Preschool and kindergarten teachers set the stage for a child to learn to read with some critical early skills. First, second, and third grade teachers then take up the task of building the skills that children will use every day for the rest of their lives. Parents can help by understanding what teachers are teaching and by asking questions about…

This study is an examination of animal-assisted therapy in an attempt to explore the ways it may serve as reading intervention program for struggling readers. Due to the low rate of literacy in the U.S., children are often put into reading intervention programs where they are required to read to an adult; potentially creating anxiety that may act…

This report addresses the relationship between state content standards and assessments and the essential components of effective reading instruction. The extent to which the essential components are addressed in the standards and assessments indicates the extent to which states have integrated the essential components into their reading…

Teachers at the intermediate level can now take advantage of the small-group differentiated reading model introduced to the early learning community in Beverly Tyner's bestseller of 2004. This classroom-tested, research-based model supports reading, writing, and spelling as integrated processes. Differentiated instruction can help the reader meet…

Incorporating popular culture texts in the classroom can motivate students--particularly reluctant or struggling readers. This resource gives the reader everything they need to use television, movies, video games, music, magazines, and other media to enhance students' literacy learning. The reader will find a balance of research, theory, and…

The National Reading Panel (NRP) issued a report in 2000 that responded to a congressional mandate to help parents, teachers, and policymakers identify key skills and instructional methods central to reading achievement. The panel identified five areas that they found to be critical to effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics,…

This paper examines the co-constructed nature of classroom life, and what became constituted as one child's story of literacy learning in first grade. It takes an over-time look at how opportunities for literacy learning were constructed within multiple, intermingling contexts (classroom, school, district, and family). Derek's literacy learning…

A few years ago, most of the students at Lansdowne Elementary were struggling readers: while many could recognize words, half were unable to under stand the stories they'd just read. Not surprisingly, these kids weren't interested in books. The problem wasn't Why Johnnie Can't Read, but more specifically, Why Johnnie Can't Understand--and the…

The outcome of a training study attempting to increase German speaking poor readers' reading fluency is reported. The aim of the training was to help children establish orthographic representations for a limited set of training words as well as for high-frequency onset clusters. A sample of 20 dysfluent readers (8 to 11 years) received a …

A primary responsibility of elementary schools is to help children become independent readers. Once children have started decoding, teachers work hard to make sure that students have access to "just right" books--books that they can read with fluency, good understanding and at least 95% accuracy. Effective teachers support students by offering…

The author investigated the alignment of reading instruction to Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Reading, grades 1-4 (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 1998a). Teachers in 18 hearing-only, 10 mixed (hearing and deaf students), and 8 deaf-only classrooms were study participants. Teacher groups demonstrated equal alignment to the…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Response to Intervention: A New Approach to Reading Instruction Aims to Catch Struggling Readers Early (Nancy Walser); (2) Getting Advisory Right: Focus and…

This study investigates the effect of phonological awareness instruction on the development of word-reading ability for EFL first-graders in a Jordanian state school. Based on Chard and Dickson's (1999) phonological awareness hierarchy, a phonological awareness training program was developed by the researchers, and used in training the…

This study offers an alternative to traditional notions of scaffolding for reading comprehension by tracing the evolution of a fifth-grade small group literature conversation in which the teacher sought to displace himself as "primary knower" (Berry, 1981) in the conversation. The study examines how the teacher shared evaluation with his…

"Reading Mastery" is a direct instruction program designed to provide explicit, systematic instruction in English language reading. Reading Mastery is available in two versions, "Reading Mastery Classic" levels I and II (for use in grades K-3) and "Reading Mastery Plus," an integrated reading-language program for…