The paper describes procedures for reducing reading errors and building oral reading fluency by having students read along with audiotapes of passages recorded at rates somewhat faster than the learner's current performance level. Steps involved in this challenging reading method include assessment, daily timings, error correction, and rate…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a peer-mediated instructional approach on the teaching of phonological skills and reading comprehension for middle school (sixth- to eighth-grade) students with reading disabilities. All students (n = 38) were identified as having learning disabilities and reading at the third-grade level or…

This article shares the research-based instructional techniques used in a reading program (Reading Acceleration Program, or RAP) in a school in which the majority of the students were English-language learners and came from low-income families. In this model, special education and general education teachers collaborated in order to intervene on…

This article presents a model of comprehension to support classroom teachers as they engage their students in making meaning from text. Four areas contribute to the comprehension process: the reader, the context, the text, and the transaction, which is described as the intersection of the reader and text situated within a specific context. This…

Arabic native speaking children are born into a unique linguistic context called diglossia (Ferguson, "word", 14, 47?56, [1959]). In this context, children grow up speaking a Spoken Arabic Vernacular (SAV), which is an exclusively spoken language, but later learn to read another linguistically related form, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).…

With the recently passed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004), federal law encourages monitoring student progress and gauging responsiveness to instruction. The Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (TOSWRF; Mather, Hammill, Allen, & Roberts, 2004) is a group-administered test that holds promise for monitoring student progress.…

Students enrolled in technical programs prefer hands-on activities over reading and writing. While hands-on learning works well for conveying technical skills, most technical jobs will also require good reading, writing, and oral communication skills. Effective reading includes more than just "mouthing the words"--it calls for understanding and…

It is well known that developing a love of language helps children become successful readers and writers, and one way to teach children to love words is to introduce them to poetry. This article describes the Sallye B. Mathis Elementary School, a challenged urban school in Jacksonville, Florida, is full of children who love words because they love…

This study evaluated the effects of a reading intervention on the reading achievement and social behaviors of 6 third-grade students with emotional/behavioral disorders. Reading instruction occurred 4 days a week using the Horizons Fast Track reading program and Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies. Analyses indicated variable improvements in basic…

This action research report describes a program to increase students' reading comprehension and fluency through the use of guided reading. The targeted population consists of second and fourth grade students in a northwest suburban area of a large city located in the Midwest. The problems of low reading comprehension and fluency scores were…

The purpose of this article is to describe the professional development plan for an elementary school receiving federal funding through the Reading Excellence Act (REA). The Reading Excellence Act provided the school with a two-year plan for literacy improvement. During the first year of the grant, assessment-driven instruction and flexible…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a home repeated-reading intervention on the reading achievement of eight low-performing second-grade children in an urban school by taking into consideration their need to develop automaticity and the role their parents play in this process. Specifically we posed the following…

Singing exaggerates the language of reading. The students find their voices in the rhythm and bounce of language by using music as an alternative technological approach to reading. A concurrent mixed methods study was conducted to investigate the use of an interactive sing-to-read program Tune Into Reading (Electronic Learning Products, 2006)…

This volume discusses factors that affect struggling readers in grades 7-12 and provides research-based strategies for improving their reading and writing skills. Chapters examine why some adolescents have trouble achieving reading proficiency, describe school-wide policies and programs that support literacy, and suggest age-appropriate classroom…

The technology of brief experimental analysis is just beginning to be used for identification of effective treatments for individual students who experience difficulty with oral reading fluency. In this study, the effect of a reading fluency treatment package was examined on easy and hard passages, and generalization was assessed on passages with…