Presented is a synopsis of three studies still in progress on the achievement of hearing impaired students in British Columbia, covering reading and mathematics, spelling, and syntactic ability. (DLS)

Results from reading tests and demographic variables indicated that knowledge about books and print conventions is strongly related to reading achievement, and is predictive of comprehension involving the inferential linking of two pieces of information separated in the text. Students in a subskills-emphasis program outperformed those in a…

Discusses various issues surrounding inability of individualized reading approach to improve reading ability of poor readers at elementary level. Suggested reasons for failure include school environment, peer pressure, self-concept, and individual reading difficulties. Teachers' role in addressing reading failure in children is considered. (DST)

Research on the cognitive components of academic achievement subjected White South African schoolchildren to several visual perception tests. Results indicated an association between measures of visual perception and tests of reading and arithmetic performance. Cognitive complexity emerged as an important differentiating feature of perceptual…

The aim of this study was to examine what year-six reading instruction pupils were being given and what year-seven pupils needed and to explore the varying dimensions of the intervening expanse. (HOD)

Studied the existence of optimal classes (classes in which students reach maximal individual achievement with little difference in outcomes within the class) in two German samples from a reading literacy study, representing more than 270 classes of eighth graders. Findings show different proportions of optimal classes in the five basic German…

Examines the effectiveness of phonemic awareness drills on phonological awareness and word reading performance in English of Mainland Chinese students in primary school. Notes findings strongly support the statement that explicit instruction in phonemic awareness promoted phonological awareness and word reading in English of Chinese primary school…

Attempts to address, on behalf of the teacher of reading, some pedagogically significant aspects of metacognition. Tests the effect of using Metacognitive Awareness Guidance (MCAG) in reading assessment tasks given to nine-year-old Israeli pupils. Notes teachers' reactions related to four aspects: use of self-talk, use of metacognitive learning…

Standard reading test scores were gathered from 2,500 British students at ages 6 and 8. School and pupil variables sieved with multilevel modeling were used to develop a measure of school effectiveness that ranked schools substantially differently than the raw scores. The measure may be a fairer comparison of school effectiveness. (SK)

This study of 508 Israeli kindergarten children learning to read Hebrew found that phonemic segmentation skills and reading acquisition are highly interrelated. Learning to read was the main factor accounting for the sharp increase in phonological awareness between six and seven years of age, and reading acquisition was facilitated by prior…

Investigates the relationship between the reading comprehension and information processing strategies of fluent oral readers of Oriya (a language spoken in India) orthography. Notes that Oriya has some significant differences from English orthography. Finds that good comprehenders were relatively more intelligent that the poor comprehenders and…

Examines school and classroom factors that moderated gender and home language gaps in reading achievement of New Zealand students. Uses data from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement survey to examine comprehension and word recognition scores of nine-year-olds. Shows that the magnitude of the gender gap and…

Differences in the reading achievement of girls and boys were studied in five southern African countries using International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement data for 14,917 sixth graders. There were no significant gender differences in reading achievement, but there were significant differences for socioeconomic levels…

Discusses report on the reading, mathematics, and science performance of Canadian 15-year-olds on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Program for International Student Assessment in 1999. Reports equity outcomes (effect of socioeconomic status on performance) in Saskatchewan are better than in the other provinces or any of…