This article describes two major issues of national significance in New Zealand: remediation of reading problems in young children and solution of the problem of meeting educational needs of urban minority groups, particularly students from urban Polynesian communities. (BW)

Increasing concerns have been expressed about the differences between the achievements of boys and girls, especially in terms of literacy. This account of an action research project by a teacher-librarian explores the reading habits of a sample of boys and girls in S1 and S2 in a Scottish secondary school, and describes how the findings led to the…

The Accelerated Reader (AR) program enables free-standing computer-assisted assessment of comprehension of "real books." It is a curriculum-based assessment that summarizes and analyzes results to enable teachers to monitor both the quantity and quality of reading practice engaged in by the student. It is voluntarily self administered by…

Following the style of the 1958 original, this third edition of the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability is both a standardized attainment test and a diagnostic test and thus can be used to assess reading progress objectively as well as to obtain structured diagnostic observations of an individual's reading behavior. This Reader contains narratives…

Reports results of literacy tests of 5,500 10-year-old and 5,100 14-year-old students throughout Australia in 1980. Compares these results with those of testing in 1975, pointing out that in reading, overall results were almost identical, while in writing some tasks showed improvement. (JM)

The article reports on the preliminary findings of a study of 392 Australian kindergarten children to determine which tests are the most predictive of later reading ability and disability. (Author/DLS)

This study investigated age trends in children's explanations of their own academic successes and failures. Ability attributions for success and failure in reading were more effectively predicted by reading attainment in older than in younger children. Perception of own attainment was more accurate in older children. Sex differences were also…

The six chapters of this theme issue explore data collected by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement to investigate crucial issues in reading comprehension. Simultaneous analysis and conjunct analysis are used to examine models as structured combinations of factors in the search for relationships among…

Examined why New Zealand elementary students in composite versus single-grade classes showed slightly lower reading performance, comparing the range of students' reading abilities, the nature of teachers' groupings, and other aspects of instruction in pairs of composite and single-grade classes from nine schools. Composite classes did not appear…

Presents results from international assessments of 15-year-olds' capabilities in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy, with an emphasis on reading literacy. Sample survey data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) provide a first step in the measurement of cross-curricular competencies in various…

The vocabulary, sentence structure, and organization of a pharmacy education handout were lowered, main ideas were highlighted, and special introductions were written. There was no statistically significant difference in reading comprehension scores between subjects receiving the modified pamphlet and subjects receiving the standard version. (21…

Presents a short historical and sociological analysis of reading in the Soviet Union from the beginning of the twentieth century to perestroika. Discusses some sociocultural problems associated with reading, including the prevailing social, economic and political crises in all spheres of life, particularly the cultural. (RS)

A sample of 74 Finnish children with mild learning disabilities and 57 controls were grouped into 5 subgroups (normal, general language, visuo-motor, general deficiency, naming) and followed from the third to the sixth grade. Results indicated that neuropsychological profiles were generally maintained, with changes related to progress in reading.…

Examines the relationship between dyslexia and eye movement control in Spanish-speaking children. Finds no significant differences between dyslexic and retarded readers in their eye movements during reading tasks only; no significant differences between retarded and normal readers in ocular tracking but differences between each of the groups and…

Inner-city families with babies received books under Project Bookstart. Follow-up of 41 children in their first year of school showed that, compared with 41 who did not participate in the project, participants were significantly farther ahead in six measures of literacy and numeracy. (SK)