The reading program of the Reading Public Schools encompasses skills which facilitate reading a wide variety of materials, reading as a source of enjoyment, and reading as a lifelong activity. The goals for each student address word recognition skills, comprehension, reading skills needed to function in society, reading skills for individual…

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between the reading attitudes of seventh grade high achievers and their teachers' perceptions of those attitudes. The 178 students and 12 teachers in the study completed a reading attitudes survey, with the teachers responding as they believed a high achieving student would answer. When a t-test…

A study of 1,242 children in 20 fifth, sixth, and seventh grade classes in Richmond, British Columbia, was undertaken over a seven-month period to discover the effects of a sustained silent reading program (SSR) on the students. Ten classes and the four schools they were in participated in the SSR group and ten classes selected from five other…

The purpose of this study was to determine if reading with a buddy and participating in a literature discussion would have an effect on reading comprehension achievement. For six weeks, seven pairs of third grade students met three times a week to read assigned material and participate in small group literature discussions to construct meaning and…

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 Assessment Framework and Specifications is intended as a blueprint for IEA's 2006 assessment of reading literacy. Concrete information about how well students can read provides policymakers and researchers in every country with insight on how to improve literacy and reading…

Cites research suggesting that extensive reading is as effective as intensive reading in developing general reading ability and is more effective in promoting good attitudes among elementary and secondary school students toward reading. (MM)

Reports that regular participation by groups of fifth- and sixth- grade students in a program of uninterrupted sustained silent reading was accompanied by improved performance on a measure of reading achievement over groups who did not participate in the program. Whether the program affected reading attitudes is not clear. (FL)

Investigates the relationship between reading attitudes, achievement, and learners' perceptions of a Jigsaw II cooperative learning experience among a group of eighth-grade Lebanese students of English as a Foreign Language. Reveals certain statistically significant differences between high and low achievers and between males and females across…

Examines reading anxieties (and test anxieties) of students in two developmental college reading courses. Finds that group and individual anxiety reduction methods made a significant difference in the reading performance and attitudes of the adult basic education students. (RS)

Presents a case study of the effectiveness of a combination of a family literacy home intervention program with one-on-one intense tutoring for nonreading families. Notes that the family began to make positive changes in their reading environment, attitudes, and interactions which had a positive effect on their child's reading progress at school.…

Describes a teacher's first efforts to implement Reading Workshop in her classroom. Reports the study she conducted that convinced her that Reading Workshop successfully improves reading comprehension and counters students' negative attitudes toward reading. (RS)

Finds that the 35 middle-school language-arts teachers studied agreed that Self Selected Reading (SSR) is an important way to improve students' reading attitudes and achievement, but that their schools rarely provided funds for buying student-preferred materials, and that finding time for SSR was difficult because of the pressure to prepare for…

Follows up the author's April 1999 article in this same journal, which described how her teaching improved when she decided not to focus on the minimal competency test for Texas. Quantifies ways her students became better readers and reports on the high pass rate of those very students on the reading section of the Texas Assessment of Academic…

This study examined the extent that motivational processes facilitate the comprehension of texts and the extent of culture's role in children's motivational processes of text comprehension. Relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the amount of reading, past reading achievement, and text comprehension were examined by utilizing…

The results of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2001) were published in 2003. In addition to data about the reading achievements of 10-year-olds in 35 countries, PIRLS 2001 also collected questionnaire information from children, their teachers, headteachers and parents. The results showed not just how well students can…