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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 structural relations of the rate and accuracy of variables important in early reading: phonemic blending, letter sounds, phonograms, decoding, single-word reading, reading comprehension, and text reading as well as reading comprehension among second grade readers. The effects from phonemic blending fluency and letter sound fluency to decoding were completely mediated by phonogram fluency, decoding fluency, single-word reading fluency, and reading comprehension had direct effects on the text reading fluency of the second grade students. Understanding the relationship among the many component skills of readers early in their reading development is important because a deficiency in any of the component skills has the potential to affect the development of other skills and, ultimately, the development of the child as a proficient reader.

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 assessment was direct instruction of the phonological awareness tasks. The results indicate that preschool children's phonological awareness can be assessed using standard assessment procedures, provided the items require processing units larger than the individual phoneme. No advantage was found in reliability or validity for either dynamic assessment condition relative to the standard assessment condition. Dynamic assessment does not appear to improve reliability or validity of phonological awareness assessments when preschool children are given tasks that they can perform using standard administration procedures. (Contains 4 tables.)

The relative effectiveness of two computer-assisted instructional programs designed to provide instruction and practice in foundational reading skills was examined. First-grade students at risk for reading disabilities received approximately 80 h of small-group instruction in four 50-min sessions per week from October through May. Approximately half of the instruction was delivered by specially trained teachers to prepare students for their work on the computer, and half was delivered by the computer programs. At the end of first grade, there were no differences in student reading performance between students assigned to the different intervention conditions, but the combined-intervention students performed significantly better than control students who had been exposed to their school's normal reading program. Significant differences were obtained for phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, reading accuracy, rapid automatic naming, and reading comprehension. A follow-up test at the end of second grade showed a similar pattern of differences, although only differences in phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, and rapid naming remained statistically reliable.

We evaluated the validity of DIBELS ("Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills") ORF ("Oral Reading Fluency") for predicting performance on the "Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test" (FCAT-SSS) and "Stanford Achievement Test" (SAT-10) reading comprehension measures. The usefulness of previously established ORF risk-level cutoffs [Good, R.H., Simmons, D.C., and Kame'enui, E.J. (2001). "The importance and decision-making utility of a continuum of fluency-based indicators of foundational reading skills for third-grade high-stakes outcomes." "Scientific Studies of Reading," 5, 257-288.] for third grade students were evaluated on calibration (n[subscript S1] = 16,539) and cross-validation (n[subscript S2] = 16,908) samples representative of Florida's "Reading First" population. The strongest correlations were the third (February/March) administration of ORF with both FCAT-SSS and SAT-10 (r[subscript S] = 0.70-0.71), when the three tests were administered concurrently. Recalibrated ORF risk-level cut scores derived from ROC (receiver-operating characteristic) curve analyses produced more accurate identification of true positives than previously established benchmarks. The recalibrated risk-level cut scores predict performance on the FCAT-SSS equally well for students from different socio-economic, language, and race/ethnicity categories.

Over a quarter of 8th-grade students and more than one-third of 4th graders do not read well enough to understand important concepts and acquire new knowledge from grade-level text. For students with learning disabilities, the numbers are more troubling. This article describes features of evidence-based instruction for students who continue to struggle with reading in late elementary, middle, and high school. Recommendations are organized into 5 areas that are critical to the reading improvement of older struggling readers: (1) word study, (2) fluency, (3) vocabulary, (4) comprehension, and (5) motivation. Much of the content in this article reflects our efforts with the Special Education and Reading Strands at the National Center on Instruction, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Two reports, both available at http://www.centeroninstruction.org/, have particular relevance--"Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Meta-Analysis with Implications for Practice" and "Academic Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: A Guidance Document from the Center on Instruction."

The relationship between word knowledge and reading comprehension has been well documented in research; however, the nature of this relationship remains unclear. Researchers usually distinguish between 2 aspects of an individual's word knowledge: breadth and depth. In addition to these 2 factors, it may be important to also consider fluency in the study of word knowledge. Two hundred and three 3rd-grade students took part in a study that examined the relationships between 3 dimensions of word knowledge and reading comprehension. Confirmatory factor analyses, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical regression analyses show that a 2-factor model of breadth and depth/fluency provides the best fit to the data. Breadth has a stronger relationship to reading comprehension than does depth/fluency; however, the 2 dimensions of word knowledge have significant overlapping variance that contributes to the prediction of reading comprehension.

This study examined the validity and feasibility of a group-administered test of alphabetic reading skills for first-grade students. Two versions of a phonemic spelling test (production and multiple-choice) were administered in classroom groups to 153 students. Measures of vocabulary, phoneme awareness, letter sound knowledge, phonemic decoding, and sight word efficiency were administered individually. Results indicated that the phonemic spelling test was a reliable and valid measure of letter sound knowledge and phonemic decoding. Phonemic spelling accounted for significant variance in word reading and phonemic decoding beyond that accounted for by vocabulary, letter sound knowledge, and phonemic awareness. These results suggest that the group-administered test of phonemic spelling is a promising and reliable measure of alphabetic reading skills in first-grade students and therefore should be used by teachers in place of more time consuming screening instruments. (Contains 10 tables.)

