As the pressure grows for students to learn and know more, so grows the demand on schools to raise achievement. It is a huge challenge for the country---and for the schools in which teachers work. The public appetite for dramatic solutions is substantial. That appetite is being fed by a stream of unproven reform proposals that will do tremendous…

In order to understand why some children are vulnerable to difficulties in their language development and their acquisition of reading skill, the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia followed 200 Finnish children from birth to school age. Half of these children had a family history of reading problems and were considered at risk for dyslexia;…

The evaluation of the Voyager Universal Literacy System[R] was designed to provide a rigorous assessment of the effectiveness of the program with beginning readers. Using a quasi-experimental design, researchers conducted a systematic evaluation of changes in 398 kindergarten students' command of early reading skills in 4 Voyager and 4 comparison…

Noting that in the beginning stages of reading it is helpful for children to be surrounded by the written word and to be read to by adults, this article offers brief encapsulations of and responses to five articles about beginning reading and reading readiness. The five articles are as follows: (1) "Three-Year-Olds in Their Reading Corner" by…

Some of the difficulties faced by second language learners who are continuing to acquire English at the same time as they start to read simple extended English texts are illustrated. Specific focus is on the question of how writers of early reading material can best help such learners to understand the relationship between spoken and written…

Recounted in these two very brief papers are ways a mother arranged the home environment to teach basic skills to her 2-year-old child while enabling her daughter to play in a constructive way. The first paper focuses on learning colors and letters, storyreading at bedtime, and beginning reading activities when the child started to speak.…

In contrast to a common set of roles or definitions, it is a common sense of mission that unifies practitioners in the field of early childhood education. Successful missions in time become transformed into organizational sagas that capture the allegiance and commitment of a group. Early childhood educators can increase their commitment to the…

SOME EXPERIMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES CONDUCTED DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY UTILIZING PHONETIC ALPHABETS AS TRANSITIONAL MEDIA FOR INITIAL READING INSTRUCTION WERE SURVEYED TO PROVIDE A HISTORY OF THIS ASPECT OF EDUCATION. THE ACTUAL CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING EACH OF THE MAJOR USES OF SUCH TRANSITIONAL MEDIA ARE CONSIDERED IN DETAIL. THE…

Two case studies were conducted that both involved teaching three-year-olds to read. In Study A, one three-year-old child was provided reading training over 13 months, concomitant with a background program of speech, language, and intellectual stimulation. In Study B, four three-year-old children were provided reading training over 2 months. A…

The purpose of this study was to determine the part of a word upon which first and fifth graders depend most in word recognition and to determine whether any change occurs between grades one and five. Fifty-six first grade students and sixty-three fifth graders were tested. The children individually read sixty words from flash cards presented by…

This micromonograph describes reading readiness and offers suggestions for parents to help their children develop skills and abilities useful for reading. The six sections discuss the following topics: parents' roles and how children learn, toys which build reading readiness, the importance of encouraging children to talk and listen, ways in which…

Japanese preschool children begin to read at home at age four without any formal instruction or reading readiness programs, and the development of their reading abilities in the preschool stage is mainly up to the parents. A new reading program will be needed for the sake of children with parents who are not sufficiently concerned about reading.…

This paper discusses some of the issues in early reading instruction to be presented at Institute X. The issues discussed include sight word lists for beginning readers, choosing instructional methods in reading that complement individuals' learning styles, a pragmatic approach to teaching reading comprehension, literal reading comprehension, the…

From among the papers the author has presented at various conferences and the articles she has written for different journals, nine were selected to form this book. They are all concerned with beginning reading, and each forms a chapter of the book. Chapter one, "Approaches to Beginning Reading in Great Britain," discusses background…

This series of 12 articles for parents on how to help pre-schoolers and beginning readers at home was written for the National Reading Center by specialists in reading and early childhood education. The titles and authors are: "Getting Ready to Read" (E. Robert La Crosse), "Creating a Good Reading Climate at Home" (Mary Frances K. Johnson),…