In order to test the efficacy of having college students read texts in which phrase boundaries are explicitly cued, the phrased text treatments were administered to 42 college students from 3 developmental reading courses in one southeastern university. An experimental group was given the phrased texts, while a control group was given the…

The purpose of this handbook, is to assist teachers in assessing their students in reading, regardless of the grade level or subject they teach. It is intended as a starting point on the journey to helping students become effective readers, regardless of the material they are reading. SERVE, one of the Regional Educational Laboratories, has…

Oral reading fluency is an important component of the reading process. Many students develop negative attitudes about reading due to self-consciousness of their below average oral reading skills. In this study, video self-modeling was used with three third-grade students who were below grade level in reading. The self-modeling procedure allowed…

Describes the Community Reading Month (CRM) initiative in Iowa City, Iowa; its goals are to promote the value of reading and to build a sense of community. Topics include the development of CRM, increased reading scores of Iowa City's elementary school students, activities for people of all ages, and planning and evaluation. (AEF)

This study examined the construct validity of curriculum-based measures of oral reading fluency from basal reading programs. Twelve special education students (grades 2-5) were monitored for oral fluency using 2 reading curricula (their instructional curriculum and the mainstream reading curriculum) throughout the academic year. Performance…

Reviews research on reading fluency and provides recommendations for teaching reading skills to students with mild disabilities. Interventions that are discussed include repeated reading, peer-mediated instruction, computer-guided practice, previewing, and combined instruction. (Author/CR)

This study compared the use of two supplemental balanced and strategic reading interventions that targeted the decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension of upper-elementary and middle school students with reading disabilities (RD). All students had significant delays in decoding, fluency, comprehension, and language processing. Two comparable,…

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) of oral reading has been used to aid in identifying students who are at risk for failing the reading portion of their spring state standards tests. The purpose of this study is to determine whether adding a maze reading measure would aid in predicting the performance of students who are English learners (ELs).…

The impact of adding performance-based interventions to a skill-based intervention on oral reading fluency was examined with 3 elementary students identified as having difficulty with reading. Two performance-based interventions were combined with the skill-based intervention Repeated Reading (RR) to create the three instructional packages…

A growing research base on adolescent literacy supports an emphasis on direct instruction in the reading and writing skills needed to perform these more complex literacy tasks. However, many middle and high school teachers have little or no preparation for teaching these skills within their content-area disciplines and have few resources upon…

A study was designed to examine the effectiveness of repeated reading in fluency and comprehension. A cross-age reading program was used to give students a purpose for rereading material. The children in a second-grade classroom in a private school in suburban New Jersey were randomly assigned to two sample groups. The experimental group read to a…

A practicum addressed the problem of lack of fluency of learning-disabled and low-achieving students (N=24) retained in the first grade by using predictable books written in a natural manner emphasizing the children's natural language. Two evaluation procedures from the Reading Miscue Inventory were used to determine the degree to which students…

This article briefly reviews the research on word learning and vocabulary teaching, provides a rationale for building a rich vocabulary and identifies nine guidelines for sound vocabulary instruction. Problematic classroom practices are highlighted and a "best-practice" vocabulary teacher is described. The article also includes a…

Exemplary teacher research has established that explicit teaching plays a vital role in the K-12 classroom, with particular benefits for struggling readers. This book is a practical resource for explaining reading to students who do not learn easily. The book identifies 22 major skills and strategies associated with vocabulary development,…

This primer provides the basic information that teachers and tutors need to get started on the complex process of reading assessment. Designed for maximum utility in today's standards-driven classroom, the primer presents simple, practical assessment strategies that are based on theory and research. It takes teachers step by step through learning…