Asserting that early education is the most cost-effective way to decrease the number of unskilled adults in the future, this report discusses the need to promote language and literacy learning in young children as a way to bolster the country's future workforce. Sections of the report discuss: (1) "Child Care: The Perfect Place to Develop…

Reports the findings of a study indicating that reading aloud to Black first grade students in an inner city area expanded significantly their knowledge of specific topics. (FL)

Discusses advantages--and a few disadvantages--of using social sight words (such as "sale,""stop," and "exit") in introducing young children to reading; suggests learning activities involving such words. (GT)

An investigation of the relationship of four perceptual and perceptual-motor skills to two measures of reading achievement in normal and learning disabled children in the second grade suggested that deficits in perceptual skills are not highly related to reading performance. (MKM)

This study identified a repertoire of early-life experiences to which young children with visual impairments need to be exposed to develop a foundation for literacy. By analyzing 254 stories from three published basal literacy series, 22 global areas of experience were determined to be essential. Guidelines for providing these experiences and…

Gives advanced and novice readers in grade one and older disabled readers nonword reading and spelling tasks. Finds that disabled readers read as many nonwords and spelled as many words as beginning readers, indicating equivalent alphabetic knowledge. Finds that disabled readers took significantly more trials to read 16 target words, indicating…

This case study of information-seeking behavior of second grade children in their school library media center focuses on how young children learning to read cope with searching for information in a largely textual corpus. Discusses children's search strategies; computer versus shelf searching; textual versus visual searching; and comparisons with…

This article shows how an understanding of phonological awareness can help teachers improve the reading skills of their students, particularly those at risk of failure. It examines the necessary components for a well-scaffolded program and possible adaptations that would be needed for learners who are at risk and those with disabilities. (Contains…

Investigates reliability of two approaches for estimating text difficulty at the first-grade level: the Scale for Text Accessibility and Support and the Fountas/Pinnell system. Supports the predictive validity of the two rating scales with performance data. Suggests potential benchmarks for first-grade performance: 95% accuracy; 80 words per…

A study investigated relationships among 59 elementary teachers' reading-related content knowledge, their philosophical orientation toward reading instruction, their classroom practice, and their students' learning. Relationships emerged between content knowledge and instruction and between kindergarten teachers' phonological knowledge and their…

Assesses kindergarten teachers' familiarity with and attitudes toward several emergent literacy concepts. Finds that less experienced teachers indicated greater familiarity with target concepts, as did teachers holding master's degrees. Finds that subjects least familiar with the concepts were more likely to serve as training teachers for…

Compares a structured phonics method with a child-centered language experience approach to teach beginning reading in kindergarten. Finds no difference in achievement between the two groups. Finds that children evidenced more motivation and social interaction related to language activities in the language experience approach. (KEH)