Many of our children continue to live in book deserts, neighborhoods bereft of reading materials. It is an educational problem that, at times, may seem unsolvable. In this article, my colleagues and I approach the problem from a perspective of a small win, a term first coined by organizational theorist Karl Weik. Small wins act like…

The new age of digital media and information technologies demands more complex interpretive meaning-making from readers than ever before. Early childhood teachers must therefore incorporate higher-level literacy instruction focused on interpretative meaning to prepare students to meet these increasing literacy demands. This study redesigned the…

An instructional focus on critical literacy (CL) encourages students to become active readers and writers of cultural texts so that they can create their own meanings in order to shape and transform their social conditions (Lankshear & McLaren, 1993; Shor, 1992). It is, however, seldom pursued with English learners (ELs) because teachers…

Discusses how to support teachers through the challenges of full implementation of holistic instruction in the classroom. Examines the effectiveness of the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program in Hawaii. Finds that holistic instruction can be effective in improving the literacy achievement of students of diverse cultural and linguistic…

Reports on the long-term development, implementation, and assessment of a framework for beginning reading instruction (the Four Blocks Approach). Describes the framework and how it divides times fairly evenly between the four major historical approaches to reading instruction. Shows that the framework is very successful with children of a wide…

Describes a project designed to enhance the technological ability of university students enrolled in an early literacy course. Models the use of technology as a tool for literacy instruction in hopes that these teachers and future teachers would become more familiar with technology and use it when teaching their early childhood students to read.…

Reports that first grade children in Zaire who used a carefully controlled native language primer (developed to meet a need for up-to-date, relevant primers in Zairean languages) achieved higher reading scores than children who used an old (1952) primer. (GT)