What reading programs have been proven to help students in grades 2-5 to succeed? To find out, this review summarizes evidence on three types of programs designed to improve the reading achievement of students in grades 2-5: (1) Reading Curricula (Curr), such as "Open Court," "Harcourt," "Reading Street" and other standard and alternative…

Describes a study to determine the effect on student achievement of a cross-age tutoring program which was substituted for a traditional reading program. (JM)

The goals of a cross-age tutoring program involving first and fifth graders were to stimulate oral language development in first graders and to help them read for meaning. The fifth grade students worked with the younger students on a one-to-one basis to stimulate language development and to encourage the academic growth in other skills necessary…

Studies low-achieving fifth-grade readers to evaluate the feasibility of a cross-age reading program and to clarify implementation details for a large-scale project. Finds that quantitative results and qualitative data suggest that cross-age reading programs are a promising way to help poor readers to improve their reading. (MG)