The English and Chinese reading proficiency of 1376 Grade 4 students in 24 Hong Kong primary schools were assessed using measures developed for the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Students' parents provided information about home reading activities (HRA) aimed at supporting their children's reading prior to them entering school ("early home reading activities", EHRA) and during Grade 4 ("home reading activities"). Results indicated that EHRA was a stronger predictor of reading performance in both Chinese and English than HRA. Moreover, 'typical' HRA such as reading books, telling stories and singing songs were found to be predictive of reading performance in both Chinese and English. In English, in addition, playing word games or character puzzles were also activities beneficial to reading performance. Together, these results provide evidence for the beneficial effects of traditional early childhood activities at home such as book reading, telling stories and singing songs for reading performance in later primary school in children's first as well as second language.
[© Australian Council for Educational Research 2017]

背景：香港特區政府在二零零四年通過立法，要求辦學團體設立獨立和有廣泛代表性的法團校董會去管理資助學校。
目的：本文探討校本條例立法過程中各方人士的關注及辯論的本質，亦分析改革的特性，並將這次改革與香港早期的「校本管理」和一些西方國家的「校本管理」作出比較，最後本文討論改革對香港學校教育的影響。
論點／評論／建議：各方人士對是次立法的關注包括「學校控制權」、「持分者的參與模式」和「推行障礙」；是次改革與香港早期的「校本管理」分別強調學校的問責性及效能；立法帶來辦學團體與校董會間關係的重組，並引入類似「均等操控」的學校管治方式；辦學團體對學校的控制明顯被削弱，其它持分者的影響會增加；作者認為通過改革，香港政府並沒有如一些西方國家般明顯下放教育的權力，相反地，它取得更多對本地教育系統的控制。
總結：校本條例立法辯論的重點是「誰應控制學校」，條例引入了類似「均等操控」的學校管治方式，辦學團體在香港教育系統中的地位明顯被削弱。
Background: Hong Kong SAR Government, via the legislation in 2004, required school sponsoring bodies to set up indepedentand widely represented Incorporated Management Committees to manage subsidized schools.
Aims: This paper examined the concerns of various actors and the nature of debate during the legislation of the School-based Bill. It analyzed the characteristics of reform and compared it with the early form of School-based Management (SBM) in Hong Kong and also with the SBMs introduced in some Western countries. Lastly, this paper discussed the influences of the reform on local school education.
Arguments/comments/suggestions: The concerns of various actos over the legislation were found to include "the control of school", "the mode of participation of various stakeholders" and "barriers to implementation". The current reform and early reform of SBM in Hong Kong stressed upon school accountability and school effectiveness respectively. The legislation led to the restructuring of the relationship between the school sponsoring body and the school management committee. It has introduced a mode of school governanace similar to "Equal Control". As a result, the control of the school sponsoring body over schools would be significantly reduced and the influences of other stakeholders upon schools would increase. It was argued that by introducing the reform, the Government, unlike those of some western countries, did not decentralize its power in school education, but instead assumed increased control in the local education