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1.   My interest in reading/spelling research is primarily from the perspective of:
   
           __a teacher   __a parent    __a school administrator  __a college instructor
           __ a researcher  __a school board member __other____________________

2. Do you agree with the finding by The Report of the Commission on Reading, which in its publication, Becoming a Nation of Readers, states:   "Phonics instruction...should be completed by the end of the second grade."?   __yes  __no  

3. Most polysyllabic words contain very regular phonic patterns such as -tion ("shun") as in ignition, -tial ("shul") as in initial, -tious ("shus") as in ambitious, -ique ("eek" as in technique, -sque ("sk") as in mosque, -cial ("shul") as in crucial, -cious ("shus") as in suspicious, and -cion ("shun") as in "coercion."  Should phonics instruction include the teaching of these highly regular patterns?  __yes   __no.

4. Is it possible for all the phonic patterns of the polysyllabic words which are different from those of the monosyllabic words to be taught in the first two grades?  __yes  __no.

5. Do you believe that today's children compared with the children in school in 1953
   
   __are definitely better spellers.
   __are probably a little better in spelling.
   __are about the same.
   __are probably a little worse.
   __are definitely poorer spellers.

6. There are many single syllable words using just one short vowel, one ending consonant sound and just the structural endings of -s, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est such as cats, batted, telling, batter, and tallest, etc.
    

   How many could be taught to beginning readers?	How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?
   __ less than 50	__less than 50	__less than 50
   __50-200	__50-200	__50-200
   __201-500	__201-500	__201-500
   __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__501-1,000
   __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000
   __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__Over 2,000

7. There are many single syllable words using just one short vowel, two ending consonants and just the -s, -ed, -ing, er, and -est structural endings such as bath, bands, picked, singing, singer, and grandest.
    

   How many could be taught to beginning readers?	How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?
   __ less than 50	__less than 50	__less than 50
   __50-200	__50-200	__50-200
   __201-500	__201-500	__201-500
   __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__501-1,000
   __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000
   __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__Over 2,000

8. There are many single syllable words using just one long vowel and just the structural endings of -s, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est, such as go, plays, rowed, going, player, and slowest.
    

   How many could be taught to beginning readers?	How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?
   __ less than 50	__less than 50	__less than 50
   __50-200	__50-200	__50-200
   __201-500	__201-500	__201-500
   __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__501-1,000
   __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000
   __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__Over 2,000

   
    

9. There are many single syllable words using a long vowel followed by a consonant and a silent e (CVCe) that have structural endings of -s, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est such as love, races, chased, baking, baker, and latest. 
    

   How many could be taught to beginning readers?	How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?
   __ less than 50	__less than 50	__less than 50
   __50-200	__50-200	__50-200
   __201-500	__201-500	__201-500
   __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__501-1,000
   __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000
   __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__Over 2,000

10. There are many single syllable words using a long vowel digraph in the medial position that have structural endings of -s, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est such as boat, coats, seated, meeting, trainer, and greenest.
     

    How many could be taught to beginning readers?	How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?
    __ less than 50	__less than 50	__less than 50
    __50-200	__50-200	__50-200
    __201-500	__201-500	__201-500
    __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__501-1,000
    __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000
    __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__Over 2,000

11. There are many single syllable words whose vowel is affected by   the -r control, w- control or both w- & -r control that have structural endings of -s, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est such as: R-Controlled--car, cards, parted, starting, starter, sharpest; W-Controlled--wand, watches, swapped, swatting, wander; Controlled by both W- & -R-- war, wards, awarded, rewarding, word, words, wormed, worming, etc.
     

    How many could be taught to beginning readers?	How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?
    __ less than 50	__less than 50	__less than 50
    __50-200	__50-200	__50-200
    __201-500	__201-500	__201-500
    __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__501-1,000
    __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000
    __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__Over 2,000

12. .  There are many simple words using the -er, -le, -el, -il, -ul suffixes plus the -s, -ed, -ing structural endings such as batter, battered, battering, battle, battles, battled, battling, label, pencil, symbols, etc.
     

    How many could be taught to beginning readers?	How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?
    __ less than 50	__less than 50	__less than 50
    __50-200	__50-200	__50-200
    __201-500	__201-500	__201-500
    __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__501-1,000
    __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000
    __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__Over 2,000

13. . There are many simple words using the -y, -ly, -ily, -ary, -acy, -ify, -ity plus the -s, -ed,  -ing, -er, and -est structural endings such as silly, sillier, silliest, easy, easily, library, literacy, qualified, varsity etc.
     

    How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?	If not in 1st or 2nd grade, when should they occur in spelling books?
    __ less than 50	__less than 50	__3rd & 4th
    __50-200	__50-200	__4th & 5th
    __201-500	__201-500	__5th & 6th
    __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__7th & 8th
    __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__9th & 10
    __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__11th & 12th

14. .  There are many powerful words that have the -ous, -tious, cious, -al, -tial, -cial, -on, -cion, -ssion, -sion,-tion, -ive, -atic, -ac, -ic, and -etic, structural endings such as: personal, partial, crucial, carbon, suspicion, passion, vision, station, relative, fanatic, maniac, panic, and magnetic. 
     

