Many children who are severely speech and physically impaired (SSPI) are unsuccessful in developing literacy (Koppenhaver, 1991; Light, 1991). Yet there is increasing recognition that SSPI children are capable of developing sophisticated reading and writing skills (Creech, 1988; Kelford-Smith, 1989; Koppenhaver & Yoder, 1991; Light & Lindsey, 1990). In addition to current cognitive studies about the literacy development of SSPI children, studies are needed from other perspectives. A new and emerging research perspective of literacy development among general education students views reading and writing as social and cultural phenomena. Such a perspective has promise for understanding the literacy development and practices of SSPI students. This study involved two SSPI children and their reading/writing activities during the first semester of the 1991-1992 school year. Methods used in the study included participant observation, interviewing, and videotaping. A multi-step analysis process was used, consisting of (1) thematic analysis, (2) componential analysis, and (3) sociolinguistic microanalysis. The use of these analytic techniques and the interpretation of findings is guided by theoretical constructs from sociolinguistic ethnography and recent studies of literacy as a social process. Among the findings are (1) the social construction of reading and writing. The mechanisms contributing to social construction were social recognition and acknowledgement, mediation, and communication structure. (2) The development of identities as readers and writers. The terms used to label SSPI students within the reading/writing groups, the title given the group, the language used to construct various social roles within the reading/writing groups, the focus on attending within the group, and body posturing contributed to the construction of the SSPI students' identities as readers and writers. (3) Differing definitions of reading and purposes for the lessons. (4) Miscommunications during lessons due to differences in definitions of reading. (5) Ways that SSPI students show communicative competency within the communication structure of the reading/writing lessons. Implications are given for the relationship of communication technology to interaction, methods of facilitation of reading and writing interactions, and the relationship of literacy and social acceptance of SSPI students in classrooms.

This qualitative study focused on ten middle school dropouts, and their personal experiences. Ten middle school dropouts were interviewed to examine their personal experiences rather than from the vantage points of teachers and the educated professionals. Two major findings were found: (a) the causes that underlined the subjects actions and (b) methods to rectify the problem. Our technologically advanced society requires many years of schooling for its citizens. The present job market requires students to obtain an education that is equivalent to a high school diploma in order to compete in the work force. The focus of this study as forementioned was to examine the students personal experiences before making a decision to drop out of school. The data was intended to bring about an awareness of the existing dropout problems among teachers and educators. The findings indicate the characteristics and causes of the middle school dropout problem, as well as preventive measures, which revolve around greater flexibility and understanding of the needs of at-risk students in the public school system. Research indicates the need for educators to rethink and restructure the curriculums and teaching methods as well as teacher training to meet the needs of at-risk students. Research further suggests that endeavors be made to counter the dropout problem; and then attempt to prepare students for a successful and productive adult life. According to research the lack of sensitivity and preventive measures among educators have caused widespread dropout problems in public schools. In addition the dropout problem is compounded by teacher-student conflicts as well as tension and humiliation among students. The dropout population accepts unemployment as normal. Furthermore, they treat dropouts as normal, and in many circumstances, even positive. The preventive measures found in this study emphasize (a) small class size, (b) common planning and meeting time for staff, (c) collaboration with at-risk students, (d) a partnership with the outside community resources, and (e) an intimate home/school communication in an attempt to deal effectively with the dropout problem.

This study examined the effects of cross-age tutoring on the reading achievement of thirty second graders and their tutors' levels of performance. Additionally, the study assessed whether the role of tutors raised the academic performance of those younger students in the tutoring program. Participants in the study were academically, economically, and socially deficient. This study involved African American students from an urban public school in an after school tutoring program for two months. The students were paired during the tutoring sessions. They were administered the Morrison-McCall Diagnostic Spelling Scale pretests and posttests. Analysis of variance was used to compare and assess the levels of performance of the tutored and untutored groups. Overall, participants in the cross-age tutoring study produced remarkable gains of mastery in their reading achievement performances. This achievement was determined through the use of the Morrison-McCall Diagnostic Spelling Scale Test, which was administered to all students prior to the beginning of the program and at the end of the tutoring sessions. The results indicated significant gains made by the tutored group of students. Students in the study improved their reading, spelling, writing and comprehension skills. The effects of cross-age tutoring on the achievement level of the tutored group was successful. The posttest findings regarding level of reading improvement were increased. The results were used to make recommendations relative to the efficacy of cross-age tutoring as an instructional strategy for improving and measuring the achievement levels of "underachieving" African American students. Previous findings suggested that cross-age tutoring programs have been a positive choice of intervention for underachieving students in some school districts. As a result of cross-age tutoring, students elevated (independent or in a group setting) their level of academic performances. Thus, the study determined that cross-age tutoring has provided students with the academic tools to "carry over" to the daily mastery of skills at school to enhance accomplishments.

