This study compared a year-round intensive coaching of teachers (35h) with a restricted in-service course (13h), designed on the basis of research-based components of effective professional development of teachers. Both courses were developed to innovate reading comprehension instruction in elementary schools. Fourteen second- and 16 fifth-grade…

Several considerations need to be made when monitoring student reading progress using Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM): the instructional level of the student, the type of goal set for the student, and the material selected. Although research has demonstrated that long-term goals based on the student's instructional match are most sensitive to…

Cross-linguistic studies provide a unique tool for the identification of universal processes in oral and written language, both in development and in breakdown ("Annual Review of psychology," 52, 369?396). Examining the differential strengths and weaknesses of children with dyslexia in contrasting orthographies can help illumine both the more…

The authors acted on their belief that familiarity with text and repeated readings of it would help students with fluency, comprehension, and confidence. They assembled a list of "cuttings" excerpts of full-length books from which seventh-grade students could choose to prepare a public reading. After working alone, in pairs, and reading for a…

The following Action Research Project Report is to improve the oral reading fluency of the 4th and 5th grade students with learning disabilities. The targeted population participating in this study consisted of a total of ten participants of which five were 4th grade students and five were 5th grade students located in a middle class community…

"Read Naturally" is designed to improve reading fluency using a combination of books, audio-tapes, and computer software. This program includes three main strategies: repeated reading of English text for oral reading fluency development, teacher modeling of story reading, and systematic monitoring of student progress by teachers.…

This study examined the relationship between oral reading fluency and performance on a statewide reading test across Grades 3, 4, and 5. A curriculum-based measure of oral reading fluency was administered to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders who participated in the reading test from the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). A cross-sectional design…

This report presents preliminary findings from the Reading First Impact Study, a congressionally mandated evaluation of the federal government initiative to help all children read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) established Reading First and mandated its evaluation. This document is…

This book remains a comprehensive, myth-debunking examination of how L1 features (orthographic system, phonology, morphology) can influence English L2 reading at the "bottom" of the reading process. It provides a thorough but very accessible linguistic/psycholinguistic examination of the lowest levels of the reading process. It is both theoretical…

This study focused on the predictive validity of fluency measures that comprise Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Data were gathered from first through third graders attending 44 schools in 9 districts or local educational agencies that made up the first Reading First cohort in Michigan. Students were administered DIBELS…

This edition of "NAEPFacts" highlights findings from the first attempt by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to measure elementary students' oral reading on a large scale. This article presents data on 1,136 fourth graders' oral fluency and its relationship to 3 other aspects of reading ability: comprehension,…

Repeated readings are a common, recommended practice for beginning readers. A study compared the gains made by high level and low level ability first grade readers in reading fluency. An initial reading of text at a second grade reading level was audiotaped and analyzed for rate and accuracy. This was followed by four readings, including a…

Presenting techniques for using the whole mind, this book describes PhotoReading, a reading program that teaches not just how to read faster, but how to learn at speeds many times faster than before. The book notes that PhotoReading teaches readers how to "mentally photograph" the written page directly into their "other-than-conscious" mind,…

Reading teachers and researchers who really want to find out for themselves how difficult it is for students to learn to read and write should teach themselves how to read and write upside down. Being able to read and write upside down will also help teachers working one-on-one with students, since it allows them to sit across the table from the…

A practicum addressed the high percentage of students lacking oral reading fluency in a primary resource class. The project used two basic strategies for increased oral reading fluency: repeated reading and paired reading. To measure the success of this project, the Brigance Oral Reading subtest was administered to 17 first, second, and third…