The Summer Opportunity To Accelerate Reading (S.O.A.R.) program is the Title I elementary summer school of the Austin Independent School District (AISD), Texas. The S.O.A.R. program provides early intervention to accelerate literacy learning for students entering grades 1-3 who are at risk of retention or are below grade level. In its second year…

Compares effectiveness of four different methods for acquiring initial reading vocabulary--onset plus vowel, rimes, phoneme segmentation and blending, and simple repetition of whole words. Finds that beginning nonreaders acquired the trained words fastest in the onset and rime conditions, and most slowly in the whole word condition. Finds the same…

Considers if Reading Recovery students continue to make gains after discontinuation or the end of their programs. Investigates if a majority of the Reading Recovery students at Culver Elementary School, Evansville, Indiana achieve average reading levels at the end of their program. Concludes that Reading Recovery is successful at this school. (SG)

Describes how elementary educators (a principal, a reading supervisor, and two first-grade teachers) collaborated to develop research-based procedures to help at-risk first-graders to become "word detectives." (SR)

Suggests that deficiencies in learning to read are in the flawed philosophy and method of beginning reading instruction rather than a deficiency in the individual. Implements a comprehensive program based on interpretations of reading teaching techniques from the 16th through the 19th century. Finds that children learned to spell, read, and…

Compares reading achievement of at-risk primary-school students participating in a systematic, sequential, multisensory, synthetic, phonetically based approach to reading (Project Read) to reading achievement of students instructed through the use of traditional basal readers. Finds significant differences at first grade for all subtests and the…

Looks at how Book Clubs (student-centered, literature-discussion groups where each student is reading a different, self-selected book) were structured in a particular second-grade classroom. Argues that students had opportunities for learning the academic and social content of literature while engaging in the cognitive processes and social…

Presents a study that compares the efficacy of the two formulas: Reading Comprehension = Decoding x Listening Comprehension, and Reading Comprehension = Decoding + Listening Comprehension. Presents a second study that explores whether adding another factor, speed of processing, to the "Simple View of Reading" formula improves its ability to…

A key to the success of the Just Read and other effective reading programs is complete involvement of the entire school. School leaders must be committed to reading improvement, support teachers' efforts, and give them time to succeed. Overcoming parent and/or teacher resistance to involving reluctant readers is essential. (MLH)

Examines the relationships among phonological awareness, phonological memory, and development of reading skills in a longitudinal study, by following 222 Finnish preschoolers through grade 2. Focuses on the role of phonological memory in word recognition and comprehension. Underlines the stability of development of phonological memory,…

Applies onset-rime theory in a randomized controlled trial to the authentic reading task of reading aloud to an adult. Finds that the rime-prompt method has potential for helping children recognize one- and two-syllable words. Notes that it is suitable for use by parents, teachers, and other helpers. (SG)

Evaluates the effectiveness in enhancing young children's reading attainment by a computer system that gave prerecorded speech prompts on request. Finds that the intervention group made significantly higher gains on three measures of sight vocabulary than the control group. Suggests that some effective practice in reading can be given by a…

Investigates whether home-based repeated reading with an audio model is a significant supplement to the literacy instructional program of second-language learners. Finds that all five participating second-language learners received substantial benefit from the opportunity to practice reading books with audiotapes at home, and that the support…

Studies the effects of Reading Recovery participation on 103 first-grade students in Atlanta elementary schools. Finds that participating in Reading Recovery appears to assist students in increasing their level of belief about their value in the eyes of significant others but does not increase students' sense of competence. (NH)

A practicum addressed second graders' negative attitudes and habits toward recreational reading. Students were not reading for pleasure at school or at home. A recreational reading program, which used a variety of thematic units, was implemented. Subjects were 20 second graders (mostly Hispanics) in an inner city school. Several innovative…