A study was conducted to measure possible sex differences in phonological awareness and reading ability among children in early primary school. A subset of the "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills" (DIBELS) was administered to 140 children in kindergarten through to second grade (mean ages five to seven years). Independent…

The predictive validity and accuracy of an oral reading fluency (ORF) measure for a statewide assessment in English language arts was examined for second-grade native English speakers (NESs) and English learners (ELs) with varying levels of English proficiency. In addition to comparing ELs with native English speakers, the impact of English…

Reading is not simply an additional tool that students need at university; it constitutes the very process whereby learning occurs. Pre-service students are required to read prescribed course material which is predominantly in English. An overview of the reading literacy profiles of first-year BEd foundation phase students from diverse language…

This research study examined two intervention programs, Read Naturally (computer-assisted) and The Six-Minute Solution (teacher-guided), for the purpose of finding their effects on reading fluency with 3rd grade students at an elementary school. The participants were from two separate third grade classrooms, randomly assigned to one of the two…

Within a response to intervention (RTI) framework, students are administered multiple tests of equivalent difficulty. Changes in students' scores over time are then attributed to changes in learning. In the current study, we evaluated the reliability of score changes (i.e., slope) for the easyCBM[R] letter names, word reading fluency, and passage…

This study used an alternating-treatment design to compare the efficacy of discrete trial training (DTT) with fluency training (FT) for the acquisition, stimulus generalization, and retention of noun labels in children with autism. Four elementary-age students diagnosed with autism were taught to expressively label nouns using a DTT format and a…

Poor literacy achievement among English learners has contributed significantly to their high dropout rates, poor job prospects, and high poverty rates. The National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth has suggested that English learners benefit from the same direct, systematic instruction in the five essential components of…

This study examined the predictive validity of a computer-adaptive assessment for measuring kindergarten reading skills using the STAR Early Literacy (SEL) test. The findings showed that the results of SEL assessments administered during the fall, winter, and spring of kindergarten were moderate and statistically significant predictors of year-end…

Anagram solution tasks have been frequently used to assess word recognition processes and relevant research suggests that anagram solution ability is closely related to reading. Recently, the anagram paradigm was utilized to compare reading performance in the Greek language and was found to share significant positive correlation to reading…

Dyslexia is heritable and associated with phonological processing deficits that can be reflected in the event-related potentials (ERPs). Here, we recorded ERPs from 2-month-old infants at risk of dyslexia and from a control group to investigate whether their auditory system processes /bAk/ and /dAk/ changes differently. The speech sounds were…

Many educators would agree that one way to enhance reading fluency is by being read to by fluent readers. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of providing students with audio books via an iPod Shuffle during silent reading time at school. For six weeks, Kindergarten participants spent time either silent reading or listening to a…

Two studies from English-speaking samples investigated the methodologically difficult question of whether the later reading achievement of children learning to read earlier or later differs. Children (n = 287) from predominantly state-funded schools were selected and they differed in whether the reading instruction age (RIA) was either five or…

We report the results of an alternate form reliability and criterion validity study of kindergarten and grade 1 (N = 84-199) reading measures from the easyCBM© assessment system and Stanford Early School Achievement Test/Stanford Achievement Test, 10th edition (SESAT/SAT-­10) across 5 time points. The alternate form reliabilities ranged from…

The study reviewed in this report examined the impact of a summer literacy program on kindergarten and first-grade students who were at moderate risk for reading difficulties in one Pacific Northwest school district. The study took place through a limited expansion of an existing summer program for high-risk students that was modified to include…

Progress monitoring, one of the essential components of Response to Intervention (RTI), is characterized by repeated measurement of academic performance that is conducted at least monthly. The process may be used to assess students' academic performance over time, to quantify student rates of improvement or responsiveness to instruction, and to…