With some children, teachers can't work the usual way; they have to do strange things. By accepting his hatred, using military manuals as textbooks, and employing an unorthodox reward system, the author helped a difficult child learn to read at his grade level. (MT)

Describes the Arkansas Comprehensive School Reform Model, which focuses on staff development and a collaborative support system for teaching reading in the elementary grades. Reports that preliminary results indicate an average increase of at least 20% on standardized testing scores for students in model classrooms. (NB)

Describes a six-trait reading model called the TRAITS of an Effective Reader that provides a reading assessment framework for classrooms, schools, and school districts. Explains trait-based reading assessment and discusses the six traits that make up this model: conventions, comprehension, context, interpretations, synthesis, and evaluation. (NB)

A study examined the effects of teacher questioning and student prediction (purpose-setting procedures) upon the reading comprehension of 188 students in grades 3 through 6. Thirty-two constructed-answer questions were developed for use with an article about kangaroos, written in an expository style and approximately 900 words in length. Half of…

Describes an experiment indicating that having students write expressively on a regular basis could significantly improve their reading comprehension and enhance their attitudes toward themselves and toward reading and learning. Discusses implications of these results for the classroom and curriculum. (HTH)

Suggests that prior to teaching reading skills all staff need to agree on a set of labels and determine how they will teach those skills in the classroom. Offers specific strategies for music and art teachers that can be used by any teacher. (NB)

Tells a story of children with learning problems responding to scientific inquiry while practicing their literacy learning in ways their teachers never anticipated. Notes the students exhibited greater focus, more positive interactions, and a sustained interest. Suggests that the children not only learned scientific concepts, but also had many…

Research based teaching strategies for improving the reading comprehension of mildly handicapped students include identifying learning goals, breaking goals into simpler units, ordering instruction developmentally, and teaching the use of metacognitive strategies for reading. (CB)

A basic concept in reading content in the social studies is for pupils to experience adequate background information. A pupil cannot read and understand new subject matter unless prerequisites have been met. For early primary grade pupils, the Big Book concept may be used, wherein the teacher discusses the illustration in the book pertaining to…

A study focused on designing and implementing a reading program based on modified Reading Recovery programs. The student selected to be worked with made excellent gains and was the second strongest reader of all students observed in the study. Without question, the student functioned at a level equal to the middle of the class and her learning…

This guide describes "Parent Power," a program designed to help parents help their children become better readers. The guide makes such suggestions as pre-reading the book before reading it to children; reading about a variety of subjects; and showing children the importance of reading by parents reading and modeling the reading process…

Discusses the evolution of programs at the Benchmark School (where, for almost 30 years, children with severe reading difficulties have learned to read). Addresses students' difficulties reading narrative text, expressing ideas in writing, content area reading, learning sight words and decoding, understanding how to learn, applying strategies…

Developed by a team of teachers, parents, school board members, community representatives, patrons, and Idaho State Department of Education specialists, this skill-based scope and sequence guide suggests target skills and offers sample assessment methods for use in reading instruction by teachers of grades K-6. The guide's purpose is to help build…

Effects of training in thinking aloud on the development of reading skills were examined for 64 sixth graders in 2 Finnish towns. Trainees adopted five of seven text processing strategies they were taught and were most responsive when the trainer modeled thinking aloud and guided students in the activity. (SLD)

Part of an investigation of the effectiveness of Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) Chapter 1 reading programs, this document reports on a study of 699 second and fourth grade students in Chapter 1 programs in Iowa. An introduction notes that the study was conducted to discover instructional characteristics that affect student…