This study proposes that students and teachers make use of various social, intellectual, and material tools or resources in order to engage in classroom reading and writing. Furthermore, how resources are used for instruction defines and teaches students about reading. This study examines second grade students' perspectives about resources for classroom reading instruction. Theoretical constructs supporting this study were derived from ethnography of communication, social semiotics, and social interaction theory. Data were collected during twice-weekly classroom visits beginning with the first day of school in August of 1994 and ending in February of 1995. The data collection includes: (1) participant observation notes, (2) interviews, (3) students' interpretations of statements made by other students about reading instruction, (4) video and audio tape recordings of classroom interactions and interviews, and (5) photocopies of students' written book reviews. There are four principal findings about resources for reading. First, the term "reading" serves as a resource which students and their teacher draw from in order to (a) indicate what readers should do and (b) indicate who readers are. Second, students use time as a resource to tell what activities are considered reading and to mark changes in the ways they use reading resources. Third, learning what to do with reading resources leads to a unique series of interactions between students and teachers which define reading for them. Fourth, students use resources to evaluate their progress with reading. Implications are drawn for teachers' roles in the classroom, ways that reading lessons are planned, and ways that reading is evaluated. Suggestions are made for future research.

This study sets forth a procedural model for general music education which is intuitive, principle-driven, learner-centered, co-constructed and literature-based in contrast to any pre-designed method, yet encompasses the teaching traditions of Dalcroze, Kodaly, Orff, and Willems, among others. The model is constructed according to fundamental principles of the acquisition of musicality discovered or elaborated by selected scholars from musical and related disciplines. These principles focus on how the teacher and the learner may interact with music as a body of literature for optimum musical learning in purposeful yet flexible ways. This search for undergirding principles is driven by several questions arising from observations of musical teaching and learning experiences. These questions may be grouped into the following categories: (1) Potential relationships of music to other subjects in the curriculum; (2) Notions of talent, aptitude and intuition in the development of general musicianship; (3) Underlying cognitive processes by which musicality is developed in learners; (4) The nature of musical meaning, how it is constructed by the learner, and how teaching should facilitate this construction; and, (5) Issues of conceptualizing and organizing music as a body of literature in order to enable efficient construction of meaning. Data undergirding this study were gathered primarily through comparative analyses of key writings and musical compositions or collections, qualitative interviews of music pedagogues, and exploratory studies. These data were triangulated, then cross-compared to parallel issues in other disciplines, especially cognitive psychology and language literacy acquisition. The resulting interpretation of this information suggests that music is co-equal with other subjects, a position which implies redefining the place of music in the general school curriculum. Further, all learners are capable of some degree of musical acquisition, regardless of native talent. Additionally, learners become musical through three interdependent operations: Expressive/Experiential, Aural and Literate. The deployment of these musical operations is overarched by an artistic supra-mental intuition which can be greatly cultivated by the use of carefully organized musical literature of high quality. Musical operations are especially facilitated through observance of principles of aural and visual predictability applied to musical literature.

Research in the area of early literacy has strongly supported instruction at the phonemic awareness level. In addition, a number of research articles have discussed the importance of involving parents in their children's education through home-based activities. This study examined the effects of a parent-training on early literacy skills in the areas of phonemic awareness and letter-identification. This study utilized a pre-experimental AB design. Thirty-nine kindergarten children from the northeast were administered early literacy measures (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills - DIBELS) ten times during both the base-line phase and treatment phases. Twenty children comprised the treatment group, and their parents participated in five training sessions and 10 weeks of interactive book reading and practice and instruction of specific skills with their children. Results were positive and significant for the three early literacy measures, (Onset Fluency, Letter-Naming Fluency, and Phoneme Segmentation). In addition, treatment integrity and acceptability were measured. Limitations to the study, implications for education and future research are also discussed.

