The overlap between reading subtests of four individual achievement tests and five basal reading curricula for grades 1-5 were examined. Results showed that little overlap exists between what is taught and what is tested with degree of overlap varying considerably across tests and curricula. (Author/DB)

The purpose of this study was to determine if differences in the ability to prioritize information located in texts exists for 75 third- and 62 fifth-grade students of various reading achievement levels. Results are discussed, and implications for instruction are considered. (Author/MT)

Reports on a program that used older adults to tutor children in reading. Finds that the children made significant gains in reading as a result of the program. (FL)

Reviews 32 studies about the utility of the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (BG) as a predictor of reading, its relationship to reading achievement, and ability to differentiate between good and poor readers. Results question the use of the BG (scored using discrete error systems) in a diagnostic reading battery. (BH)

This issue of a monthly serial publication of the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP), which is available only online in PDF Format, examines efforts underway in Colorado, Maryland, and Montgomery County, Maryland to increase student achievement in reading (related to Goal 3 of the NEGP). After an overview, it discusses Colorado's efforts to…

Study of 366 sixth-grade children of enlisted Air Force personnel showed that mobility had no adverse effect on their reading achievement and, on the contrary, may have contributed to their reading proficiency. (NH)

A study designed to replicate work by Kirby and Das (1977) studying differences between learning disabled (102) and normal children (99) essentially supported the earlier research in terms of factor structure and relationship of simultaneous and successive processing to reading and IQ. In both groups, structures and relationships were similar.…

Results indicated that the mothers of LD children attributed successes less to ability and more to luck, while attributing failures more to a lack of ability and less to bad luck. (Author)

A study of elementary school children revealed their awareness of skimming techniques and their ability to skim when explicitly instructed to do so. Spontaneous skimming was most clearly observed in 8th grade students, which indicated that the development of the use of skimming is an increasing integration of various pieces of knowledge. (JD)

A systematic, coherent reading program leads to improvement in the achievement of an entire elementary school. (DD)

Presents and discusses seven questions (generated by students in a graduate reading assessment and evaluation course) that form the "nitty-gritty" of what is really important when doing a case study on a child in reading/language arts. (RS)

Suggests measures of the reading-related variables are so closely connected that highly reliable measures of spelling level and word attack level for a student could be used to estimate or predict the student's levels of reading, listening, and word identification, and highly reliable measures of reading level and word identification level for a…

Explores the issues of equity and assessment in the context of classroom literacy settings. Defines classroom reading assessment and equity. Discusses (1) the promise classroom reading assessment can hold for teachers striving to assure equity; (2) what teachers can do in their classrooms to translate the promise of equity into reality; and (3)…

Uses picture-word interference tasks to examine the relationship between reading achievement and the automatic recognition of familiar and less familiar words and pseudowords. Finds that achieving and nonachieving fourth-grade readers show similar automatic recognition of both familiar and less familiar words. (MM)