    How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?	If not in 1st or 2nd grade, when should they occur in spelling books?
    __ less than 50	__less than 50	__3rd & 4th
    __50-200	__50-200	__4th & 5th
    __201-500	__201-500	__5th & 6th
    __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__7th & 8th
    __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__9th & 10
    __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__11th & 12th

15. .  There are many powerful words which came into our language from the Greek and from the French such as:  chef, cuisine, petite, elite, machine, mechanic, chaos, quiche, cache, etc.
     

    How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?	If not in 1st or 2nd grade, when should they occur in spelling books?
    __ less than 50	__less than 50	__3rd & 4th
    __50-200	__50-200	__4th & 5th
    __201-500	__201-500	__5th & 6th
    __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__7th & 8th
    __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__9th & 10
    __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__11th & 12th

16. .  There are many powerful words using Greek and Latin roots such as biology, cognitive, eccentric, multiple, equality, etc. 
     

    How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?	If not in 1st or 2nd grade, when should they occur in spelling books?
    __ less than 50	__less than 50	__3rd & 4th
    __50-200	__50-200	__4th & 5th
    __201-500	__201-500	__5th & 6th
    __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__7th & 8th
    __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__9th & 10
    __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__11th & 12th

17. .  There are some words that defy phonic analysis even by experts from the very common little words such as does and was to the fairly frequently encountered words in print such as soldering, lingerie, hors d'oeuvres, and  potpourri to the vexing victuals ("vittles"), gaol (jail), quays ("keys"), and place names such as La Jolla ("La Hoya"), Thames ("Temz"), Nice, France ("Niece"), and Sault Ste. Marie ("Soo Saint Marie").
     

    How many should be taught to 1st & 2nd graders?	How many actually occur in typical 1st and 2nd grade spelling books?	If not in 1st or 2nd grade, when should they occur in spelling books?
    __ less than 50	__less than 50	__3rd & 4th
    __50-200	__50-200	__4th & 5th
    __201-500	__201-500	__5th & 6th
    __501-1,000	__501-1,000	__7th & 8th
    __1,001-2,000	__1,001-2,000	__9th & 10
    __Over 2,000	__Over 2,000	__11th & 12th

18. .  By the 6th grade, what percentage of students should be able to add the following structural endings to words that they already can spell correctly?   In other words, if you were to grade a school system according to its ability to teach students to add endings to words they already know, what percentages would be appropriate.  Impossibly high standards might be 100% A, 99% B, 98% C, 97% D.   Ridiculously low standards might be 90% A, 80% B, 70% C, 60% D.  Please give the percentages you feel schools should be able to reach.  In the last column, make your educated guess as to the actual averages as determined in The New Iowa Spelling Scale study that was conducted in 1953!
     

    Structural Ending	Grade of A	Grade of B	Grade of C	Grade of D	Actual Average
    -s	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -ed	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -ing	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -y	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -ly	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -er	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -ment	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -ness	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    's	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -or	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -tion	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -sion	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -al	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -le	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -ive	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%
    -ist	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%

19. .  By the 6th grade, what percentage of students should be able to make compound words of words that they already can correctly spell such as putting cow and boy together to make cowboy?
     

    X + Y = XY	Grade of A	Grade of B	Grade of C	Grade of D	Actual Average
    	___%	___%	___%	___%	___%

20. .  The one school I am most closely associated with is __urban, __suburban, __rural,

21.    The one school I am most closely associated with is__public, __private, __charter, __homeschool
    
     

22. .  To the best of my knowledge, my school:
    
    ___teaches all the patterns and nearly all the 80,000 words a good reader and good speller knows,  and nearly all the students learn them.
    
    ___provides the opportunity for students to learn all the 80,000 words a good reader and good speller knows, but (__many, __some, __a few) still do not learn them.
    
    ___does the best it can under the circumstances but its
    
    ___teachers have not been trained in systematic intensive phonic patterning and/or
    
    ___textbooks (spelling and reading) do not systematically teach all the patterns of English spelling.  However, my school
    
    ___is interested in training its teachers through inservices.
    
    ___is not interested or cannot afford training its teachers.
    
    ___is interested in learning about a systematic approach to teaching all the spelling patterns of the English language.
    
    ___is satisfied with its approach to teaching reading and spelling.

23. .  Regarding the results of this educational opinion survey:
    
    __I think I already know the results.  Don't bother me with them.
    
    __I think the results might be interesting.
    
    Please __mail the results to:__________________________
    
            Address Line 1 ____________________________
    
    Address Line 2_____________________________
    
    City, State, Zip _____________________________
     

24. __E-mail the results to ______________________

25. __Fax a summary of the results to me.  FAX Number___________________
    Attention:___________________

Send the completed educational opinion survey form to:

Research Director
AVKO Spelling & Dyslexial Research Foundation, Suite W
3084 Willard Road
Birch Run, MI 48415

or FAX it to the attention of Research Director at (810) 686-1101

or E-mail to Research Director at DonMcCabe@aol.com

For A Quick and Easy 10 Question Test That Demonstrates the Simple Principle:

That Words Containing Phonic Patterns Never Systematically Taught
Are More Difficult to Read or Spell than Those Words that Contain
Phonic Patterns Normally Taught or Encountered in Whole Language Classrooms
During the First Three Years of School.

Click Here

You may copy and distribute this test.  It is highly replicable.

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Don McCabe, Research Director

AVKO Spelling & Dyslexia Research Foundation
3084 Willard Road, Suite W
Birch Run, MI 48415-9404