A competency-based undergraduate reading methods course and a competency-based language arts methods course have been offered at Rhode Island College as part of the preservice training of prospective elementary teachers. In addition to these courses, the Right to Read staff has developed two student teaching centers. This two-year final report…

One way of countering illiteracy is to teach children to read before they enter elementary school, e.g., in nursery school or at home. The "right age" for learning to read is discussed; positive results of a project in France that taught nursery school children to read and write are examined. (RM)

Describes theoretical and practical problems facing the field of early reading, examining: readers and texts (reader processes, text difficulty, linguistic and cultural knowledge, and unique learners); home and school (home-school match, communities and reading, preschools as contexts for reading acquisition, and best practices); and policy and…

Teachers and teacher educators are faced with an urgent responsibility to support the learning of an increasingly diverse population of young children. Based on the sociocultural perspective of reading, a literature-based approach is outlined for early reading teachers. The implications of this approach to teacher education programs are further…

Volume II of the three-volume final report on the Right to Read Preservice Teacher Preparation Project is arranged into five appendices presenting learning, instructional, and evaluational modules in the reading and language arts fields. Appendix A appears in Volume I. Appendix B is a first draft of nine modules for a second undergraduate reading…

This document is the final volume of a three-volume report on the Right to Read Preservice Teacher Preparation Project. It is composed of ten appendices (H-Q) containing various teaching modules, assessment forms, audio-visual materials, and orientation packages. Appendix H presents instruments for assessing student performance in student…