Research in school districts throughout the United States shows that children who use "Breakthrough to Literacy" achieve significant and lasting improvement in their reading skills. At virtually every site studied where implementation criteria were met, children who participated in "Breakthrough" demonstrated marked increases…

Despite movements to fight illiteracy in Laos, the number of illiterates in 1997 remains around 300,000 which represents 27% of people in the 15-40 age group. Concentrated Language Encounter (CLE) techniques were adapted for teaching reading and writing in the Lao language. A pilot project implemented CLE techniques at nine pilot schools in two…

Responding to a call to action by California's state leaders to make reading instruction in the early grades a top priority in the public schools, this booklet discusses California's new K-3 reading program. It begins with a discussion of what prompted this new focus on reading, and then discusses the four major elements of a balanced reading…

This software product teaches reading skills beyond simple word recognition. The accompanying twelve printed lesson plans are designed to complement the reading skills with other methods and areas of emphasis including kinesthetic learning, listening skills, decision making skills, syntactic understanding, word analysis, dictionary skills, and…

This software product uses word and picture association, matching, fill in the blank, and sentence construction that focus on making the user (K-3 students) a competent whole sentence reader in English or Spanish. The accompanying printed lesson plans are designed to complement the reading skills with other methods and areas of emphasis including…

An action research project described a program for improving reading readiness and language arts skills through phonemic awareness. The targeted population consisted of kindergarten students in a heterogeneous mix of upper middle class, middle class, working class, and low income families located in central Illinois. Data revealed that students…

A study focused on a comparison of phonemic awareness skills between kindergarten students from English-speaking and non-English-speaking homes. The subjects, 267 kindergarten students in a major urban school system south of Boston, Massachusetts, participated in a phonemic awareness development program over a four-month period. The participants…

A balanced, systematic, instructional reading program was designed to increase word recognition in beginning readers. The targeted population consisted of first graders in an upper middle class community located in the Chicago suburbs. The lack of word recognition was documented through assessments revealing students' phonemic awareness, reading…

This program was developed and implemented to improve the reading achievement of low-performing third-grade students through the use of language arts skills and strategies. The objectives for the program were for 80% of the target group to improve their identification of sight words; demonstrate positive reading attitudes; increase pleasure…

Describes a summer remedial reading program for first-grade students. Includes discussions of the activities and strategies used to promote comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary development. (FL)

A second-grade teacher studied student development when writing occurred daily in the classroom. Assignments included journal, paragraph, and creative writing. The teacher assumed that with daily writing, reading, and spelling would improve. Results indicated that students' reading and writing improved but not spelling; and with forced daily…

Describes a program designed to improve the reading skills of second and third graders using work-study students as tutors. Finds: (1) 81% of the students made progress in reading; (2) at-risk learners need extensive vocabulary instruction and background building; and (3) tutors lacked sufficient educational background and knowledge of the reading…

A study investigated whether home-based repeated reading with an audio model was a significant supplement to the literacy instructional program of second-language learners. Beginning first-grade readers who spoke English as a Second Language benefit from having daily access to repeated reading in their home environment. To provide this access,…

The first in a series reporting on strategies to improve children's readiness for school and to help schools be better prepared to meet the needs of all children, this report traces Arkansas' efforts to improve reading instruction. This issue discusses the following topics: (1) Reading in the First Grade: Now or Never? (2) Limitations and…

This paper describes a study that evaluated a program in which students' reading and writing skills improved with the enhancement of various interventions related to reading and writing. The targeted population consisted of elementary students enrolled in first and third grades in northern Illinois. The lack of reading and writing success was…