Suggests that teachers should provide text that supports students' changing interactions with text as they move from learning about print and how it works, to the labors of learning to decode, and on to growing independence and fluency. Highlights effective uses of simple predictable text, transitional text, decodable text, easy readers, and…

A kindergarten teacher relates her teaching experiences as she reexamines her role as teacher and shifts her focus from reading readiness to teaching reading. She reflects on her teaching practices, on learning new skills herself, and the challenge of incorporating new knowledge and practices into classroom instruction. (TJQ)

This article reviews research on effective classroom reading instruction that finds dramatic reduction in reading failure occurs when explicit instruction is provided in phonemic awareness and decoding skills, word recognition and text processing, construction of meaning, vocabulary, spelling, and writing. The need for small-group instruction for…

This article reports on research on the effectiveness of a peer-assisted learning strategy (PALS) intervention to develop fluency in beginning readers with and without disabilities. Pairs of students complete phonically based activities and then repeated readings of a shared text. Evaluation indicated that the peer-mediated, repeated reading…

This article describes the usage of linguistic units and instructional strategies that facilitate word recognition for Latino kindergarten students who are beginning to read in Spanish. This case study was based on coding videotaped reading and language arts instruction of two bilingual kindergarten teachers at the beginning, middle, and end of…

This study investigated the trajectories of preschool and first-grade childrens development of reading skills, as well as the cognitive and social antecedents of that development. One-hundred and ninety-six 5- to 6-year-old children were tested in October and April of their preschool year and again in the first grade. Data included measures of…

This study describes the evolution of an exemplary Title I reading program in a rural elementary school. The key element in the program was a knowledgeable reading teacher who worked directly with children and also supervised the tutoring efforts of others (teacher assistants and community volunteers). A snapshot of longitudinal test data showed…

Names hold great meaning for children and are, for many, the first word they learn to recognize by sight. Children have a great interest in learning to write their names as well as the names of their family and friends. Adults working with young children can take advantage of this interest to introduce a variety of early literacy concepts. Using…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the "Corrective Reading Decoding B1" program on the basic reading skills, social adjustment, and treatment responsiveness of elementary and middle school students with high-incidence disabilities (N = 51). Students were provided an average of 3 40-45 min lessons per week over the course of…

Homeschooling is a growing phenomenon worldwide and especially across the United States. It is not fully understood yet as to what comprises the myriad of ethnological components in this educational choice by parents. To build upon existing theory, this study looked at the following ethnological factors; regional location of a family's home within…

A first-grade teacher used comic books as read-alouds during her implementation of a reading/writing workshop. The students, primarily English-language learners, were able to make use of this medium in order to learn new reading practices. The teacher used the comics to teach multiple aspects of various reading processes such as reading with an…

"DaisyQuest" is a software bundle that offers computer-assisted instruction in phonological awareness, targeting children aged three to seven years. The instructional activities, framed in a fairy tale involving a search for a friendly dragon named Daisy, teach children how to recognize words that rhyme; words that have the same…

This study explored the development of children's early understanding of visual and orthographic aspects of print and how this is related to early reading acquisition. A total of 474 children, ages 48 to 83 months, completed standardized measures of phonological awareness and early reading skills. They also completed experimental tasks that tapped…

Assessment of student performance is critical for developing effective instructional policy and designing programs responsive to individual students' needs. To gauge the adequacy of available assessment tools for achieving these ends, the Reading First Assessment Committee (RFAC) developed criteria for evaluating the adequacy of reading measures…

First-grade children's reading, writing, and spelling competencies in 2 different instructional contexts for teaching phonics were examined. Reading, writing, and spelling abilities were measured at the beginning, middle, and end of 1st grade. Children were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments designed to teach grapheme-phoneme correspondences,…