COMPARISON OF READING APPROACHES IN FIRST-GRADE TEACHING WITH DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN. (THE CRAFT PROJECT)

THE RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SKILLS-CENTERED APPROACH AND THE LANGUAGE-EXPERIENCE APPROACH TO TEACHING READING TO DISADVANTAGED URBAN CHILDREN IN THE FIRST GRADE WAS EXAMINED, AND METHODS COMPARED. APPROXIMATELY 50 TEACHERS AND 1,150 STUDENTS MADE UP THE PROJECT SAMPLE. TYPES OF DATA GATHERED INCLUDED PRETEST AND POST-TEST SCORES OF THE PUPILS AND INSTRUCTIONAL TIME LOGS, CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS, AND PREFERRED READING APPROACHES FROM THEIR TEACHERS. PROJECT RESULTS SHOWED THAT THE DISADVANTAGED CHILD CAN LEARN TO READ BY THE SAME METHODS THAT ARE USED WITH MIDDLE AND UPPER-CLASS CHILDREN. AMONG THE FOUR METHODS USED, THE BASAL READER METHOD, EMPLOYED WITH THE SKILLS-CENTERED APPROACH, APPEARED TO BE THE IDEAL APPROACH. THE OTHER METHODS WERE THE BASAL READER METHOD WITH PHONOVISUAL WORD RECOGNITION AND TWO LANGUAGE-EXPERIENCE APPROACHES WITH AND WITHOUT AUDIO VISUAL SUPPLEMENTATION. DIFFERENCES AMONG THE METHODS WERE SUFFICIENTLY SMALL AS TO BE INCONCLUSIVE. CONTINUATION AND REPLICATION STUDIES WERE PLANNED. (JH)