Science Research Associates?

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Hey, does anyone remember SRAs? I found this one at the intersection of Stanton and Allen. I have to admit my friends and I always cheated on these things. Don't cheat kids!

UPDATE: Welcome Wikipedia users! It appears someone found this post hilarious. Hilarious? OK, why not. (GNF's first link on Wikipedia.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ha! I was doing some research today on SRA's when your blog title "Greedo Never Fired" caught my attention (yes, I still have my 7th grade character sketch on Greedo from Star Wars). I remember taking SRA's waaaay back in the 70's. Someone here in NZ has just published a paper on using SRA's in ESL/EFL. Cheers.
7:32 PM, January 30, 2007
Anonymous said…
Oh my gosh - I can't believe there's a blog on this! My husband and I fondly reminisce about SRA'a and the magic of working your way through the colors. And being envious of those who reached the top colors before us. We were using the SRA's in the mid 60's in Virginia. Anyone seen old sets on Ebay or were they all sent to Third World Countries?
2:41 PM, February 14, 2007
keithninety said…
You brought a big smile to this 42 year old's face. I did SRA in 2nd Grade in 1972. My friend and I were the only ones in our class to complete the entire box of colors, so we were skipped to the 3rd Grade. The bigger kids tortured us so we went back to 2nd grade.

What were the colors? I can remember Aqua and Gold.
11:55 AM, February 27, 2007
hugo said…
I used the old boxes when I was taking ESL in 1994. It was a lot fun, especially the strange funky stories about the future written in the 1950s.

For those interested, the early 1990s version of Hooked on Phonics had a slightly updated version of the program.
11:41 AM, March 20, 2007
Anonymous said…
I was fascinated with these damned things when we used them in my grammar school in the early 1970s! I recently came across and "inherited" a version resembling the '70s one, but on which each story there's a 1980s copyright printing. What shocked me was one story about the history of the blues and jazz, and the narration talked about Negroes. It wasn't a published story excerpt, so I was sort of surprised they used this one. Anyway, I think some colors are missing! I recall the envy between fellow students excelling at the pace of different colors, too. lol "Acqua" always stands out to me! There is was another, more advanced SRA-like program we used into the mid-1970s -- it had more fluorescent colors, and choices like "Silver" and "Mauve"...go figure! Glad it still lives on.
9:16 PM, April 05, 2007
Anonymous said…
I have very strong memories of struggling with SRA in 5th grade -- 1974. I loved to read, I loved the SRA stories, and I really loved the SRA color-coding. I desperately wanted to move up into the "good" colors with all the really smart kids in my class. The kids in my class were very competitive about the SRAs.The higher colors seemed to have much more interesting, complex stories. They were longer, and the print was even smaller.

I had a lot of difficulty in school during that time, although I was such an eager student. I had just moved from a very "progressive" school in Greenwich Village (which apparently forgot to teach the kids to read and do basic arithmatic) to a public school in suburban California. It was a really rough transition.

I remember I stayed on "tan" (the first color) for the entire school year and just could not move ahead. Damn it was frustrating! I never did get to those good colors. I think this had a very negative effect on my self-esteem back then. Looking back, I wonder: why didn't my teacher help me out a little bit? How could a bright kid stay in tan the whole year? Didn't my parents notice I couldn't read or spell for shit?! I'm still a bit bitter.

I'd love to read those SRA stories now. I would do the little tests and move straight up to the highest color. Dammit! I know I can do it now. :(
3:04 PM, May 18, 2007
Anonymous said…
The colors in the early 60s were (in ascending order of difficulty): aqua, purple, orange, blue, brown, green, red, tan, gold.
I remember them well. Central Primary School in Rome, Georgia- 1961-1966. Between SRA and The Hardy Boys, I learned to read at a grade level of +1 or 2. SRA was (and probably still is) an excellent system.
-Steve in Newnan, GA
9:59 AM, August 28, 2007
Anonymous said…
This is so strange. My father, who used SRA's in the 50's and 60's is now - in his 80's - looking for SRA books as he is using the series to teach natives of India to improve their English! He still has a set of the "colors" in his basement, but is looking for the SRA Better Reading Books for these adult learners!
2:23 PM, September 15, 2007
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