The Early Literacy Program focuses on the development of early literacy skills, with additional emphasis placed on intervention for students at risk of not meeting grade-based reading benchmarks. Resources available to aid these students include interventions and supports for students in grades kindergarten through third grade, standards and…

Two commonly used test types to assess vocabulary knowledge for the purpose of reading are size and levels tests. This article first reviews several frequently stated purposes of such tests (e.g., materials selection, tracking vocabulary growth) and provides a reasoned argument for the precision needed to serve such purposes. Then three sources of…

The Early Literacy Program focuses on the development of early literacy skills, with additional emphasis on intervention for students at risk of not meeting grade-based reading benchmarks. Districts and charter schools (LEAs) assess, and report to the state, students' reading composites and benchmarks three (3) times a year using the Acadience…

In response to McLean (2021), Laufer (2021) makes three claims which are either not supported by research or are based on studies with important limitations. First is that a vocabulary size, instead of a level, can be used to match learners with lexically appropriate materials despite test creators and research not supporting this. Second is that…

A Vygotskian approach to assessment is proposed by invoking the distinction between the development of lower and higher psychological functions. Higher psychological functions are specifically human and develop with the use of cultural tools via mediation. Accordingly, a distinction is made between tests that are based on association, which have…

The Universal Literacy initiative's goal is to have all students reading on grade level by the end of the second grade, by 2026. The initiative takes a research-based, capacity-building approach by training educators to become Reading Coaches, who work with K-2 teachers individually and in groups on how to effectively teach children to read.…

This manuscript presents the results of an analysis between the easyCBM® literacy assessments, Grades K-3, and Ohio's Learning Standards related to literacy at those grade levels. Results indicate some alignment at each grade level, with the greatest degree of alignment in Grade 3.

Languages differ in the way that speech and meaning are represented in written form: in English, the correspondences are variable. Thus, in learning to read in English there is need for an approach that combines alphabetic decoding and a mastery of sight vocabulary. Teaching children to read should develop from an analysis of the skills and…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) currently offers two bilingual programs and two English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for English language learners (ELs). These programs facilitate ELs' integration into the regular school curriculum and ensure access to equal educational opportunities. Bilingual programs are offered in…

This article describes a social and emotional learning intervention, the "Responsive Classroom"[R] (RC) approach, which is designed to produce classroom environments conducive to learning. It summarizes a new body of research describing the efficacy of the RC approach. One component of the RC approach is the Morning Meeting. This article…

"Leveled Literacy Intervention" ("LLI") is a short-term, supplementary, small-group literacy intervention designed to help struggling readers achieve grade-level competency. The intervention provides explicit instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, oral language skills, and…

How does literacy develop in children's early years, and what programs or practices promote adequate literacy for all children? These are the questions Catherine Snow and Timothy Matthews tackle in this article. Fundamental literacy skills can be grouped into two categories, Snow and Matthews write. The first category is "constrained"…

"Academy of READING"® is an online program that aims to improve students' reading skills using a structured and sequential approach to learning in five core areas--phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) identified 38 studies of "Academy of READING"® for adolescent…

IES is the primary research, evaluation, and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education. Established through the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA), the Institute's mission is to expand fundamental knowledge and understanding of education and to provide education leaders and practitioners, parents and students, researchers, and…

Children's reading skill development is influenced by availability of reading materials, reading habits and opportunity to read. Save the Children's Literacy Boost data have replicated this finding across numerous developing contexts. Meanwhile international large-scale reading assessments do not capture detail on current home literacy. The…