Adequate improvement of education depends to some extent upon understanding behavior and learning within a social context. (JD)

Suggests ways a teacher who is interested in performing Piagetian testing might persuade a principal of the validity of the tests, and offers insight into the connection between cognitive development and reading achievement. (JC)

Reports findings of a study of current practices in kindergarten programs showing that teachers seldom use test results to adapt instruction to individual needs. (FL)

The reciprocal teaching procedure, which involves interactive dialogue and teacher modeling, was used to teach prereading skills (finger spelling, book reading, story retelling, and word recognition) to 23 prelingually deaf kindergarten and first-grade students. Pre-post test analyses showed that gains were made in letter, word, and story…

Examines whether partial pictorial cues facilitate imagery in 6-year-old children and whether the facilitation of recall is due to simple repetition of contextual information or to encoding specificity. Concludes children do benefit from partial pictures. (HOD)

This paper presents one perspective on a new methodology of program evaluation which defines four phases corresponding to the operational life of a school program. Examples and results are discussed in terms of relevance to basic skills improvement efforts and cost-effects. (LMO)

Examines the effects of providing subjects with prior information about the organization of expository passages. Concludes that a structural organizer with outline grid and that notetaking alone both reliably and markedly facilitated comprehension and recall, and that a structural organizer without outline grid reliably facilitated comprehension…

Notes that, while the test is not recommended for children at the lower and extreme upper levels, it does provide a valid and reliable measure of some of the abilities that may be involved in the reading behaviors of five- and six-year-old children. (FL)

This report describes the development and testing of a computerized early literacy diagnostic assessment for students in prekindergarten to grade 3 that can measure skills across a variety of preliteracy and reading domains. The STAR Early Literacy assessment was developed by a team of more than 50 people, including literacy experts,…

This executive summary of Georgia Reading Excellence Act Demonstration Sites (GA READS) includes the Reading Excellence overview; Georgia's plan and goals; state activities; a timeline; local activities; and a budget. The overview states that the Reading Excellence Act was authorized to carry out the following purposes: teach every child to read…

Children may do better in school if they can see how education is connected to a successful future. This brochure is designed for parents to help their children: (1) Discover the variety of jobs available; (2) Connect classroom learning in school to real-world situations; (3) Begin viewing himself or herself in an occupation; and (4) Develop…

This report describes a literacy program that provides readers with materials and instructions that fit their individual levels of development. The targeted population consists of kindergarten students in a northwest suburb that is characterized by higher than average household earnings, highly educated residents, and a population encompassing all…

As part of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, this brochure (in English and Spanish) provides a guide to assist parents in helping their children become ready to read and to learn. The suggestions include: (1) talking to infants/toddlers to help them learn to speak and understand the meaning of words; (2)…

This report describes a program for improving language and literacy development among young children. The targeted population consisted of public school children, ages three to five, enrolled in an early childhood special education program and an at-risk prekindergarten program. The problems of delayed language and literacy development skills were…

Students entering first grade are not prepared to read. They lack the readiness skills that provide the foundation for success. Learning to read and write is a struggle, particularly for those students who have not had a variety of experience with reading and writing prior to entering school. In an effort to increase the readiness skills of…