Concludes that underachieving readers appeared to make significantly less use of the phonemic, graphic, and grammatical features of text when providing miscue responses to cohesive items than they did when making miscue responses to the text as a whole. In addition, they often lost the meaning relationships conveyed by the text when providing…

The purpose of this study was to take an initial step toward developing sound and versatile predictive instruments (i.e., benchmark measures) in reading, writing, and math that can be used to assess high-school students' academic performance in a manner that will not only predict scores on high-stakes tests but will also be amenable to repeat…

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the use of young children's artwork in the assessment of reading abilities. The research method for the study was qualitative, and the design followed an interpretive approach. Subjects were 12 transitional-first grade students (a transitional-first grade allows a child with normal academic ability…

This report examines the current state of research on the achievement outcomes of Success For All, a program built around the idea that every child can and must succeed in the early grades, no matter what this takes. Success For All uses everything known about effective instruction for students at risk to direct all aspects of schooling and…

Two studies with poor readers in grade 4 (total N=68) examined the relationship between word identification speed and story reading fluency. Benefits were found for single-word practice prior to reading stories containing those words, even for children who were particularly poor namers. Results are related to theoretical links between fluency and…

Discusses collaboration between secondary school teacher-librarians and English teachers to promote literacy and reading through choice book units, where students can choose from a selection of suggested titles. Topics include nonfiction books; advantages for low-ability readers; audio books; and Teachers as Readers book discussion groups. (LRW)

Interviews with 61 fourth-grade English language learners (ELLs) and native English speakers in an English-only California school district found that compared with weaker ELL readers, ELLs who read English well expressed more confidence about their own primary-language abilities and about others' perceptions of their primary language and…

This article describes how a first-grade teacher used poetry to provide students of diverse ability levels with reading and language activities that stimulated their interest and improved basic skills. Activities with poetry included reading the poems aloud individually and as a group, discussing and analyzing the poems' words and meanings, and…

Describes a grant-funded project that used technology to adapt the same instructional materials for 240 fourth-grade students by using captioned video scripts at different reading levels to provide individualization. A multiple-choice quiz of comprehension and vocabulary-related questions was developed as an assessment tool. Student reactions…

Discussion of text segmenting and comprehension highlights a study of elementary students in Australia that tested two hypotheses, one concerning reading abilities and one concerning information processing skills involved in syntactic analysis. Tests that measured vocabulary, comprehension, and processing skills are described, results are…

Analyzes data from a longitudinal investigation of reading ability in New Zealand children, ages 7-13. Children with lower reading abilities at age 13 were compared with children who were slow starters but had normal reading abilities at age 13 in an effort to identify predictors of reading progress. (22 references) (Author/LRW)

Examines the use of reading diaries, in which parents of poor readers recorded their child's reading activities at home. Indicates that children made a mean gain in Reading Age Score of 6.3 months after five weeks of using the reading diary approach. Reports positive change in reading attitudes for both parents and children. (MG)

How prior knowledge influences short-term non-verbal and verbal memory and long-term retention was studied in 32 seventh and 32 eighth graders of high and low reading ability. Greater knowledge of the text's subject resulted in improved recall and retention. No interactions were found between prior knowledge and reading ability. (SLD)

Interviews with 16 deaf high school students and 9 teachers found that teachers underestimated the extent of students' independent comprehension of 3 types of text. The text perceived to be most difficult by both teachers and students was the most interesting to students (but not teachers) and fostered use of a greater variety of metacognitive…