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Through story grammar instruction, low-achieving students are discovering that literature can be fun to read and perhaps have application to their own lives. (Author/TE)

This study explored beginning special education teacher quality and the role that knowledge and skill for teaching reading plays in defining quality. The authors examined the relationship between beginning teachers' knowledge for teaching reading and their classroom practices during reading instruction and, further, relationships between classroom practices and student achievement gains on various reading measures. Findings revealed special education beginning teachers were somewhat knowledgeable about teaching reading, but this knowledge did not con- tribute a significant portion of variance to classroom practice. Practices in classroom management, decoding practices, and providing explicit, engaging instruction accounted for a significant portion of variance in student reading gains. Implications for further research and the preparation and induction of beginning teachers are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When attempting to determine if an intervention has a causal impact, the 'gold standard' of program evaluation is the randomized controlled trial (RCT). In education studies random assignment is rarely feasible at the student level, making RCTs harder to conduct. School-level assignment is more common but this often requires considerable resources compared to designs where classrooms can be assigned within a school. This article describes the costs and benefits of testing the effects of a classroom based instructional intervention using the multi-site cluster RCT. Topics covered include a discussion of various design options, statistical power, contamination, prior evidence, generalizability of results, ease of recruitment and need for data collection. The purpose of the article is to inform practice by providing program evaluators with an in-depth look at various RCT design options that were considered when searching for a way to efficiently evaluate a school-based intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an alternative therapeutic approach to a case of a heroin addict who was a borderline psychotic with possible brain damage in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Regulatory effect of diphenylhydantoin on bio-electrical activity to stabilize hyper-excitable nerve cells and tissues in the post synaptic membranes; Use of special cognitive therapy; Mobilization of perceptual senses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effectiveness of story grammar as an instructional strategy for teaching comprehension of literature to eight high school students with learning disabilities. Integration of advances in cognitive psychology in cognitive psychology with principles of effective instruction in this strategy; Improvements in the students' ability to answer questions on the stories read indicated by the results.