This article describes the findings of our review process for core reading programs and provides a preliminary rubric emanating from this process for rating core reading programs. To our knowledge, this is the first published review of the current "Reading First" guidelines and includes all five components of scientifically based reading research (SBRR): phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. A research team independently examined all six core reading programs, completed a coding sheet, and recorded field notes. The research team was reliable in rating whether all five components were present and if the instructional routines were of good quality. Core programs aligned with "Reading First" shared several features that could support teachers in their mission to leave no child behind: a clearly articulated theoretical rationale for SBRR, explicit instructional strategies, and consistent instructional routines and organization.

This study compared peer-assisted reading instruction, small-group teacher-directed reading instruction, and typically undifferentiated instruction for struggling first-grade readers. Results suggested that both peer-assisted and small-group teacher-directed instruction enhanced reading performance of struggling readers more than typical, undifferentiated instruction and implied that small-group teacher-directed instruction was more powerful than similar instruction delivered by a classroom peer. (Author/KB)

Provides practical advice about the methods to prevent reading failure that is grounded in the new knowledge that has been acquired about reading and learning to read over the past two decades. Concludes with a discussion of issues and procedures for the early identification of children who are likely to experience difficulties learning to read. (Author)

This article proposes a two-factor theory of mathematics disabilities based on the premise that weak cognitive representations lead to poorer retrieval of information from long term memory. Comparison of children with math disabilities alone (MD) and those with both math and reading disabilities (MD/RD) suggests that weak phonological processing underlies MD/RD and weak number sense underlies MD only. (Contains references.) (DB)

Studied the efficacy of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies for First-Grade Readers (PALS-1) with children of varying reading ability and the impact of adding 8 to 10 hours of phonological awareness instruction by computer to the PALS-1 curriculum for low-achieving students. Results for 183 first graders show that PALS-1 enhanced reading ability, but no results were evident for the phonological awareness instruction. (SLD)

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a phonologically based reading program delivered to first- through sixth-grade impaired readers (N=115) in small groups. Post-tests after program completion found the program resulted in significantly better phonological awareness, decoding, reading accuracy, comprehension, and spelling. Improved skills were evident regardless of original level of deficiency and were not limited to specific grades. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Examined relations between phonological processing and emerging individual differences in math computation skills. Found that phonological memory, access rate to phonological codes in memory, and phonological awareness were uniquely associated with growth in number of computation procedures mastered from 92.5 to 134.8 months. Phonological processing almost completely accounted for relations between reading and computation skills. (Author/KB)

Sixty children (ages 8-10) with severe reading disabilities received daily intensive one-to-one instruction that differed in depth and extent of instruction in phonemic awareness and phonemic decoding. Both approaches were highly effective in improving reading accuracy and comprehension although measures of reading rate showed continued severe impairment. Twenty-four children were judged to no longer need special education. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Presents a longitudinal study that aims to further understanding of reasons for social class differences in growth of decoding and reading comprehension skills from beginning kindergarten through children's fourth grade year. Finds that the reasons for social class differences in growth of reading skills depended on the time interval that was considered. (SC)

Responds to an article on how research shaped educational policy, examining misrepresented policymaking activities, correcting mistakes about the range and utility of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) research on reading, correcting misperceptions of NICHD-supported research efforts that might arise in the minds of readers, and presenting new evidence clarifying the utility of much of this research. (SM)

Students with special needs share the same basic needs for literacy instruction. General-education teachers should maintain primary responsibility for literacy education for all students, while special educators and reading specialists provide support. This paper examines obstacles to quality literacy instruction, offering a school-based case study in which these obstacles were overcome. (SM)

Reports preliminary results of a 2.5 year project in which 138 special needs children received instruction by three methods which differed in intensity and degree of explicitness of instruction in phonological awareness and phonetic decoding strategies. Finds a clear advantage in phonetic reading ability for one group of children at the end of second grade but notes this group did not show corresponding advantages in word-reading vocabulary or reading comprehension. (RS)

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 provided. (CR)

Presents the author's views concerning the nature of educational intervention in learning disabilities. Considers ethical issues, research design, and measurement of change. Discusses the barriers to conducting intervention studies and methods for dissemination of the research findings. (DB)

This article provides examples of ways computer-assisted instruction can help children with learning disabilities (LD) learn to read more effectively. Computer programs providing training in phonological awareness, specific context-free word identification skills, and reading of connected text are described, and preliminary evidence of their instructional effectiveness is presented. (Author/PB)

A longitudinal (from kindergarten through grade 2) study with 244 children evaluated 3 hypotheses regarding the causal relationship between phonological processing abilities and reading acquisition. The study found a bidirectional relationship between phonological processing skills and reading skills and stability in individual phonological processing abilities over time. (DB)

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 skills. (SLD)

This commentary on a paper by Diane Sawyer (EC 602 748) on relations between various language skills and the development of reading ability addresses potential limitations in the implementation of structural equation modeling. The commentary concludes that the data presented by Sawyer do not support the interpretation that reading comprehension affects word recognition. (JDD)