"Success for All" ("SFA"®) is a whole-school reform model (that is, a model that integrates curriculum, school culture, family, and community supports) for students in prekindergarten through grade 8. "SFA"® includes a literacy program, quarterly assessments of student learning, a social-emotional development program,…

Accelerated Reader™ is a computerized supplementary reading program that provides guided reading instruction to students in grades K-12. It aims to improve students' reading skills through reading practice and by providing frequent feedback on students' progress to teachers. The Accelerated Reader™ program requires students to select and read a…

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…

This article reports the outcomes of an experimental evaluation of "Read Well Kindergarten" (RWK), a program that focuses on the development of vocabulary, phonological awareness, alphabetic understanding, and decoding. Kindergarten teachers in 24 elementary schools in New Mexico and Oregon were randomly assigned, by school, to teach RWK…

THE REINFORCING EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONTINGENCIES, IN WHICH A VERBAL LEARNING TASK WAS PRESENTED, WERE TESTED. THE LEARNING TASK INVOLVED A SIMULATION OF THE PROCESS BY WHICH THE PUPIL APPROACHES BEGINNING READING THROUGH THE ACQUISITION OF A BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARY. THE CRITERION FOR MEASURING DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT WAS ESTABLISHED AS…

This position paper was written to assist teachers and administrators in Oregon in preparing curriculum and setting priorities for kindergarten programs. It begins by asserting that the focus of kindergarten instruction should be on the total development of the child: socioemotional, physical, and intellectual. The need for concrete learning…

Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) is a book and reading program for children in kindergarten through second grade in 13 Oregon counties. The program aims to create a relaxed and safe environment in which children can practice their skills, one-on-one, with caring adult volunteers. A volunteer tutor recounts her experiences with the program. (SAS)

IN AN EFFORT TO CLARIFY THE QUESTION OF THE VALUE OF ABILITY GROUPING, THE POSSIBLE INFLUENCE OF LEVEL OF READING GROUP PLACEMENT ON PRIMARY STUDENTS ENJOYMENT OF READING AND SELF-PERCEPTION AS READERS WAS STUDIED IN THREE RANDOMLY-SELECTED FIRST-, SECOND-, AND THIRD-GRADE CLASSROOMS IN A CORVALLIS, OREGON, SCHOOL LOCATED IN A LOWER-MIDDLE TO…

This article outlines the Schoolwide Reading Improvement Model (SRIM), a model characterized by the strategic integration of research-based practices in assessment, instructional design, and beginning reading instruction. A description of each major stage of the SRIM is provided, along with an example of its application in an Oregon school…

Describes the creative instructional techniques used to teach and encourage reading at Clackamas Elementary School, Oregon: reading-ability grouping across grades two through six; child-generated vocabulary; peer-to-peer reading; self-esteem reinforcement; and combined use of whole-language, phonics, and cueing strategies. Emphasizes use of…

THE VIEW THAT READING IS A ROTE, AUTOMATIC, CONDITIONED, NONMEANINGFUL PROCESS WHICH PRECEDES (THUS IS SEPARABLE FROM) COMPREHENSION IS CORROBORATED IN A TWO-PART INVESTIGATION. IN PART I, EVIDENCE IS PRESENTED TO SUPPORT THE POSITION THAT READING IS A NONMEANINGFUL PROCESS. IN PART II, A STUDY OF THE EFFICACY OF AN AUDITORY APPROACH TO…

Describes how science activities are integrated with reading and writing activities to teach reading to inner-city first graders in Portland, Oregon. Both explicit phonics and whole-language instruction are used, along with pocket charts, poetry, small-group instruction, leveled books, running records, jump-rope rhymes, and story writing. (SAS)