This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 13 titles deal with the following topics: the evaluation of the elementary reading specialist; the validity of the Visual-Aural Digit Span Test as a predictor of word recognition and spelling in learning disabled children; the…

The teacher's manual, written in Spanish, is a detailed guide for using the reader and workbook of the same title. Taken together, the three books comprise the second level of a series of supplementary materials to teach reading in Spanish to second grade students. The teacher's guide contains an introduction explaining the series in its entirety,…

This is the first of two volumes containing papers focusing on reading processes and pedagogy that were drawn from the nineteenth annual meeting of the National Reading Conference held in 1969. Among the topics discussed in the 42 papers are the following: underlining, individualized reading instruction, reading improvement programs in industry…

This study was an attempt to assist a rural county school system in central Georgia with instruction at the third grade level in reading skills development after voluntary and complete integration. Specifically it was to (1) determine the general nature of the integration process in the county and its topical relationships and effects upon…

This article reports a six-month study that used a matched-pairs pre-test, post-test control group design to measure the relative effectiveness of extensive reading with remedial reading students in a Philippines secondary school (n = 60). Ninety percent of students at the school come from low-income homes where reading materials tend to be…

Despite a body of evidence that curriculum-based measurement of reading (R-CBM) is a valid measure of general reading achievement, some school-based professionals remain unconvinced. At the core of their argument is their experience with word callers, students who purportedly can read fluently, but do not understand what they read. No studies have…

The Port of Baltimore Workplace Skills Development Project had the following objectives: perform literacy audits on at least 20 job titles within the port-related industries; develop curriculum modules providing literacy skill instruction using a functional context approach reflecting the Port of Baltimore needs; offer instructional services to at…

Schemes for assessing reading achievement with specific tests have been in use since early in this century. The two driving forces behind the testing movement--scientific objectivity and compulsory education--blossomed in the 1920s and 1930s and continued substantially unchanged through most of the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the idea of mastery…

This guide presents reading-focused learning projects and accompanying inquiry activities to help students pass the language arts/reading portion of the General Education Development (GED) Test 2002. Section 1 relates GED as project to the reading portion of the GED and explains how inquiry activities used Official GED Reading Practice Test…

The Ohio sixth-grade proficiency test is intended to measure a student's literacy level and basic competency in writing, reading, mathematics, citizenship, and science. This guide is designed to help parents prepare their fifth- and sixth-grade children for this proficiency test. An introduction, "Important Information," outlines three…

The achievement gap is clearly visible throughout the school years, from grade-school test scores through high school graduation and higher education. It divides American Indian, Asian, Black, Latino, and White students, and it divides the economically advantaged from the disadvantaged regardless of their race/ethnicity. Under the federal No Child…

This technical report presents an overview of a reading assessment used by a large school district in the Pacific Northwest. It provides sufficient background information to enable those unfamiliar with the assessment to understand the various subtests that comprise it as well as its development and application in the district for making…

Background: The Waterford Early Reading Program (WERP), a technology-based program for early elementary grades, was provided through Arizona all day kindergarten funds to kindergarten students in 15 Title I elementary schools in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) in the 2005-06 school year. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the…

This report documents the design, development, and psychometric characteristics of the assessment instruments used in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). The ECLS-K is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. The ECLS-K was designed to assess the…

Although considerable research examines the impact of grade retention on student academic achievement, various shortcomings exhibited across these studies make it difficult to derive any concrete generalizations about the effectiveness of requiring students to repeat a grade. By utilizing data based on a cohort of all low-achieving elementary…