An Inquiry into Children's Reading in One Urban School Using SRA Reading Mastery (Direct Instruction)

This study focused on 27 second graders in one urban school that used SRA Reading Mastery. Children's strategy use, comprehension, and perception of the reading process were appraised using samples of oral reading with retellings; classroom observations; interviews with the children, their teachers, and the principal; and a phonics test. Results showed that visual and sound cues were used heavily when reading text, but nearly half of miscues were not meaningful substitutions. Children rarely self-corrected, and their use of nonwords was high. Phonics knowledge when reading pseudowords was in the average range. Most children tackled grade-level or above grade-level authored trade books, but their retellings, corroborated by our classroom observations, indicated that talk about stories without explicit guidance from teachers was uncommon. Retellings frequently lacked coherence, elaboration, or inferences. Results from interviews with school personnel revealed that the program was strong in teaching skills, but weak in developing reading comprehension and writing.