There is an extensive body of research establishing measures of oral reading fluency as valid and reliable predictors of important reading outcomes and performance on high stakes tests (Good, Simmons, & Kame'enui, 2001). The present study was conducted to determine whether these findings also apply to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test…

This study was conducted to determine how useful students' prior performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is in helping to identify students who are likely to struggle on the subsequent year's FCAT, if intervention is not provided. Specifically, the authors wanted to determine how students are likely to perform on the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of two computer supported approaches to teaching beginning reading skills that differed in important aspects of their instructional approach and emphasis. One of the programs was "Auditory Discrimination in Depth," which provides very explicit instruction and practice in…

Despite the recent attention to text reading fluency, few studies have studied the construct of oral reading rate and accuracy in connected text in a model that simultaneously examines many of the important variables in a multi-leveled fashion with young readers. Using Structural Equation Modeling, this study examined the measurement and…

The goal of the current study was to compare two forms of dynamic assessment and standard assessment of preschool children's phonological awareness. The first form of dynamic assessment was a form of scaffolding in which item formats were modified in response to an error so as to make the task easier or more explicit. The second form of dynamic…

The paper cites research which suggests that computers be programmed to deliver effective practice in basic decoding skills. Three evaluation studies are presented that show how currently available programs can be used to increase decoding fluency in children with reading problems. (CL)

A study of 30 normal and poor readers tested the hypothesis that reading disabled children's failure to apply effective strategies to rote-memory tasks is related to their lack of reflective knowledge about memory and their disorganized approach to cognitive tasks. Findings supported the view that many children fail to read well because they do…

Directed study, in which all children were required to engage in the same number of repetitive spellings of word lists, had significant effects on spelling performance of learning disabled children without short-term memory deficits, but not Ss with short-term memory problems. Findings suggest that some LD children may need different kinds of…

Examined whether method of presentation (live vs. taped) affected scores on Blending and Memory for Sentences subtests of Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery in two age levels of 60 Black and 60 White children. Results indicated that live voice presentation benefitted all groups in their scores on both subtests. (NRB)

The study investigated the hypothesis that differences in performance between 19 poor and 19 good readers in the fourth grade on a rote memory task could be eliminated if both groups were induced to process the material to be remembered in the same manner. (Author/SBH)

Cognitive abilities that predicted growth in response to a 12-week training program in phonological awareness were investigated in 100 kindergarten children. Findings suggested that growth in analytic awareness was predicted by invented spelling and general verbal ability, while growth in synthetic awareness was predicted by a combination of…

Finds that rapid automatic naming ability did not uniquely explain variance in reading outcome measures, but that individual differences in phonological awareness in both second and third grades did uniquely explain growth in reading skills over this developmental period. Discusses results in the context of methodological issues in the use of…

Summarizes ongoing research designed to generate new knowledge about the relative effectiveness of different approaches to the prevention and remediation of reading disabilities in children, particularly difficulties in acquiring accurate and fluent word reading skills. Preliminary results from the prevention study and the remediation study are…

Examined the role of individual differences in working memory and lexical access in age- and reading skill-related differences in performance on phonological synthesis tasks. The performance of 28 kindergarten, first-, and second-grade students with normal reading skills, and that of 28 reading-disabled second graders, was compared under four…

Effects of 2 types of oral language training programs on development of phonological awareness skills and word learning ability were examined for 48 kindergartners. Children receiving analytic and synthetic training improved significantly on both types of skills, but children receiving synthetic skills training alone improved only in blending…