CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF READING

Results reported by Leinhardt, Zigmond, and Cooley (1981) have been interpreted as support for increased silent reading in classroom reading instruction. G. Leinhardt and colleagues examined a causal model of classroom processes influencing reading achievement and found that time spent in silent, rather than oral, reading was positively related to gains in reading achievement. To clarify the interpretation of these results, a study reanalyzed the Leinhardt data, which used students in 11 elementary classrooms for learning disabled students. Using linear structural equation modeling, the reanalysis showed that students ' entry-level reading abilities had a significant direct effect on time spent in silent reading, but no such effect on time spent on oral or "indirect" reading. When entry-level abilities were more adequately controlled by incorporating measurement error into the model, silent reading n