Reading: Second chance. An experiment in the reteaching of the basic reading skills to second- and third-grade students in a suburban, middle-class community

Purpose of the Study. This study was organized to test the effectiveness of a streamlined program of instruction designed to develop basic reading skills among poor readers in the second and third grades. Procedures and Sources of Data. The data for the study were drawn from a suburban school district which serves a middle socioeconomic population in the San Antonio area. The sample consisted of 409 subjects selected from a total population of 1,205 second- and third-grade pupils. These students were identified by their teachers as 'poor readers.' A streamlined skills program was developed by selecting exercises from the manuals of a basal reading series. These exercises were programmed to provide for a sequential presentation of the basic reading skills. These lessons were taught as games for fifteen minutes each day for a period of fourteen weeks by the classroom teachers as a part of their reading classes with the 'poor readers.' [...]