Summary of the Second-Grade Phase of the Cooperative Research Program in Primary Reading Instruction

Abstract

SUMMARIZES the report of the Coordinating Center following the second-grade phase of the Cooperative Research Program in primary reading instruction. Data used in the study were collected from fifteen projects which conducted follow-up studies. The Coordinating Center was interested in three basic questions during the second-grade phase of the study: 1] To what extent are various readiness characteristics of beginning first-grade pupils related to pupil achievement in reading, spelling, and language skills at the end of the second grade? 2] How do linguistic, initial teaching alphabet, language experience, and phonic/linguistic programs compare in effectiveness with conventional basal programs at the end of the second grade? 3] What is the relative influence on second-grade achievement of the project (in most cases a school system) in which a pupil learns to read and the method and/or materials which comprise the instructional program? Results of the correlation analysis revealed that knowledge of letter names, intelligence, and auditory discrimination measured at the beginning of first grade were the best predictors of the various measures of achievement at the end of two years of instruction. The correlation coefficients between readiness