Stagnant standardized test scores keep literacy achievement at the forefront of national education discussions. Increased conversations about the science of reading have propelled investigations into different types of phonics instruction. However, questions still linger such as "Which strategies are most effective for which students?",…

The teaching of reading has been a source of contentious debate for many years. Margaret Meek Spencer contributed her passion for the importance of specific texts to help children learn to read. In addition to the kinds of texts to be used, important aspects of the debate include the relationship between national curriculum policies and robust…

Decades of research in the science of reading suggest that using scientifically based reading practices that are aligned with the science of reading will help improve literacy. Literacy is a necessary skill and is critical for a child's overall development. How well children learn to read in school can impact their future success. This mixed…

Multi-level hierarchical linear modeling was used to compare growth curves for children receiving instruction aimed at single orthographic-phonological connections. Growth rate on phonics probes was significantly faster for the group receiving multiple-connections treatment. Urges school psychologists to recommend multiple strategies for helping…

Reports on a study testing the validity of the Names Test, an individually administered phonics assessment. Provides support for the Names Test's validity by showing it to be significantly correlated with established tests of word recognition and decoding ability. (SR)

Describes a revision of the Names Test, an easy-to-administer phonics assessment. Describes what was done to increase the test's category reliability, to further examine the test's validity, and to enhance its usability. (SR)

A study was conducted to compare two methodologies for establishing hierarchical relationships--the Dayton and Macready model and the White and Clark procedure--using criterion referenced test data. Several phonics and structural analysis skills were selected from a reading skills battery. The opinions of reading "experts" were solicited in order…

Work on the development of a phonics test that will be incorporated into a total word identification test battery has continued for several years. A prototype of the test was developed in winter 1977, and a revised version was administered in spring 1978. Analysis of this test data revealed several problems, and new criteria for the test were…

Investigates the validity of the assumption that prerequisite skills to reading competence have been identified; presents a study based on student test scores and a survey of teachers' evaluations of these students. (Survey responses are appended.) (MAI)

Analyzes eight variables in diagnostic tests to determine which are the most predictive of reading levels and then discusses how much each variable adds to this prediction and whether the answers are equally applicable to grades three, six, and nine. (FL)

Thirty-two students from each of grades three and four were administered the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, two word lists, and a number of tests selected from the Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development. Individual Performance Profiles were used to determine which Design tests to administer, the number of attempts required to attain skill…

Phonics instruction was taught two ways to 63 predominantly black tenth graders in a Trenton, New Jersey high school to see if the approach used affected the gains made in phonics skills. One approach taught vowel and consonant sounds, while the other taught only consonant sounds. Thirty sessions of instruction over a period of 8 weeks were…

Three studies were conducted as part of a series designed to identify the subskills of word identification that correlate most highly with reading comprehension and to examine various methods of assessing these subskills. In the first study, the prototype of a decoding (word identification) test was administered to 282 first, third, and fifth…

A study evaluated the phonics performance of skilled adult readers using the D. Durkin phonics test, which was also used in 1984 to measure the phonics ability of children. The test, which was given to 25 college juniors and seniors, consisted of 29 regularly spelled pseudo or nonsense words to be pronounced aloud by the subjects. Results…

Investigating how good and poor readers process words, a study examined the spelling and reading processes of 80 middle-class first grade students from three schools in Houston, Texas, 40 who were receiving whole word instruction, and 40 receiving phonics instruction. Based on scores from the Gates-McGinitie Reading Test, Basic R (administered in…