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In the United States, a significant number of primary grade students struggle to achieve fluency in reading. Research indicates that achieving proficiency in the foundational reading competencies is a common difficulty manifested in a majority of these students. We will explore approaches for helping younger students develop proficiency in word recognition, reading fluency, and ultimately comprehension. A number of the research-based strategies can be used with the whole class which creates a context for inclusive literacy education.

Purpose – This chapter profiles a summer reading clinic that utilizes graduate students (clinicians) to provide diagnostic literacy intervention for students in grades one through six who struggle with reading and writing. The chapter asserts that struggling readers can become successful when instruction is designed around research-based principles of teaching and learning. A description is provided of the instructional routine employed at the clinic that focuses on fluency and has been shown to assist students in making significant improvements in their literacy progress.

Methodology/approach – The authors describe how teachers and intervention specialists work together to provide an effective intervention to the students that emphasizes a specific guided oral fluency routine known as the Fluency Development Lesson (FDL). Each step in the FDL is explained. Prior to instruction, clinicians administered an informal reading inventory to gain baseline data about the students in the areas of word recognition, fluency, and comprehension and to subsequently inform instruction. During the fifth and final week of the program, posttests were administered. T-Tests indicated that students made significant progress (p <.001) from pretest to posttest in all areas measured.

Limitations – The authors acknowledge that the study is small in scale, the intervention period was limited, and the results may have been influenced by outside factors beyond their control.

Research implications – The study's primary purpose was to improve the reading outcomes of the students involved. The reading clinic setting is ideal for further FDL research including its impact on older students and the incorporation of digital texts on student performance. Additionally, readers of the chapter are encouraged to apply the methods and processes to their own classrooms.

Originality/value – This chapter shows how a summer reading clinic strives to apply research-based, common sense factors that matter most in teaching struggling students to read in intervention and classroom settings. Some of the factors such as the importance of instructional routine, time-on-task, text selection, targeted teaching, and instructional talk are considered key to the successful implementation of the FDL and the clinical experience.

The era of high stakes testing often puts pressure on teachers and administrators to deemphasize creative activities, especially those involving the social studies, art, and music. Teaching strategies not perceived as directly related to improving test scores are often marginalized. Environmental text is essential for encouraging overall learning competencies in general and social studies in particular. Using environmental text such as real estate booklets can be helpful in generating learning activities in the social studies. Real estate booklets are colorful, rich in content, and readily available at no expense. Methods for integrating music and art strategies are presented also.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 25.7% of individuals residing in the United States were under the age of 18 in the year 2003 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004a). Within that group 17.6%, about 12 million children, were living in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004b). Of the children classified as living in poverty, most lived in metropolitan areas. As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), metropolitan areas are geographic entities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, or an urbanized area made up of a central place and adjacent territories where the general population density is at least 1000 people per square mile of land (U.S. Census Bureau 2004c). The largest city in a metropolitan area is called a “central city” or an urban center. These densely populated urban cities are home to most children living in poverty in metropolitan areas.

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of a senior service advertising campaign designed to increase volunteerism and financial donations among bystanders.

A cross-sectional mail survey was administered to 2,500 adults; 384 usable responses were obtained. Survey responses were analyzed by level of exposure and involvement in senior care.

High-involvement individuals viewed the ads more favorably and exhibited stronger senior caretaking intentions. Low-involvement consumers were less likely to see their own potential contributions to senior care services as effective.

Characterizing involvement in terms of awareness, awareness involvement, perceived severity and perceived susceptibility, provides a starting point for future examinations of the relationship between involvement, perceived efficacy and various forms of promotion.

From a practitioner’s standpoint, this study identifies specific features of campaign design and audience profiling that might increase the effectiveness of bystander interventions. This study offers not only constructs that can be used for identifying particular audience subsets but also illustrates the practical ways in which perceived susceptibility and perceived response efficacy to a given issue can be addressed through a mass media campaign.

Snowballing healthcare costs coupled with an avalanche of baby boomers entering the elderly phase of the life cycle make the need for bystander involvement in the lives of seniors increasingly important.

With limited theoretical and practical guidance on how to motivate bystanders to engage in prosocial behaviors, health communicators and marketers are challenged to address a vast range of public health issues that require citizen engagement. The research reviewed and presented here indicates the hope for engaging the public to become active players in making the nation a safer and healthier place.