This book focuses on what a quality reading program for children in kindergarten through third grade should look like and how parents can support that program at home. It includes a letter to parents and a list of tips for supporting reading. The guide encourages parents to focus on the five essential components of reading: Phonemic Awareness;…

Significant progress has been made in designing beginning reading instruction for young children with reading disabilities (RD), but much less is known about children with RD in the intermediate grades who read very poorly despite several years of instruction and exposure to print. The aim of this research was to compare the influence of text…

This instructional support guide describes the national-level research that forms the foundation of the Idaho Reading Initiative. It includes information about the items chosen for the Idaho Reading Indicator, as well as practical suggestions to help bring best practices to the classroom. The following sections are included in the guide: (1)…

With the apparent success of progress monitoring measures for reading growth in grades K-3, there is broad interest in the State of Florida in extending this assessment technology into the upper grades (4-12) for students who continue to perform below grade level on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). The…

Procedures are presented for improving the reading fluency and comprehension of students with mild handicaps, through use of the neurological impress method and repeated readings method with some modifications. Precision teaching techniques are used in conjunction with these methods, to measure performance, monitor improvement, and design…

Examines teacher practices of placing students in basal reading series, particularly capable readers. Finds basic inconsistencies between teachers' stated beliefs about capable readers and stated placement practices which are partly the result of the fear of skipping essential skills as outlined in the basals. (RS)

Outlines how contemporary reading theorists conceptualize reading fluency, discussing why it is a good indicator of reading process efficiency. Suggests ways to foster development of reading fluency. Children must acquire the automatic word and phrase processing that enables fluent reading and lets them allocate cognitive capacity to…

Discusses reading fluency, the role of fluency in reading, and how fluency works. Suggests students' fluency and reading comprehension can be boosted by combining the technique of repeated reading and Readers Theatre--the combination is an effective and viable means of motivating children to read a text. (RS)

Effects of differentiated feedback on the oral reading rate of three secondary students with learning disabilities were studied. The study found that visual feedback increased the overall reading rate more than verbal feedback or miscue analysis. Using both visual and miscue analysis feedback yielded the greatest reading accuracy. (CR)

In this case study, reading fluency was examined within the context of a paired reading instructional intervention. Additionally, this study explored reader self perceptions and the nature of the lived experience of reading for a less skilled reader. A single subject changing criterion design was employed. Baseline reading fluency data were…

The Reading First Initiative supports the importance of classroom teachers' use of diagnostic tests that are "scientifically based." This article focuses on the new assessment known as DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. DIBELS is composed of the following subtests: phonological awareness (recognizing initial…

Just a few years ago, a set of tests known as "dibbles" would have elicited little more than a chuckle from educators or anyone else. Today, they're taking it seriously, because the acronym DIBELS has come to symbolize the standard for early-literacy assessment throughout much of the country. Teachers in Reading First schools in more…

This article presents a fluency-based measure of reading comprehension. A part of the Vitals Indicators of Progress (VIP) system, the measure outlined here represents an alternate form to the retell-fluency measure in the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy System (DIBELS). Measures of retell fluency provide an efficient, fluency-based tool…

The purpose of this article is to present the use of repeated readings with word boxes instruction with a sample of high school students who were classified with severe reading delays. Repeated readings and word boxes are designed to help children increase fluency and acquire word identification skills, respectively. These approaches were also…

Neuroimaging studies have suggested that across different written languages, skilled reading behavior is supported by similar, largely left hemisphere (LH), networks. In addition, recent studies of reading disability (RD) in monolingual readers, conducted in several languages, suggest a common neurobiological signature for this syndrome…