and drive. Many people continue to improve their reading habits and
skills through most of their adult lives. No one knows the upward
limit of the developmental stage. In this stage, the student is
better defined as "a reader" rather than as "one who can read."

 It has been estimated that it takes about 200 instructional
hours to take an adult through each of the first three stages of
reading. But this is an estimate based on the average adult basic
education student. Since people learn at different rates and better
under some conditions than under others, it is impossible to accurately
predict how long it will take a person to go from one stage to another.
However, the majority of adults with a good listening ability will,
under small group conditions, move through each of the first three
stages within 150 to 250 teaching hours. The time required will also
vary with the amount of effort the student expends on outside prac-
tice and with his intelligence.

 All instructional hours are not of equal value. Research
indicates that spaced practice is more effective than massed practice.
A three-hour per night literacy class is not three times as effective
as a one-hour per night literacy class. It is doubtful if it is even
twice as effective! Clinical experience indicates that one hour per
day of intensive individualized reading supplemented by an hour of
independent work will bring most intelligent adults from non-readers
to a third grade reading level in about a hundred instructional hours.
Experience with evening classes meeting three and four nights a week
indicates that small group instruction is ineffective after the first
hour and a half to two hours and that the final hour should be spent
doing independent reading. Experience with day classes meeting four
hours a day indicates that two short reading periods are more effective
than one long one.

 No amount of instruction can make a reader, just as no amount
of coaching makes a team. The team must play ball in order to become
proficient. The reader must read.

 In estimating the time needed for a student to pass through a
reading stage,several factors must be considered. First, an estimate
of his listening ability must be made. This will help in determining
his probable potential for reading. Second, the time of day and the
degree of fatigue the student exhibits must be considered. Third, the
student's general cultural background and motivation are factors.
Fourth, the type of instruction (individual, small group, large group,
or mass media) affects the rate of learning. Fifth, the spacing of
the teaching is an important factor. Sixth, the training of the
teacher and the supply of teaching materials affect the learning rate
of the students.

 More effective use is made of a teacher's time if classes can
be formed with students at the same reading stage. Within these classes,
groups may be formed with students who are reading on approximately the


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