Addressing the question of why some children manage to continue successfully through the later stages of literacy acquisition while others are unable to meet the challenges presented by fourth and fifth grade reading tasks, an 18-month, in-depth study was conducted of the home environment factors influencing the reading comprehension of second,…

Based on the realization that professors' cultural and personal backgrounds affect the way they transmit information and the way they interact with men and women students in their classes, this booklet is designed to help faculty members assess how they are presenting subject matter to their students. The first section of the booklet,…

Two studies were conducted among Hispanic secondary school students in Arizona to determine whether providing special reading time with a wide variety of reading materials in Spanish would affect the students' reading abilities, reading attitudes, and academic self-concepts. The studies were conducted in two Arizona high schools, one in a high…

A study of students' self-expressed test-taking strategies for reading comprehension tests in English as a second language (ESL) had as subjects 86 Hebrew-speaking university students in Israel. The students were given a reading comprehension test, half with open-ended questions and half with multiple choice. Half the responses were anonymous and…

Four resource units are included in this document. For each, general objectives on knowledge and concepts, skills, and attitudes are given; content is outlined; and some suggestions for initiating the unit are listed. The first unit, on measuring length, provides six lesson plans, to teach about the meter, the smaller units of the meter, units…

Twenty-seven activities have been compiled to assist teachers in incorporating environmental methods and techniques into their preschool curricula. These activities are designed to complement the classroom curriculum and heighten participant awareness and appreciation of environmental resources and relationships. Each activity includes: (1)…

Two student populations of 13-year-olds in Ontario (Canada) were assessed as part of the 1988 International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP): French- and English-language students. Results confirm findings of differences in mathematics achievement seen earlier in the Second International Mathematics Study. Ontario French-language students…

A second grade teacher in a rural Appalachian school draws heavily on familiar regional literature and the children's own rich mountain heritage and culture to teach reading to her students, covering the required basal readings in only one day per week. Students use the basals on Mondays and retell the texts on paper. They spend the rest of the…

This study examined relationships among three sets of variables: strategic planning in school districts; school district achievement in reading, language arts, and mathematics; and school district financial and demographic factors. Ten financial and demographic factors are investigated: (1) current expenses; (2) pupil-teacher ratios; (3) costs of…

Summaries of several papers are presented to develop a working theoretical analysis of reading comprehension and an understanding of development in language comprehension based upon empirical studies. Contributions from the areas of assessment, artificial intelligence, cognition (including schema theory), instruction, linguistics, learning…

California's annual language census survey for 1987-1988 contains data on the numbers and geographic distribution of limited-English-proficient (LEP), fluent-English-proficient (FEP) public school students with native languages other than English, and of bilingual staff in the public school system. Of the nearly 4 million students enrolled in…

This manual was developed for use by the personnel of the New Jersey state department of education to provide technical assistance to local, state, and federal bilingual education and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) projects in the state. It contains seven training modules, each consisting of a reproducible workshop packet with procedures for…

Developed to help educators locate microcomputer software programs they may want to preview for students in grades K-12, this guide lists commercially available instructional software programs that have been favorably reviewed by members of the Educational Software Evaluation Consortium. Programs are arranged alphabetically by title within…

The paper examines issues in early intervention with deaf blind infants. Considered are the effects of definitions of deaf-blindness on service provision and on the training of preservice students in this area. Appropriate programs entail intervention methods that address the usage of residual vision and audition as well as the development of…

This booklet is designed to use the newspaper in the teaching of social studies, language arts, math, and science. Each of these major areas is divided into several topics. Each topic is defined, followed by a list of activities using newspaper articles or pictures to develop the topic. The seven topics for social studies are sociology;…