USE:  Beginning Adult Readers, Pre-GED, GED

COMPUTER:   WIN/ CD-ROM/ MAC/ DOS/ APPLE

GRADE LEVEL:  I      (1.5 - 5.5)
                                II     (2.5 - 8.0)
                                III    (5.5 - 10.0)
                                IV    (7.3 - 12.0)

SPECIFIC SKILLS: Reading comprehension skills which include: main idea, details, fact and opinion, vocabulary, sequence, and inference.

DESCRIPTION: Diascriptive Reading is a diagnostic, prescriptive, and developmental program. It assesses the learner's grade level of reading comprehension within specific skill areas, prescribes learner objectives, provides tutorial based skill lessons, and evaluates performance at each level before advancing the student to a more difficult level. Each program includes a diagnostic disk and skill area disks. The diagnostic disk provides an individual test of 12 questions for each reading skill, which assesses the grade level of skill performance according to the grade level listing above. After a student has completed the diagnostic disk, the student is "prescribed" a level to start each skill area disk. The reading skill disks provide tutorial lessons for each individual skill which correspond to the grade level of the program. After the students starting level is entered on the skill area disk, the management system becomes automatic.

Each lesson focuses on one reading skill for one specific level. Students read selections and respond to questions. The student will be advanced to a higher level or "stepped down" a level if the student answers less than a specific number (70%) correctly. If the student is having great difficulty, the program will stop and display a "Please call your teacher." message. Simple graphics are used for positive reinforcement. The management system provides score summaries for each student on the screen or to a printer. About 200 student files can be kept on each disk. Student record sheets and worksheets are provided with the manual.

EVALUATION SUMMARY: Diascriptive Reading is an effective and versatile program. I firmly believe that the best approach to improving overall reading comprehension is to assess individual reading skill areas to determine the student's strengths and to identify areas that need remediation. This program follows this diagnostic and prescriptive approach. It can be used to remediate a specific skill or as an overall developmental curriculum. The diagnostics can be used as reading pretests and posttests and the skill area disks chart student progress. The teacher can determine the level a student has attained on a specific skill at any time. Our students enjoy the variety of reading selections, charts, and maps. I highly recommend this program because our students have utilized it successfully to improve their critical reading and thinking skills.