How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-ability Classrooms


Book Description

Offers a definition of differentiated instruction, and provides principles and strategies designed to help teachers create learning environments that address the different learning styles, interests, and readiness levels found in a typical mixed-ability classroom.




Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children


Book Description

While most children learn to read fairly well, there remain many young Americans whose futures are imperiled because they do not read well enough to meet the demands of our competitive, technology-driven society. This book explores the problem within the context of social, historical, cultural, and biological factors. Recommendations address the identification of groups of children at risk, effective instruction for the preschool and early grades, effective approaches to dialects and bilingualism, the importance of these findings for the professional development of teachers, and gaps that remain in our understanding of how children learn to read. Implications for parents, teachers, schools, communities, the media, and government at all levels are discussed. The book examines the epidemiology of reading problems and introduces the concepts used by experts in the field. In a clear and readable narrative, word identification, comprehension, and other processes in normal reading development are discussed. Against the background of normal progress, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children examines factors that put children at risk of poor reading. It explores in detail how literacy can be fostered from birth through kindergarten and the primary grades, including evaluation of philosophies, systems, and materials commonly used to teach reading.







Improving Literacy in America


Book Description

divAn alarmingly high number of American students continue to lack proficiency in reading, math, and science. The various attempts to address this problem have all too often resulted in “silver bullet” solutions such as reducing class size or implementing voucher programs. But as the authors of this critically important book show, improving literacy also requires an understanding of complex and interrelated social issues that shape a child’s learning. More than twenty years of research demonstrate that literacy success is determined by a combination of sociocultural forces including parenting, preschool, classroom instruction, and other factors that have a direct impact on a child’s development. Here, Frederick J. Morrison, Heather J. Bachman, and Carol McDonald Connor present the most up-to-date research on the diverse factors that relate to a child’s literacy development from preschool through early elementary school. Urging greater emphasis on the immediate sources of influence on children, the authors warn against simple, single solutions that ignore other pivotal aspects of the problem. In a concluding chapter, the authors propose seven specific recommendations for improving literacy—recommendations that can make a real difference in American education./DIV




Bulletin


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OE [publication]


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Research in Education


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Explaining Individual Differences in Reading


Book Description

Research into reading development and reading disabilities has been dominated by phonologically guided theories for several decades. In this volume, the authors of 11 chapters report on a wide array of current research topics, examining the scope, limits and implications of a phonological theory. The chapters are organized in four sections. The first concerns the nature of the relations between script and speech that make reading possible, considering how different theories of phonology may illuminate the implication of these relations for reading development and skill. The second set of chapters focuses on phonological factors in reading acquisition that pertain to early language development, effects of dialect, the role of instruction, and orthographic learning. The third section identifies factors beyond the phonological that may influence success in learning to read by examining cognitive limitations that are sometimes co-morbid with reading disabilities, contrasting the profiles of specific language impairment and dyslexia, and considering the impact of particular languages and orthographies on language acquisition. Finally, in the fourth section, behavioral-genetic and neurological methods are used to further develop explanations of reading differences and early literacy development. The volume is an essential resource for researchers interested in the cognitive foundations of reading and literacy, language and communication disorders, or psycholinguistics; and those working in reading disabilities, learning disabilities, special education, and the teaching of reading.




Research in Reading at the Primary Level


Book Description

This bulletin is the first in a series of summaries of research conducted in reading from 1955 to 1960. The publication includes both published and unpublished research during the 5-year period. The published research has been compiled largely from studies reported in educational periodicals. The unpublished research was made available through a survey conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Office of Education, with the cooperation of colleges, universities, and public school systems, which furnished information on studies undertaken in the various educational institutions. Chapter I, Summary of Research in the Teaching of Primary Reading, provides an overview of the studies reported in this bulletin: (1) Reading Readiness; (2) Age of Beginning Reading; (3) Methods of Teaching Reading; (4) Grouping for Reading Instruction; (5) Reading Achievement; (6) Reading Programs; (7) Reading Interests; (8) Reading Materials; (9) Comprehension; (10) Vocabulary; (11) Word Recognition; (12) Reading and Language Arts; (13) Reading and Intelligence; (14) Auditory Factors; (15) Reading and Physical Growth; (16) Reversals; (17) Kindergarten Attendance; (18) Language; and (19) Causes of Reading Difficulties. Chapter ii, Studies in the Teaching of Primary Reading, describes the purpose of each of the studies, and the findings, results, or conclusion. An appendix provides the "Report of Research in Reading" Form. (Contains 114 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]