In an era dominated by issues of school finance adequacy, it seems particularly important to provide evidence that, despite a number of claims to the contrary, educational resources are indeed positively related to improved student achievement. One of the hypotheses of this article is that expenditures per pupil must be disaggregated into more…

Struggling adolescent readers need interventions that provide them with opportunities to read more and to read better. The authors examine two case studies of interventions at work and propose criteria on which to evaluate intervention programs. Their review of the evidence on these programs for struggling adolescent readers suggests that at least…

Intended as a companion document to the "NAEP 1994 Reading Report Card for the Nation and States" and the "NAEP 1994 Reading State Report," this compendium presents fourth-grade cross-state results of the National Assessment in Educational Process (NAEP) 1994 Trial State Assessment in reading--no interpretations of the data are…

In 1988, a study was conducted to determine whether a holistic or an isolated skills approach is more effective in improving the reading abilities and attitudes toward reading of predominantly Hispanic community college students. The study sample consisted of two groups of developmental reading students. The majority of students in both groups…

Although critics persist in attacks on the teaching profession in general and the teaching of reading in particular, both elementary and secondary school reading scores have increased steadily over the past three decades. Even Black and Hispanic students (who still score below the averages for White students tested) have made sizeable gains in…

A study investigated whether reading comprehension would improve if children were made aware of story grammar and were asked schema-related questions. Subjects were 33 fifth grade students, half scoring on or above grade level and half scoring below grade level on the reading section of the Metropolitan Achievement Tests. During 11 sessions, 45…

Psychological procedures change behavior in part by creating and strengthening perceived self-efficacy, which refers to personal judgments of performance capabilities in a given activity. In addition, it has been hypothesized that attributions, or perceived causes of outcomes, exert important effects on self-efficacy. A study investigated how the…

A study designed to provide insights into reading programs and materials, specifically those in the 21 elementary schools in one California school district, is described in this report. Following a brief presentation of the background of the study, the report states the 15 questions investigated and describes the variables, population, and…

A finding in the 1975-76 evaluation of several California programs designed to improve the academic achievement of young children indicated that in schools whose students scored at or below the twentieth percentile on the Entry Level Test in 1973-74, third grade reading test scores had declined relative to their predicted scores over the…

A year-long holistic study of literary responses was conducted to determine the effects of using a transactive literary paradigm in secondary school English classrooms. (The transactive--for transactional--paradigm emphasizes the reader's involvement with a text and the reader's use of personal experiences to extract meaning from texts.)…

This summary report describes the three-year Special Emphasis Project, a large federal program directed at preventing and correcting reading difficulties among elementary school children. Section one of the report provides a brief history of the project, with descriptions of its rationale, intent, major and specific provisions, and the controlled…

AN INDIVIDUALIZED READING PROGRAM FOR GRADES 2, 4, AND 5 WAS INITIATED AT PLATEAU VALLEY SCHOOL IN COLLBRAN, COLORADO, IN AN EFFORT TO RAISE THE ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL OF CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED YOUTH IN RURAL AREAS. THE PROGRAM AT EACH GRADE LEVEL IS DESCRIBED IN TERMS OF THE METHODS USED TO GATHER PRELIMINARY DATA, IN THE SELECTION AND USE OF…

THE EFFECTS OF A TECHNIQUE ON THE READING ACHIEVEMENT AND SELF-CONCEPT OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN WERE STUDIED. THE POPULATION SAMPLED WAS DRAWN FROM TWO SCHOOLS IN A LOW SOCIOECONOMIC AREA. THE PUPILS SELECTED FROM GRADES 1 THROUGH 4 WERE EQUALLY ASSIGNED TO AN EXPERIMENTAL OR CONTROL GROUP. THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP RECEIVED INSTRUCTION BY…

Data were collected in a teacher effectiveness study on the interaction of teachers and first grade students while the students participated in reading groups within intact classes. Eighteen teacher behavior variables drawn from the data were then related to student achievement using three units of analysis: class means, reading group means within…

A longitudinal analysis was conducted of school performance by children enrolled in kindergarten between 1968 and 1978. The total Follow Through Program was studied, as well as each of the seven teaching models, focusing on achievement, school experience type, absence, and prekindergarten data. A base-year and a later year were identified for each…