This study was conducted to investigate the reliability of the Phonics Diagnostic Inventory (PDI), a curriculum-based, specific skill mastery measurement tool for diagnosing and informing the treatment of decoding weaknesses. First, a modified one-parameter item response theory model was employed to identify the properties of potential items for inclusion in each subtest to then inform the construction of subtests using the most reliable items. Second, the properties of each subtest were estimated and examined. The test information and test characteristic curves (TCC) for the newly developed forms are reported. Finally, the accuracy and sensitivity of PDI cut scores for each subtest were examined. Specifically, based upon established cut scores, the accuracy with which students would be identified as in need of support and those who are not in need of support were investigated. The PDI generated from this research was found to more reliably diagnose specific decoding deficits in mid-year second grade students than initially constructed forms. Research also indicates further examination of cut scores is warranted to maximize decision consistency. Implications for future studies are also discussed.

The effects of parent-delivered instruction on children's phonemic awareness were investigated. Participants were thirty-eight parents and their pre-school children. The purpose of this study was to: (1) investigate whether parents could successfully teach phoneme identification skills to preschool children; (2) assess whether the effects of parent-delivered instruction on phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle could be independent of pretest letter knowledge, child vocabulary and cognitive ability, and SES; (3) determine whether training would generalize to recognition of untrained phonemes; and (4) assess parent satisfaction with the training and instructional program. Children were matched based on vocabulary scores. This measure was also a proxy for SES (Hart & Risley, 1995). Children were then randomly assigned to either treatment or control groups. In addition, pretest letter knowledge was assessed using experimental measures designed by Byrne and Fielding-Barnsley (1991). Parents taught their child to identify initial and ending phonemes and letter-sounds based on the early literacy program Sound Foundations (Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1991), with lesson scripts based on explicit, direct instruction techniques (Kameenui & Carnine,1998; Swanson, Hoskyn & Lee, 1999). The duration of the program was 7 weeks. Children were required to find poster pictures that began or ended with the target sound and to color pictures with the target sound. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) (Good & Kaminski, 2002) were used to measure Initial Sound Fluency and Letter Naming Fluency. Experimental measures of ending sound fluency, initial phoneme transfer and ending phoneme transfer were also used to measure outcomes. A survey was used to obtain social validity data regarding parent satisfaction with the program. Results indicated that: (a) there was a large, albeit insignificant effect for parent training on children's initial sound fluency (d = 1.1, p < .006); (b) parent training was not predictive of letter naming fluency (p =.07); (c) there were no significant differences on measures of phoneme transfer; and (d) pretest letter knowledge was predictive of outcomes on letter naming fluency (p < .01). Parents reported a high degree of satisfaction with training. The discussion focuses on future research on early literacy instruction and parent-delivered instruction.

This study is part of an action research project designed to model a district-wide early identification and intervention program for Kindergartners at risk for reading failure. The project was designed to model quality professional development in the area of early literacy for Kindergarten teachers, the use of a multi-gating procedure for identifying those children most likely to benefit from extra support, training for paraprofessionals to provide support to identified low performing students, and the use of a “response to intervention” approach for determining level of intensity of intervention. This study evaluates the relative effectiveness of the two research-validated curricula chosen as strategic interventions for improving outcomes on early literacy indicators of at-risk Kindergarten students. Both curricula were delivered in small groups by classroom aides who received brief training. A second part of the study evaluates the effectiveness of individually designed, intensified interventions for those children whose achievement did not improve sufficiently under conditions of small group instruction. A third section examined factors affecting teacher motivation to participate in the project and to embrace new teaching and assessment methods.

Research that has examined the achievement of children with behavior disorders has demonstrated a relationship between externalizing behavior disorders and academic underachievement, particularly in the area of reading. This study compared the early literacy skill development of 10 kindergartners and 10 first graders who were teacher-identified as presenting with difficult classroom behavior to that of 17 typical classroom peers. A systematic diagnostic assessment, using broad and narrow-band rating scales and structured interviews, was completed by parents and teachers to confirm the at-risk status of the identified children. Data were collected on early literacy skill development using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), which provided information on skill development over time. Parents taped home parent-child reading sessions, and tapes were coded to look at specific reading strategies. Parents were interviewed about home literacy factors including amount of time spent in parent-child reading, reading materials in the home, reading strategies used, and parental reading habits. Teachers were interviewed about classroom variables including type of curriculum and time spent on early literacy instruction. Findings included significant differences on oral reading fluency slopes for the first grade at-risk and comparison groups. Limitations of the study, implications for professional practice and suggestions for future research are also discussed.