Reading is an essential skill taught during elementary academic years. The Sunny Day School District recognized the need of locating a reading program tailored to effectively meeting the instructional needs of students. A preliminary question was, "how do we increase the reading achievement of all our students?" In response to this…

Elizabeth Dutro and Kathleen Collins have written a fascinating and broad-ranging review that captures the richness of perspectives and findings in elementary literacy research, based on an examination of roughly 7,700 titles published in NCTE journals. This daunting figure provides an indication of the productivity and extensive contributions of…

The purpose of this meta-analytic review is twofold. First, the authors estimate the impact of K-8 summer literacy interventions on reading achievement. They measure reading achievement using a composite outcome and specific measures of word reading and fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Second, they examine the moderating role of the…

This article shares an oral reading practice that develops children's fluency skills, with a particular emphasis on performance reading and prosody. The authors share their experiences with Fluency Idol! as a way to engage young children by tapping into pop culture. The practice emphasizes repeated readings, feedback, practice, and…

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to discover how the newly implemented Common Core State Standards (CCSS) may have changed teachers' practices and philosophies regarding literacy instruction and to determine which teaching strategies were being presented in regard to informational text in the studied Kindergarten through second grade…

With all of the reform models, research-based programs, leadership training, and professional development focused on reading and writing, we certainly know more about literacy today than we ever have before. So why are schools still suffering with low literacy levels? The answer lies in ineffective and unbalanced literacy instruction. Through the…

This article presents the findings from a pilot study exploring the use of video as a self-reflection tool combined with high-quality, collaborative professional development (PD). Participants were in-service, upper-elementary, special education instructors teaching word study and fluency to students with learning disabilities. Participants…

The theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI theory), put forward by Gardner in 1983, claims that each person possesses different combinations of nine intelligences. In education, it advocates that teachers should address students' personal uniqueness and provide a wide range of intelligence-oriented activities and experiences to facilitate learning,…

This study examined the "Tejas LEE or El Inventario de Lectura en Espanol de Tejas" (Grade 1) to determine if a relationship existed between reading comprehension in Spanish and the tested skills on the diagnostic assessment. This quantitative research design evaluated the psychometric characteristics of the Tejas LEE and followed customary…

Many deaf students struggle with learning to read. This is the case nationally as well as at the Michigan School for the Deaf (MSD). In 2006, the elementary teaching staff began working together to implement a change in their reading instruction so their approach would be systematic and consistent across grade levels. With the diverse backgrounds…

Common Core Reading Standard 10 not only prescribes the difficulty of texts students should become able to read, but also the difficulty diet of texts schools should ask their students to read across the school year. The use of quantitative text-assessment tools in the implementation of this standard warrants an examination into the validity of…

The authors review five major findings in reading comprehension and their implications for educational practice. First, research suggests that comprehension skills are separable from decoding processes and important at early ages, suggesting that comprehension skills should be targeted early, even before the child learns to read. Second, there is…

In this article the authors recount the history and challenges of implementing coaching in 153 Georgia elementary schools over the 6-year period of Reading First funding. After outlining the expectations of Reading First, they describe the particular demands of coaching in a reform setting and detail the formative lessons that allowed the program…

The existence of elementary reading specialists in schools has increased, and their role in improving schoolwide efforts for prevention and intervention of reading risk has received increased emphasis. The purpose of this article is to describe the components of a multitier schoolwide reading model in the early grades in which the reading…

In this "Struggling Readers" department, the author describes a collaborative lesson--a professional development strategy adapted from Reading Recovery. Collaborative lessons involve a small group of educators who collaborate to help a student who is struggling with reading. While collaborative lessons were initially designed by Reading Recovery…