When leaders in Lewisville Independent School District in Texas saw the district's writing scores on STAAR--the Texas standardized tests introduced in 2011--they panicked. They were not alone. The response from many neighboring districts, and from some of Lewisville's own campuses, was a renewed commitment to summer and after-school drill-and-kill…

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…

Traditionally, school librarians have had two main strategies for impacting the literacy development of students in their schools. One way is through reading promotion efforts: book talks, book displays, or online book trailers, and literacy events such as book fairs, contests, and reading incentive programs. The other way has been through…

Pacesetting high schools, middle grades schools and technology centers have changed classroom and other practices to prepare students to meet postsecondary requirements and rising workplace needs. The strategies include raising expectations, project-based learning, guidance and advisement, improving students' reading and writing skills,…

E-readers like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook are beginning to make their way into school libraries and classrooms. It's about time. E-readers have tremendous potential to entice reluctant readers to read more. A study that the authors recently conducted among low-reading-ability middle school students demonstrated that potential.…

The parents of students who attend Decatur High School thought that there was little hope of their kids going on to college. After a year or so in Decatur's reading program, their sons and daughters were both transformed and college bound. In this article, the author describes how Decatur was able to successfully transform their students. Seven…

Educational leaders need to ask themselves how it is possible that nearly 40% of 329,969 Texas fourth grade students are reading below grade level? With accountability standards rising, how does any school with an at-risk population produce fluent readers and in turn master grade level expectations? Scholars agree that meaning derives from…

Founder and executive director of National Reading Styles Institute (www.nrsi.com) describes several instructional methods designed to help below-level readers improve their reading skills, such as choral reading, echo reading, and recording. Describes positive effects of reading style instructional methods in a Texas elementary school and a…

The authors--a second grade classroom teacher and a university professor of education--decided to collaborate. Melanie wanted to find out if she could help her students increase their reading and writing comprehension by presenting a sequence of events in an activity (for example, the steps in building a house) and then have the students write the…

This pamphlet describes the Texas Reading Initiative, a comprehensive plan aimed at improving reading instruction in Texas and begun after a challenge was issued by Governor George W. Bush that each and every child must learn to read. It lists the 8 key elements that were established to guide the initiative (including increasing awareness of…

The austerity of the Great Depression, the popularity of progressive education, and scholarly research in reading from 1900 to 1930 initiated five golden years (1933-1938) of reading improvement in West Texas rural schools. Financial restraints relieved the schools from close scrutiny by the state's education agency. Schools were forced to…

This paper states that the unequivocal goal that Governor George Bush has set for the state of Texas is that "all students should be able to read on grade level or higher by the end of third grade and continue to read on grade level or higher throughout their schooling." The paper explains that the governor identified eight key elements…

Relates the author's experiences teaching remedial reading in a Texas high school, where the state-mandated exit-level competency test heavily influences teaching. Discusses negative effects on students and on teachers. Describes how the author's teaching evolved from an emphasis on this basic skills test to a focus on engaging students in…

Ninth graders in a six-week reading improvement class at San Marcos High School (Texas) acted as tutors in an elementary school. The ninth graders' self-confidence, attitude, and attendance improved dramatically, but their own progress in reading did not, because of the short duration of the project. (DM)

Reports one south Texas school's efforts at promoting family literacy through a workshop program for low socioeconomic status families. Outlines activities of each of three workshops designed to foster good reading attitudes and abilities by teaching parents strategies and techniques to use when reading to their children. (SR)