The Right-to-Read Program outlined in this document is an ungraded project for kindergarten through third grade, which utilizes individual diagnostic tests to place pupils at their instructional levels of reading and to prescribe plans of individualized instruction based on specific curriculum objectives. The document sketches the development of…

A study was conducted to determine whether primary school children who were taught reading with an experimental modality prescriptive-diagnostic reading program achieved higher reading comprehension scores in the intermediate grades than did children who were taught reading with a traditional reading approach. The experimental group was composed…

The Children's Art Carnival (C.A.C) is a community arts organization founded in Harlem in 1969. The organization aims to improve the language skills of pupils with low academic achievement through intensive participation in creative arts activities. In 1983-84, the program served 305 second, third, and fourth graders from eight schools in…

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effect of a diagnostic structured kindergarten program on the predicted reading levels of disadvantaged urban children and to compare the effect of this program with the effect of the traditional kindergarten curriculum. The subjects were 196 children in eight kindergarten classes. More than 70% of…

The effects of individually prescribed instruction (IPI) in reading as compared to the traditional mode of instruction are examined. The IPI model includes four components: analysis of subject matter content, diagnosis of student preinstructional behavior, sequencing of materials to facilitate learning, and evaluation strategies. Elementary…

Intended for reading teachers and others involved in the testing or placement of students, this paper describes the development and evaluation of a prescribed individualized reading program. Following an introduction to the program (which allows students to progress through each reading level at their own pace), the second and third sections of…

This document is a collection of the International Reading Association's first reports on the Right to Read effort. Five reports are included: report 1 discusses the basic principles of Right to Read, school and community based programs, administrators of the program, right to read states, special projects, technical assistance, emergency school…

The two-year goal of the Diagnostic-Prescriptive-Individualized Primary Reading Program (DPI) is to cut in half the deficit between the national norms and actual achievement scores of the pupils as measured by the California Achievement Tests at the first and second grade levels and the California Test of Basic Skills at the third grade level. As…

Facets of the reading curriculum (what is to be taught, how reading competence may be developed, and how the teacher can evaluate reading proficiency) are discussed in this volume, the purpose of which is to increase the reader's knowledge of the scope, content, and process of reading instruction and its influence on the quality of talking,…

This paper discusses an investigation that compared college students' reading gains when using general or specific diagnosis. It reports that significant gains were made on many subskills of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test by the group that had the prescriptions developed as a result of a differential (specific) diagnosis and that there were…

A study was conducted to measure the effect and compare the results of developmental reading instruction for college students as prescribed from the specific results of a diagnostic reading test and a general, more traditionally used, survey reading test. The sample consisted of 226 students enrolled in different sections of a reading course…

To improve the reading skills of students with low academic achievement, the Children's Art Carnival (CAC) Reading Program provided 321 children in grades 2-5 with art and reading activities and assistance with behavioral and emotional problems. Analyses of pretests and posttests focused on students' academic achievement and attendance and staff…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 11 titles deal with the following topics: a mature reader's use of consciously employed strategies to facilitate comprehension; contextual and acontextual approaches to teaching vocabulary to adult students; methods for teaching…

In implementing a districtwide reading project emphasizing staff development for middle school level teachers, the Moore County, North Carolina district conducted a study to determine whether middle school children could exceed their prior reading growth rates over a three-year period. Students from grades four through eight were pretested in the…

Intended for teachers, this book on beginning literacy examines questions and solutions concerning literacy theories and practices. Chapter 1, "An Open Approach to Literacy," explores some assumptions about literacy and characteristics of a model for language learning. Chapter 2 presents historical viewpoints and current practices,…