The Evaluation of Reading Instruction

"Why Johnny can't read" has repeatedly surfaced in the national news media as a topic of public controversy and concern in recent years. In April 1979, during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Francisco, a symposium presented by three Research, Development and Evaluation Center staff members of the Eugene Oregon Public School District (Barber, Note 1; Hendrickson, Note 2; Stephens, Note 3) offered some clues concerning reading obstacles based on results of a total school district reading evaluation which was conducted over an 18-month span. The core of the matter appeared to be that there was a lack of coordinated com-