When young children of Color from minoritized communities read decodable readers mandated by their school districts, children approach reading the texts with the expectation that the texts will make sense. While decodable readers allow children to apply their knowledge of phonics skills in context to support their word recognition, they tend to…

More and more students with learning disabilities and other diverse learners are placed for instruction in general education classrooms, which often leaves teachers grappling to design successful peer interactions and literacy activities to meet the needs of all learners in their classrooms. As the shift is made to align literacy instruction to…

This article describes four key principles from Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI, formerly called Targeted Reading Intervention), an evidence-based early reading intervention and professional development program. Focused on accelerating the growth of students not yet meeting grade-level expectations, one-on-one 15-minute daily TRI lessons engage…

The National Reading Panel (NRP) identified five pillars, or essential components, of reading instruction that lead to the highest chance of reading success--phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. A decade after the NRP's report, the majority of US states adopted the Common Core State Standards/English Language Arts…

The quick adoption of iPads into the classroom, coupled with the many apps targeting early literacy skills, offers a new way to build early literacy skills with emergent and beginning readers. However, young children may be more proficient with the technology than with the literacy concepts, and may not be maximizing learning, or even learning at…

Phonics and fluency have been identified as two essential elements in the effective teaching of reading. Although normally considered two distinct elements of the reading curriculum that are separate, through the use of rhyming poetry both phonics and fluency can be taught in a synergistic and authentic manner. In this article, the authors explore…

Reprints an exemplary article published in this journal in 1955, which points out that phonics is only one part of a total reading program. Emphasizes the fact that meaning for the reader must be the essential part of all reading instruction. (SR)

Reviews four books that deal with reading comprehension, phonics in a whole-language classroom, children's books for mathematics learning, and using nonfiction trade books. (SR)

The authors share what they learned when they assessed second graders' acts of reading. The children were in three different reading programs: Two were commercially produced and emphasized systematic, explicit phonics instruction (Reading Mastery, Open Court); the other was a literature-based program using an adaptation of guided reading. The…

An instrument for assessing young students' understanding of the English orthographic system is presented. The Tile Test measures understanding of phoneme awareness, letter-sound correspondences, decoding and spelling of words, sight-word reading, and the application of decoding and spelling in sentences. Metalinguistic questions embedded within…

Claims that even though teaching phonics is an effective method of reading instruction, the skills taught by phonics have little to do with the process of reading acquisition. Offers two methods of resolving the paradoxes generated by this situation. (NH)

Notes that a major issue in literacy instruction today is whether commercial reading programs emphasizing phonemic awareness and phonics are more effective than teacher-designed programs that focus on literature-based reading and process writing with integrated skill instruction. Reviews two books that address this controversy. Presents seven…

Considers how the use of graphic organizers helps students understand difficult concepts about literacy. Notes that graphic and other visual organizers help students to understand interconcept relationships by presenting the information spatially. Describes the four-square strategy which integrates specific aspects of phonics instruction,…