A sample of 83 kindergarten teachers participated in this study to examine their knowledge, skills, and classroom practices concerning phonological awareness. Analyses of data revealed significant gaps between knowledge and practice, knowledge and skills, and skills and practice. The gap between knowledge and skills, on one hand, and classroom…

What is environmental print? It is symbols all around. Environmental print is on signs, billboards, packages, junk mail, and everywhere. Young children easily recognize environmental print in their surroundings. Their everyday experiences with print are an important classroom tool to help children connect what they already know about written…

Evidence regarding the effect of early reading instruction on later reading achievement is unusually sparse, given the emphasis often placed on early and intensive reading instruction. Capitalising on international differences in school entry age (SEA), international reading studies may provide such evidence; however, only one quantitative…

This study examined the influences of problem behaviors on kindergarten reading outcomes and investigated the extent to which explicit, code-based reading instruction moderated those relations among 206 children identified as being at risk of reading difficulty. Children from the classrooms of 57 kindergarten teachers in 12 schools were randomly…

This study examined the effect of the "Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling" ("LETRS)" professional development curriculum on the reading achievement of second graders. The authors examined data on more than 5,000 second graders from ninety elementary schools in four states during the 2005-06 school year.…

In this study, we examined 56 first-grade struggling readers' phonics and reading achievement in classrooms served by SRA Reading Mastery, a scripted model of early reading instruction against the achievement of 52 first-grade struggling readers in classrooms served by one of four other, non-scripted reading models. We also studied the…

Data were gathered from 496 practicing school psychologists regarding perceptions of their preparation, ability, and use of research-based techniques in reading assessment and intervention. The survey consisted mainly of items from a survey by Fish and Margolis (1988), but items were added based on research advances in the field. Nearly half of…

Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent disorders among school-age children, occurring in 3 percent to 12 percent of adolescents in the United States (Jakobson & Kirkas, 2007; Shulman, 2008). Recognizing and understanding the disorder is complicated by the fact that between 10 percent and 20 percent of people…

This discussion article takes a closer look at 5 Early Reading First projects in this special issue. It first explores what needed to be in place before these projects could help teachers individualize instructional support for children. The way in which each project sought to provide effective instruction for all children is then discussed,…

The Rose Report, commissioned by the Secretary of State for Education for England, recommended in March 2006 that early reading instruction must include synthetic phonics. This paper evaluates the extent to which research evidence supports this recommendation. In particular, a review of international research into the teaching of early reading…

Students entering school with little knowledge of English do not have the foundation in place to develop reading skills. This lack of foundation puts English Learners at a disadvantage that they struggle to overcome. The purpose of the quantitative study was twofold: (a) to determine whether measures of phonemic awareness are predictive of end of…

Lexia Reading is a computerized reading program that provides phonics instruction and gives students independent practice in basic reading skills. Lexia Reading is designed to supplement regular classroom instruction. It is designed to support skill development in the five areas of reading instruction identified by the National Reading Panel. The…

This article reviews "The Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment, Second Edition" (ERDA-Second Edition), a norm-referenced individually administered diagnostic measure of early reading skills as described in Reading First federal legislation (Part B, Subpart 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the No Child Left…

In this article, the author examines the troubled history of the relationship between research and practice in the area of early reading instruction. He describes how researchers have historically addressed controversies about reading instruction and explains why good research seems to have a delayed and limited impact on reading policy and…

This study examines the effects on early reading skills of three different methods of presenting material with computer-assisted instruction (CAI): (1) learner-controlled picture menu, which allows the student to choose activities, (2) linear sequencer, which progresses the students through lessons at a pre-specified pace, and (3) mastery-based…