This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 21 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: children's development of syntactic aspects of reading comprehension, the relative contributions of the individual and the text in the comprehension and retention…

Several Methodological problems characterize the large number of studies of the relationship between students' socioeconomic background and their group or "track" placement in schools. Thus the degree of SES segregation resulting from instructional grouping in schools is unclear. One purpose of this study was to construct an alternative…

For the past 100 years we have been acting as if education in school was of words, by words, and for words, but in fact verbal literacy was preceded by visual literacy when humans communicated with body language before they had speech. American educators have been concentrating efforts on the left hemisphere of the brain in which the verbal…

This study dealt with the relationship of educational background, age, sex, and liberal education to critical thinking and open-mindedness for participants (119 Michigan farmers, aged about 25-35, and their wives) in an extensive continuing education program. Three groups admitted to the Kellogg Farmers Study Program (KFSP) in 1965, 1966, and…

Thirty-two pairs of disadvantaged Negro first grade children were matched on mental age (M.A.), chronological age (C.A.), intelligence quotient (I.Q.), and language age (L.A.). One of each pair was randomly assigned to be the experimental group, while the other formed the matched pair of the control group. A language stimulation program consisting…

The DOVACK Reading System was field tested on 391 low income, minority, elementary and secondary students over a period of 3 years. The objectives were to test the system for its adaptability to the populations for which it was designed, its effectiveness in meeting goals and objectives, and its economic feasibility on a larger scale. Using five…

A study was conducted to: (1) determine the simple and multiple correlation coefficients between selected educational/personal variables and academic achievement at intermediate grade levels as measured by the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills; (2) determine the multiple linear regression equations for predicting individual student achievement as…

Reports on a pilot program for developmental placement in Brevard County, Florida. Discusses various aspects of the program, including teacher education, student screening, parent involvement, cost, and program evaluation. Asserts that developmental placement aids students' academic progress. (MM)

Suggests that reading programs should be structured to include group work and interaction so that children gain a sense of "I-Thou" community through reading instruction. (JC)

Describes a successful English writing program for Navajo kindergarten children in Ganado Primary School (Arizona), which encourages children to draw and write in journals. Indicates that many Navajo students enter school with the capacity to move directly into daily writing and have already formed strong concepts about written language. (MH)

This article discusses the poor reading achievement of African-American children in urban schools and argues that prevention efforts must begin prior to kindergarten. Key variables influencing young children's performance, including poverty, general oral language skills, dialectal variations, home literacy practices, standardized testing bias, and…

This study was designed to examine whether there is a relationship between phonological memory and reading ability in Greek-speaking children aged between 6 and 9 years. An additional aim of the study was to investigate whether training of phonological memory during preschool years enhances reading achievement during early school years. In…

This paper provides an overview of hyperlexia, a condition found in children who have precocious reading skills accompanied by significant problems in language, learning, and social skills. These children are described as having superior auditory and visual memory but seem to have better memory for isolated words than words recalled in context.…

To determine the factors accounting for children's growth in decoding skill, a study examined school entering characteristics--age, sex, ethnicity, and developmental abilities--and school-influenced skills and characteristics--phonemic awareness, letter-name knowledge, basal text, and place in series--of approximately 100 grade one students.…

To determine the relationship of reading ability to age, sex, Hispanic ethnicity, and majors in economics, political science, history, and psychology, 141 students who completed summer social science courses at a California community college were given the Nelson Denny Reading Test, which scores for vocabulary and comprehension. Of the 141…