In recent years, a wave of science of reading (SOR) reforms have swept across the nation. Although advocates argue that these are based on science-based research, SOR remains a contested and ambiguous notion. In this essay, Elena Aydarova uses an anthropology of policy approach to analyze advocacy efforts that promoted SOR reforms and legislative…

Motivation in students can have a strong effect on student engagement and overall student success. Due to the impact of COVID-19, students have been less motivated and have fallen farther behind which increases the need to better motivate and engage students within the classroom. This quasi-experimental study which incorporated a pre- and…

Student enjoyment is important when creating any unit, but teachers should also consider if an activity will enhance learning. In addition to being enjoyable, drama-based activities enrich learning by disrupting passivity, encouraging participation, and enhancing comprehension. This article showcases ways to include these activities in a unit…

Research supports the efficacy of intensive literacy instruction for children with moderate intellectual disabilities and Down syndrome (DS). However, much of the literature features measures closely aligned with evaluated interventions. Despite their increasing role in instruction, curriculum-based measures (CBM) are rarely featured in reading…

Instructional coaches may assist teachers in their continued learning by providing embedded professional development in areas of need. In this study, most sub-groups in the school district realized increases in proficiency levels in math and reading after the implementation of instructional coaches. Some sub-groups evidenced significant rates of…

Research focused on identifying effective interventions for individuals with Down syndrome is increasingly informed by the behavioral phenotype -- a profile of performance associated with a genetic abnormality. Recent studies substantiate the efficacy of phenotypically aligned instruction in improving basic reading skills for children with Down…

Prior research into computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has demonstrated that the use of technology in the classroom has the potential to help underperforming young learners. The literature has also stressed that thorough evidence-based testing is needed to ensure that effective instruction is provided to students and that accurate information is…

Across the U.S., educators face a common challenge: How can we help all students become strong readers and writers? In the author's state of Tennessee, many educators believe they have a reading crisis. Two-thirds of 3rd graders do not read and write on grade level as measured by the statewide assessment (Tennessee Department of Education, 2019a).…

Guided by the theory of differentiated instruction, this quantitative study evaluated the effectiveness of Achieve 3000, a technology-enhanced program for differentiating reading instruction. Achieve 3000 was fully implemented with fidelity in a local middle school that has a large percentage of advanced learners. Archived reading scores of 120…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has created additional opportunities for school librarians to collaborate with classroom teachers, reading specialists, and other educators in support of schools' literacy goals. This potential for expanded collaboration suggests a need for increased focus on reading instruction as part of the school…

During small group instruction, two groups of children--each group comprised of one child with a disability and two without disabilities--were taught to read words using a progressive time delay procedure (PTD). Apart from the children with disabilities, two typically developing peers in each group were taught to comment on tokens given for…

The purpose of this action research study was to determine if a bibliotological approach to literacy with at-risk students met the educational expectations of a remedial reading course while simultaneously accelerating literacy practices and promoting positive youth development. Twenty-four tenth grade students enrolled in a remedial reading…

Problem-based learning (PBL) creates opportunities for authentic learning in teacher preparation programs. In addition to developing content knowledge and pedagogy, problem-based learning affords students the framework for a holistic, collaborative approach to solving several interconnected problems. As students move through the process of…

The association made between the meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of a word has been shown to help children remember the meanings of words. The present study addressed whether the presence of a target word in Braille during instruction facilitated vocabulary learning more efficiently than an auditory-only instructional condition. The authors…

The confluence of No Child Left Behind and the National Reading Panel report on the five essential components of reading instruction forged a path for struggling adolescent readers that supports a narrow curriculum designed to address gaps in constrained skills. Adolescents from a large school district in the state of Tennessee who failed state…