Six papers are included in this collection. "How Misconceptions about Language Affect Judgments about Intelligence," by Roger W. Shuy, and "The Cultural Context of Learning to Read," by R. P. McDermott, deal with contexts in which evaluation of a student's reading are made: a teacher's direct evaluation of a student's reading performance, and a…

Foster children are at great risk for poor school outcomes. Given that school readiness is a powerful predictor of later school success, the promotion of school readiness skills in foster children is an opportunity for preventive intervention. Results are presented from a preliminary evaluation of a program designed to improve school readiness in…

Notes that research supports the idea that children are confused about concepts related to beginning reading instruction. Reports on assessment instruments that are commercially available or can be devised by teachers. (FL)

The Canadian Readiness Test Learning Rate subtest and the Auditory Reception and Spatial Relations Concepts subtests on the Experimental Reading Readiness Test show high reliability in measuring the reading readiness of beginning first graders. The Experimental Test has a high coefficient of reliability as a total test. (SB)

The black dialect grammar and vocabulary of 20 inner-city first grade children were assessed partially for the purpose of evaluating the children's reading readiness. (BRT)

The present training study sought to determine if specific experimental procedures in paradigmatic language would cause differences in reading readiness test achievement among experimental, placebo, and control groups of beginning first-grade pupils. (Editor)

Forty-nine reading games were designed by reading aides in the ESEA Title I Primary Reading Aide Program in Omaha, Nebraska for practice and mastery of specific reading skills at the primary level. Games are listed under these skill areas: alphabet, consonants, digraphs, rhyming words, sight words, and vowels. An illustration is provided for each…

An evaluation of kindergarten children's awareness of lexical units and of the relationship of this variable to prediction of beginning reading is presented. Eighty-four kindergarten children--47 boys and 37 girls--served as the subjects and were tested individually for their ability to identify word boundaries spoken in sentences. The study…

Discusses a longitudinal study of the reading readiness of 100 children entering school, and provides a reading readiness checklist. (DD)

Describes a program designed to help parents aid their children in the development of reading readiness skills. (MKM)

The need to teach precursors to literacy as part of preschool language therapy with language-disordered children is stressed. Assessment and intervention approaches include developing the child's ability to use language in instructional contexts and facilitating language awareness (such as word and phonological consciousness). (DB)

Reading selections that will be helpful in preparing preschoolers and reinforcing what school-age children are learning are listed and annotated. Nursey rhymes, reading readiness books, and picture books are offered. (MT)

Reports two studies which found a relationship between awareness of word order in sentences and reading readiness and achievement for children in kindergarten through third grade. Suggests this type of metalinguistic awareness may be important to early reading because it helps children to detect meaningful relationships between words. (Author/CB)

Outlines the story of one first-grade student's successful struggle with learning to read. (MD)