Low-achieving seventh-grade students from an urban parochial school were randomly assigned to two equally sized groups (n = 62, each group). One group was taught by a read-and-discuss, teacher-directed method, and the second group, given the same type of introductory lesson as the first, followed a model of concept mapping that connected major and minor concept ideas. A criterion-referenced test based on the content of a science chapter served as the dependent variable. Prior to any teaching, a pretest was administered. An analysis of covariance with pretest scores as the covariate showed a statistically significant difference in comprehension between the pretest and posttest for the experimental group. Effect size estimates revealed that concept mapping can be expected to improve comprehension scores of low-achieving seventh graders by approximately six standard deviations over a traditional instructional technique. When students lack background information on a topic to aid comprehension, the active participation in constructing semantic or concept maps may help students form a cognitive schema to assimilate and relate the new topic information.

Although both prior topic knowledge and vocabulary knowledge have been known to affect comprehension in general, less is known about the specifics of the interactions between these factors. Using a magazine article about a ceremony marking the retirement of a baseball player's jersey number, this study examines the effects of knowledge of baseball in general and of the career of Tom Seaver in specific and of knowledge of word meanings in general and of words used in the passage specifically on tenth graders' recall of different aspects of passage content. Vocabulary knowledge tended to affect the number of units recalled overall; prior knowledge influenced which units were recalled. Prior topic knowledge influenced whether subjects produced a gist statement in their recall and how well they recalled numbers relevant to Seaver's career. High knowledge subjects also tended to focus more on information given about his career than low knowledge subjects. Specific and general domain knowledge were so closely related that their effects could not be disentangled. A qualitative analysis of the protocols confirmed the general trends in the quantitative analysis. Results suggest both that domain knowledge and vocabulary have independent effects on comprehension and that these effects are on what is comprehended as well as how much is comprehended.The effects of both prior topic knowledge and vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension are well established, at least in general terms. We know, for 487

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Described is a 4-year model of a Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP) offered to 294 academically and economically disadvantaged students and their parents during in-and outof-school time activities through partnerships forged with school personnel and community-based agencies. In an urban high school where the annual graduation rate was below 60%, the graduation rate of the GEAR UP students of whom 60% were Hispanic and African American was 95%, while 58% enrolled in a postsecondary institution soon after graduation. Regardless of the time spent in three participatory conditions in the out-of-school time activities, 12th graders commonly believed that the program significantly helped them complete high school, prepared them for college, and showed them that adults cared about their future. A five-item survey completed by parents also revealed a number of highly significant findings. Quantitative, focus group, and interview findings corroborated and supported each other.

This paper presents a compelling case for early and sustained vocabulary development for children reared in poverty. Research findings indicate that vocabulary knowledge is a critical factor in literacy and academic success for low-income children from preschool to higher levels of schooling. Vocabulary proficiency is strongly related to language and reading understanding and to success in academic subjects, particularly when topics are presented with semantically laden words related to conceptual knowledge. Practitioners learn which words to emphasize in the continuum range of high frequency/high utility to rare words and why conversation, discussion, book readings, morpheme and root word play, and writing become so important in the learning of new words. Presented are four broad suggestions relating to (1) using enhanced talk in the classroom, (2) capitalizing on the rich vocabulary of children's book authors, (3) manipulating morphemes with word roots, and (4) developing the vocabulary of informational topics. Practitioners can readily implement these suggestions in their own classroom contexts, thereby creating positive climates of vocabulary acquisition for children with low and meager receptive and productive vocabularies.

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