In primary-grade classrooms, young children are expected to participate in rich conversations as they build their speaking and listening skills. One way to support students' success with these types of conversations is to explicitly teach them academic conversation skills. Academic conversations are intentional, focused on school-related topics,…

Students' vocabulary knowledge is a significant predictor of their overall comprehension. The Common Core State Standards are raising the expectations for word learning and there are now 4 distinct standards related to vocabulary as well as expectations in other standards, including content areas. To address these expectations, teachers need…

When schools and teachers adopt core reading programs they can use them with fidelity or make intelligent decisions about the texts, lessons and components they select to use. The evidence suggests that these programs are not research-based documents, but rather compromises between what the research suggests about effective reading instruction and…