Designed particularly with secondary school teachers in mind but applicable to elementary school teachers as well, this publication summarizes research and suggests activities for improving student reading skills in the content area of science. Sections of the publication provide the following information: (1) how to determine student reading…

The purpose of this reading sampler is to familiarize Delaware teachers and students with the reading comprehension portion of the Delaware Student Testing Program. Included is information about the reading tests for grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. This sampler contains the following examples for each grade level: a reading passage; a multiple choice…

Data were reanalyzed from a previously reported study of the passage dependence of reading comprehension questions being developed for the revised SAT. The objective was to uncover any gender differences in approaches to and performance on a task requiring examinees to answer reading comprehension questions without reading the passages on which…

A study investigated the effect on reading comprehension in English as a Second Language (ESL) of formally incorporating four reading strategies into reading instruction. The four strategies taught were cognitive, memory, compensation, and test-taking strategies. Subjects were 29 students at the University of Alabama of varying language…

Designed to help students improve their understanding of everything they read, especially the types of reading selections that they will find on standardized tests (such as the ACT and SAT), this guide explains the 3 key steps to strategic reading: preview before reading, underline and annotate while reading, and summarize after reading. It…

A practicum was developed which implemented various strategies to increase consistently below average reading comprehension scores of eighth-grade students. A targeted group of 16 students with middle ranking stanine scores was selected. Objectives included raising reading comprehension scores using task specific strategies, developing a more…

A study was conducted to increase students' passing rates on the reading subtest of the Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) by increasing their ability to answer reading items correctly, increasing their comprehension speed, and increasing their confidence in their test-taking abilities. Subjects were 27 students at Southwest Texas State…

Current issues in the literature on the testing of linguistic and communicative proficiency are reviewed and discussed in relation to reading comprehension testing. Several theoretical issues in language testing are discussed, including testing purposes and test validity. Areas of concern regarding methods of testing reading comprehension are then…

The various commercially available materials used to teach students test-taking skills offer contradictory advice on the issue of whether reading passages on standardized tests should be read before or after the corresponding test items. This study examined the effects on reading comprehension scores of training 606 urban fourth graders to use one…

A 64-item analogy test was developed and administered to 55 college students enrolled in a noncredit reading improvement course to assess the effects of an instructional unit in taking analogy tests. The instructional unit was a 35-page self-instructional booklet that described the most common formats of analogy testing, defined eight types of…

A study of 26 college seniors used introspective and retrospective interviewing to assess cognitive processes used during multiple-choice reading comprehension tests. Categories of processing identified included an overall approach to the test task, reading strategies, and test-taking strategies. (TJH)

This paper discusses the difficulties deaf and hard-of-hearing children (d/hh) have in test taking and the test-taking strategies they use, such as visual matching of words in the text to words in the question. These specific strategies are different from those used by children without disabilities. Also examined are the characteristics and…

Testwiseness (TW) and its effect on the reading comprehension scores in four ethnic populations (Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Anglo) from the Tucson Unified School District were investigated. Inservice-trained teachers presented seven classroom TW teaching and practicing sessions of 15 minutes each to students in grades 3, 5, and 7.…

The survival of black public school teachers is contingent upon significant improvement in their performance on the National Teacher Examination (NTE). The soundest way to improve their performance is to improve the educational program in the black colleges and universities where the teachers are trained. As open admissions institutions, it is the…

A revision of "Effective and Efficient Study," a guide to effective study for university students, is presented. Topics include: self-evaluation using a checklist of factors involved in college reading and study problems; self-evaluation regarding test anxiety; organizing work and budgeting time; remembering effectively; improving…