The fights currently raging under the banner of "education reform" are nothing compared to those battles fought on the fronts of the "Reading Wars." For decades now, educators, policymakers, parents, and communities have battled fiercely over how best to teach reading--phonics, whole language, or scientifically based reading.…

Whenever Mr. Henderson's 3rd grade students had a question that he couldn't immediately answer or that seemed off-topic, he asked them to write the question on a sticky note and place it on a poster dubbed the "Parking Lot." His intention was to find time later to answer those questions, but too often, he said, the parking lot…

Across the nation, educators continue to face challenges as they work to individualize instruction to meet the specific needs of their students. However, theory suggests that teachers who possess a clear vision for teaching creatively weave their personal convictions for teaching with instructional practices. Drawing upon a teacher's (first…

This randomized control trial examined the efficacy of a multitiered supplemental tutoring program within a first-grade responsiveness-to-intervention prevention model. Struggling first-grade readers (n = 649) were screened and progress monitored at the start of the school year. Those identified as unresponsive to general education Tier 1 (n =…

The current study has been conducted to improve the reading disability of the subject "F" who is a 3rd grade primary school student. The study consists of detection, diagnosis and treatment stages and is an "action research" in line with qualitative research design. The Informal Reading Inventory was used to determine the…

Research has found that peers influence the academic achievement of children. However, the mechanisms through which peers matter remain underexplored. The present study examined the relationship between peers' reading skills and children's own reading skills among 4,215 total second- and third-graders in 294 classrooms across 41 schools. One…

Substantial research points to the importance of developing strong early literacy skills. However, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, between 2007 and 2013, no more than 55 percent of Mississippi grade 4 students were reading at or above the proficiency level that demonstrates solid academic performance for the grade…

Reading comprehension levels of elementary students have not significantly improved in the 21st century and as a result, the need for systematic and intensive reading interventions is as high as ever. Literacy clinics are an ideal setting for struggling readers to experience success through the implementation of a cyclical approach to individual…

We conducted a meta-analysis of 28 studies comprising 39 samples to ask the question, "What is the magnitude of the association between various baseline child cognitive characteristics and response to reading intervention?" Studies were located via literature searches, contact with researchers in the field, and review of references from…

An increased accountability in literacy performance for third grade students drew statewide attention in North Carolina upon the implementation of the Read to Achieve Law. Elementary educators have worked to implement this mandate by monitoring the state's reading curriculum, instruction, assessments, and approaches to educating students. This…

This study focused on the differentiation practices of second- and third-grade teachers in mathematics and reading comprehension lessons. Preconditions for differentiation, classroom organization, and how teachers dealt with students of different ability levels were investigated through observations, using a time-sampling instrument. Data of 43…

Tier 3 interventions are necessary for improving the reading performance of students who fail to respond adequately to Tier 1 general education instruction and Tier 2 supplemental reading intervention. In this pilot study, we identified 8 students in 3rd and 4th grade who had demonstrated slow response to Tier 2 reading interventions for three…

We examined the relative contribution of visual abilities, accessibility of letter names, and phonological awareness, to text reading speed and accuracy of Arabic in first, third, and fifth grades. The results revealed that for all levels of skill, phonological awareness contributes significantly to reading accuracy, to the same degree. For…

This article reports on 2 experiments in inner-city Baltimore evaluating a computer-assisted tutoring approach, Tutoring With Alphie (TWA), in which 1 paraprofessional can work with up to 6 children at a time. In Study 1, we randomly assigned 14 schools to receive TWA or to continue with whatever approaches they were currently using. Each…

The authors describe a month-long unit on Afro-Latin@ identity in which third grade students began with a discussion of complex questions with which many historians, anthropologists, and scholars struggle to make sense. The goal of this month-long unit was to have students adopt the lens of cultural anthropologists as they explored the historical…