Halifax Independent School is a small K-9 school where children learn in multi-age groups and in a setting where all the core subjects are integrated into the study of interesting themes such as Oceans, Nova Scotia, and Living Things. These themes last a whole year, involve the whole elementary school, and are designed to cover traditional subject…

Refugee students arrive in Canada with varying amounts of previous formal education. School-aged refugees who lack a solid first language education may find learning to read in English and studying subject content especially challenging. If these students leave school, they depart with inadequate English reading proficiency for further academics…

Literacy has become much more than just the ability to read: recent literature related to literacy instruction suggests that an essential goal is to develop in students the ability to think deeply about what they read and to express themselves accurately and expressively in all contexts. There is a growing acceptance of the importance of lifelong…

This article illustrates the development and use of a situated assessment tool in the context of a collaborative (university-school district) literacy reform effort in British Columbia, Canada. The three-year project was focused on improving literacy, including reading comprehension strategy use, among students in grades 4 through 8. It began in…

This volume presents the 51st Yearbook of the National Reading Conference. Included in this volume are 28 research reports, six invited and award-winning addresses, and a conference summary by Deborah Dillion. Readers will find quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies throughout the volume about topics ranging from early literacy…