At the end of a two-year discussion about the value of homework in elementary school, the Seaview district decided to move away from the traditional model of homework, and introduced Wonder, Reading, and Play (WRaP) intended to be more equitable and authentic. A case study was conducted to assess the district's goals for and implementation of more…

This article summarizes the findings of a 2017 qualitative, multiple case study that explored the factors that impact gifted students' recreational reading selections. It offers an overview of the steps school librarians and other educators can take to foster independent reading habits in gifted students.

It is commonly believed that reading challenges should be addressed early to reduce the likelihood that developmental delays will impact students over the long term. However, students in developing countries often have limited access to reading resources. In this study, the authors used a randomized controlled trial of 11,083 fourth- and…

Independent Reading (IR) is a reading intervention that many schools implement to help students develop essential reading skills and improve academic achievement on various standardized assessments. However, recent IR studies have yielded mixed findings on the effectiveness of IR as a reading intervention to help struggling students increase…

The primary purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a close reading instructional routine (also known as analytical reading decades ago) that has been described in the literature and promoted as a process to help students reading complex text independently and proficiently. A single subject alternating treatments design…

This study investigated children's access to books, narrow independent reading volume, and growth in vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. Two hundred-twenty English language learners and native-English speaking children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds were given measures of vocabulary and literacy in the fall and spring of fourth grade.…

This study investigates the use of screening assessments within the increasingly popular Response to Intervention (RTI) framework, specifically seeking to collect concurrent validity evidence on one potential new screening tool, the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) framework. Furthermore, this study builds on existing literature by…

When Debbie Miller, educational consultant and author of "Reading with Meaning" (2013) and "Teaching with Intention" (2008) visited a Title I elementary school in Texas, the instructional reading coach was challenged in her thinking about best practices for independent reading. Ms. Miller's visit included modeling interactive…

This article explains how to create and use a daybook in the literacy classroom. Readers learn what a daybook is, how the daybook in one fourth and fifth grade classroom is structured, and how students in this classroom use that daybook during reading instruction to engage, record important information, and discuss a text.

This dissertation study examines the effects of four teacher-led reading activities recommended by the reading teaching policy and student independent reading activity on the development of English language learners (ELL) reading proficiency at fourth grade in U.S. elementary schools. In this study, I first introduce the significance of studying…

Empirical evidence suggests a correlation between motivation and reading achievement as well as a decline in motivation as students progress through the grades. In order to address this issue, it is necessary to determine the instructional methods that promote motivation and identity development in reading. This study examines the motivation and…

This study examined the influence of classroom pedagogic reading practices and out-of-school practices in explaining why the reading attainment of Hong Kong Grade 4 students was superior to that of their counterparts in Taiwan in the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Analyses of scores from 9,301 students (4,712 from Hong Kong…

Teachers recognize that frequent independent reading increases student knowledge on a wide range of topics, enhances vocabulary, and improves comprehension. "Ban the Book Report" inspires teachers to go beyond narrow and analytical book reports by exploring the potential of book talks, alternate book covers, identifying features of informational…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a program that offered sustained strategic reading instruction on reading abilities of third and fourth graders. The study was conducted among 1,469 children from 40 schools in the Netherlands. Schools were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. Multilevel…

This qualitative study examined the amount of time that fourth and fifth grade teachers devoted to literacy instruction within the time allotted to them within the daily literacy block. Prior research of the literacy block focused largely on primary grades (Allington, McGill-Franzen et a1.,2010; Cunningham & Allington, 2003; Morrow, 1992);…