Early comprehension is an important, but not well-understood, contribution to early literacy and language development. Specifically, research regarding the nature of skills representative of early comprehension, including how they contribute to later reading success, is needed to support best practices to adequately prepare students. This article…

Early comprehension is an important, but not well-understood, contribution to early literacy and language development. Specifically, research regarding the nature of skills representative of early comprehension, including how they contribute to later reading success, is needed to support best practices to adequately prepare students. This article…

Michigan is at a critical moment in time -- a historic moment where citizens and leaders must choose whether the state will take advantage of new opportunities to become a top ten education state -- or face a continued and dramatic educational decline. Today, national data reveal that Michigan's public education system is among the poorest…

Children who enter kindergarten with a small vocabulary don't get taught enough words--particularly, sophisticated academic words--to close the gap, according to the latest in a series of studies by Michigan early-learning experts. The findings suggest many districts could be at a disadvantage in meeting the increased requirements for vocabulary…

This study examined relations between parenting, shared reading practices, and child development. Participants included 28 children (M = 24.66 months, SD = 8.41 months) and their parents. Measures included naturalistic observations of parenting and shared reading quality, assessments of child cognitive and language development, and home reading…

The goal of the RF program, Part B of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), is to have all children reading at grade level by the end of third grade. There is no legislative precedent for this program, focused as it is on preventing reading failure in the early elementary years (US Department of Education, April 2002). Because the design of…

DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR 1965-66, GROUPS OF FIRST-GRADE PUPILS IN THE LIVONIA SCHOOL SYSTEM, MICHIGAN, WERE PROVIDED WITH READING INSTRUCTION MATERIALS FROM EIGHT PUBLISHERS REPRESENTING EIGHT APPROACHES AS PART ONE OF A 2-YEAR STUDY. THE MATERIALS WERE THE LIPPINCOTT BASIC READING SERIES, THE SCIENCE RESEARCH ASSOCIATES BASIC READING SERIES, THE…

THE RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF THREE APPROACHES TO BEGINNING READING WAS STUDIED. THE THREE APPROACHES WERE (1) PITMAN'S INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET APPROACH (ITAA), (2) A MODIFIED LANGUAGE ARTS APPROACH WITH TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY (LAA), AND (3) A BASIC READER APPROACH (BRA). TWO INTERRELATED PROBLEMS WERE ALSO TREATED IN THIS STUDY--(1) THE…

The art of spoken word has captured youthful spirits all over the country, especially in heterogeneous urban centers. In this essay, the author opens up for re-consideration a central issue in language arts education, one suggested by the very writing of spoken word: how educators think about the relationship between oral and written language and…

THE MULTIRACIAL, MULTICULTURAL DETROIT CITY SCHOOL SERIES PREPRIMERS, DEVELOPED FOR DISADVANTAGED PUPILS, HAVE CAREFULLY CHOSEN BASIC VOCABULARIES, HIGH INTEREST VALUE, AND BREVITY. WHEN THE NEW SERIES WAS COMPARED WITH A STANDARD ONE, IT WAS FOUND THAT THE CITY SERIES PROMOTED GREATER VERBAL COMPETENCE AND MORE DESIRE TO READ WAS MUCH MORE…