This report addresses the question of whether culturally specific strategies are an effective means for literacy instruction, and how a culturally specific computer-based architecture, the "Lyric Reader," takes advantage of children's existing knowledge and experience to motivate them to read. Given the reading difficulties experienced…

This report describes a program for improving reading skills. The targeted population consisted of first and second grade students from urban and rural communities in Northern Illinois. The problem of underachievement in reading was documented by reading inventories, writing samples, and writing prompts. Analysis of probable cause data revealed…

Research indicates that engagement with text is critical to becoming a good reader and can be fostered in primary grades by using informal assessments of individual student's reading ability to guide instruction. Describes running record, miscue analysis, and cloze-procedure assessment tools and the assessment task of oral retelling. Sidebars list…

Achieving literacy, while often one of the greatest challenges a child can face, is one of the most important elements in building a base for success in education and in life. Three main strategies are found to be parts of the process of how children learn to read: (1) developing phonemic awareness through the use of phonics techniques; (2) being…

A program was developed for improving primary level student intelligences in order to improve reading comprehension, prediction skills, and the ability to apply targeted reading strategies. The targeted population consisted of first and second grade students in a middle class community located in the far southern Chicago metropolitan area. The…

The purpose of this study was to compare children's acquisition and use of reading strategies and their evolving stance toward reading in two instructional settings, skills-based and whole language. The authors used test-score and descriptive data to select case study children who represented a range of reading development, e.g., from emergent…