SUCCESS FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

THE SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS OF A BEGINNING READING PROGRAM IN A HARLEM (NEW YORK CITY) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ARE DISCUSSED. INDIVIDUAL PACING OF INSTRUCTION, ORAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDEPENDENT STUDY SKILLS, PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT OF EACH CHILD, AND FREQUENT STUDENT EVALUATION ARE INTRINSIC TO THE FUNCTIONING OF THE PROGRAM. INITIAL READING ACTIVITIES INVOLVE THE USE OF WORK CHARTS WHICH RECORD DAILY CLASS ACTIVITIES AND OF CHILDREN'S "EXPERIENCE STORIES" WHICH THE TEACHER COPIES ON THE BLACKBOARD AND REXOGRAPHS. EACH CHILD IS GIVEN BOOKS AND WORKSHEETS APPROPRIATE TO HIS READING LEVEL AND IS HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR RECORDING HIS OWN PROGRESS. SILENT READING, ESSENTIAL TO THE PROGRAM'S INDIVIDUAL PACING TECHNIQUE, IS ENCOURAGED. TO INSURE THEIR INVOLVEMENT, PARENTS ARE ASKED TO SIGN THE CHILD'S READING HOMEWORK SLIP DAILY. THE STUDENTS' PROGRESS IS FORMALLY EVALUATED BY TEACHER RATINGS AND PROGRESS RECORDS, GRADED WORD LIST TESTS, AND STANDARDIZED TESTS. ACCORDING TO THE REPORTED TEST RESULTS, THE PROGRAM HAS CONSISTENTLY IMPROVED THE READING ABILITY OF PARTICIPATING STUDENTS. TABULAR DATA ON ACHIEVEMENT TEST RESULTS ARE GIVEN. THIS ARTICLE IS A REPRINT FROM "THE READING TEACHER," VOLUME 21, NUMBER 1, OCTOBER 1967. (LB)