REPORTS FINDINGS FOR THE RELATIONSHIP of the amount of instructional time in reading received by elementary school students in 4 New York state school districts to their gains in scores on the California Achievement Test (CAT), Level 3, and on a Criterion Referenced Test (CRT), prepared by the New York State Education Department. From detailed teacher interviews, information was obtained for the number of minutes of instruction that each child received. This data was recorded by type of instruction (large group, small group, individualized) and by type of instructor (classroom teacher, specialist, paraprofessional). For the CAT, the period between pretest and post test was about 11 weeks, and for the CRT about 9 weeks. Since students in each grade were placed according to school reading skill by their level on the CRT, it was possible to examine the amount of instruction time (resources) received by children in each grade at various levels of reading skill. It was found that educators gave relatively more resources to lower performing children. Most of the difference went to the lowest performers, especially in the school district with large amounts of Title I funds. With respect to the relationship of instructional time to reading performance, it was found that classroom teacher, small and large group instruction was positively related to reading gains between 30 and 50 per cent of the time (depending upon the level of statistical significance chosen). The positive relationship was strongest for children at or slightly below grade level and weakest for students above grade level. Relationships for individualized instruction and

Reading Performance of Disadvantaged Children: Cost Effectiveness of Educational Inputs.

Productivity of Instructional Time by Mode of Instruction for Students at Varying Levels of Reading Skill.

As an educator who identifies himself with that disparate band called neoconservatives I read Professor Wirt's article in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (2 (6), 1980) with interest and occasional astonishment. I will let others respond to his accusation of moral incompetence, content to let the future judge whether sentimentality is a better tool than rationality for the fashioning of social policy, in favor of examining at some length his interpretation and selection of the data cited in his article.

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Pollyanna in the Policy Patch: A Response to Frederick Wirt

This paper presents selected findings from an in-depth study of 22 elementary schools participating in the third and final year of a national evaluation of the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA). The purpose of the study was to identify schoolfactors related to school success in raising reading and math achievement of students who are generally disadvantaged and low-achieving. Three aspects of school management and organization that were differentially related to school success are discussed: administrative leadership in instruction, coordination of instructional programs throughout the school, and policy regarding academic standards.

Reading Performance of Disadvantaged Children: Cost Effectiveness of Educational Inputs.

Citations

Productivity of Instructional Time by Mode of Instruction for Students at Varying Levels of Reading Skill.

Pollyanna in the Policy Patch: A Response to Frederick Wirt

(ESAA In-Depth Study Schools)

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