The experiment described in this report investigates two basic questions concerning beginning reading instruction to speakers of nonstandard dialects. 1--Will learning to read be facilitated if the primary reading material is phrased in the actual word patterns and grammatical structure used by the children in their oral speech? 2--Will learning…

Goal: Educators believe that parents can help their children learn to read. But what evidence supports this belief? And if parent involvement does matter, what kinds of parent involvement are most efficient? The goal of this report was to review the scientific literature on parent involvement in the acquisition of reading from kindergarten to…

The New York State Education Department has adopted the national reading goal that all children will be able to read independently and well by the end of Grade 3. Building on previous English language arts documents of the Department, this document provides teachers with additional specificity regarding the early literacy skills that students…

A study evaluated the Early Literacy program that served 2,021 underachieving pupils in grades 1 (1600) and 2 (421) in the Columbus, Ohio, public schools. The purpose of the Early Literacy program was to provide early intervention to underachieving first- and second-grade pupils who appeared unlikely to learn to read successfully without reading…

A study evaluated the Title I Early Literacy program that served 1,503 underachieving pupils in grades 1 (1,169) and 2 (334) in the Columbus, Ohio, public schools. The purpose of the Early Literacy program was to provide early intervention to underachieving first- and second-grade pupils who appeared unlikely to learn to read successfully without…

This bulletin is based upon a conference on beginning reading instruction which brought together professional leaders in the field of reading and related disciplines. Their purpose was to report on research and to review a variety of practices on primary reading. Keynoting the conference, one of America's foremost reading authorities gives a…

The increasing demand for improved student performance in the context of significant time constraints places considerable stress on educators and administrators to develop innovative strategies that promote literacy acquisition. This article describes the procedures and outlines the evaluative data for Reading Their Way, a literacy acquisition…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on language learning and the young child is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a…

A close relationship exists between children's capacity for learning in school (especially learning to read) and the amount and kind of reading aloud done by parents and teachers to children. Children's literature, especially the illustrations and the language contained in fine picture books, has the potential to provide six benefits that…

The purpose of this curriculum guide is to assist Training Specialists in teaching Adult Basic Education/General Educational Development (ABE/GED) students basic skills in language arts and mathematics. The guide begins with an introduction (purpose, overview, adult learner characteristics, teacher type), curriculum policies, curriculum structure,…

A study examined whether reading aloud to kindergarten children on a regular basis would have an effect on their attention span. Subjects, 28 kindergarten students from a New Jersey school, were pretested and then assigned either to an experimental group or to a control group (14 in each group). The experimental sample received the treatment of…

This study examined the psycholinguistic implications of using either of two different types of orthography--syllabic and roman--in Native language programs for Cree children with regard to readability, learnability, and the transfer of reading skills to and from reading in an official language (English or French). This study can also be applied…

This volume describes the program plans for the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh for 1970. The report briefly surveys the long-term objectives of each program and describes in detail the specific plans for accomplishing each project within the programs for the next contract year. (1) The basic learning…

The Institute for Developmental Studies (IDS) is engaged in research aimed at specifying what the academic handicaps of deprived children are, what causes these handicaps, and what can be done to overcome them. This IDS report on their research and evaluation program is divided into two sections. The first, "Summaries of Basic Research, Applied…

The problem of teaching standard English reading and language skills to children who speak nonstandard dialects can be facilitated through a language program that distinguishes between "everyday talk" and "school talk," while recognizing the position of both types of speech. The instructional materials must be meaningful with respect to the…