED IN THE GUIDE IS INFORMATION ON THE BASIC SKILLS TO BE INCLUDED IN ANY INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM IN READING, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GUIDED PROGRAM FOR INDIVIDUAL AND PERSONAL READING, AND ON THE EVALUATION OF A READING PROGRAM. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO HELP EACH CHILD BECOME AS EFFICIENT AND DIVERSIFIED A READER AS HIS ABILITIES PERMIT. NO LESSON…

This paper reviews some of the recent literature from the field of psycholinguistics and relates it to the reading process and to the classroom situation. A brief description of linguistics and psychology is provided, and research studies in the general areas of phonics, comprehension, cultural differences, and pedagogical and diagnostic methods…

Reviews some of the studies, both empirical and theoretical, that seem to illuminate the changes affecting the teaching of reading and writing in this decade. (Author/IRT)

Describes how in the 1960s and 1970s critics of the schools as well as the transitory interests of the schools themselves were the greatest forces for change in basal reader programs. Discusses how current demand for high test scores has influenced those who prepare basal material. (Author/NH)

A second interim report on a reading program for Mexican-American children in an East Los Angeles elementary school notes that reading ability in the primary grades has improved. In January, 1967, the average first grade reading score on the Stanford Reading Test was at the third percentile, whereas in January, 1968, the score was at the eighth…