A study of the relationship between the degree of difficulty and a student's performance using the cloze method of testing readability in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8

Includes bibliographical references (pages 40-42)[Introduction]The schools within the Southern California area have been\ud attacked during the past few years on the basis that the children\ud in these schools are not I earning as we II as they could. This\ud criticism has gone so far as to reach the state's legislative\ud powers as well as the governor or the state. In the past election,\ud the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Max Rafferty, lost\ud to Wilson Riles on the basis of tailing to Instruct our students.\ud Many teachers, in the course of their conversation have\ud expressed their thoughts that the state textbooks are not written\ud in a manner so that their classroom students can comprehend their\ud meaning. While this may sound as though it were a local problem,\ud as one reads about education throughout the nation, it seems as if\ud practically all or the school systems are on the defensive. The\ud idea of the schools throughout the nation being attacked for not\ud doing a good job of teaching is very disturbing.\ud Perhaps the problems within out schools today are not entirely\ud the fault of the teachers involved but also the fault of the\ud materials that, by law, they must work with. This seems like a\ud logical conclusion for a teacher to arrive at. But just what could\ud be wrong with the material? Is it written at too high a level; is it\ud written at too low a level; does It demand too much from the children\ud or not enough? Is there a point where material becomes too hard for the student causing frustration, as well as too easy for him\ud causing him to feel bored and belittled.\ud The problem that educators face is trying to determine the\ud answers to the above dilemmas