Literacy supports every aspect of daily life, from learning new academic knowledge to active citizenship to finding and maintaining employment, not to mention the satisfaction and pleasure that can be experienced through using literacy to participate in leisure and recreation. Recognizing the vital nature of literacy, Toews and Kurth (2019) call…

This article provides commentary on "Investigating the Impact of Literacy-infused Science Intervention on Economically Challenged Students' Science Achievement: A Case Study from a Rural District in Texas" (EJ1306217) which is about the impact of educational interventions on the scientific and academic achievements of students from…

Literacy is the foundation for success in school and society. An essential goal of every school is to help every student read, write and think critically. Dedicated teachers are the catalyst for reaching this goal. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) developed a literacy professional learning model to better support these dedicated…

This commentary offers a critique of literacy pedagogy that focuses solely upon a best practices approach to teaching and learning and argues for a relational pedagogy that relies upon diffractive thinking, reading, and writing.

In this webinar, Janice A. Dole, Professor and Director of the Reading and Literacy Program in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah, discussed different strategies for delivering literacy instruction to meet a range of student needs, including the ways in which teachers can collaborate with reading specialists to…

Jean Stockard's (2011) article in the "Journal of Research in Rural Education," "Increasing Reading Skills in Rural Areas: An Analysis of Three School Districts," offers a productive opportunity to discuss the standardization of language and literacy teaching and learning in rural schools. The purpose of this response is to…

This essay offers a commentary on how the relationship between language and literacy practices in and out of school has been conceptualized. It draws upon two new books in the field. Shirley Brice Heath's new book, "Words at Work and Play: Three Decades in Family and Community Life," which makes use of rich ethnographic accounts of…

In many middle and high schools, literacy is seen as secondary to school reform; it is often perceived as being a problem for only a few students-that improving the literacy abilities of students is remedial in nature and should not be part of the "normal" classroom. It is felt that improving literacy levels should be the responsibility of English…

This commentary invites Americans to confront what these authors view as the travesty that typically passes for literacy instruction for older youth in the United States who struggle with reading. In too many U.S. schools, these young people face an impoverished curriculum, receiving literacy instruction that is ill suited to their needs, or…

Points out that reading has to be made something that those learning to read want to do, now, and in the future, and argues that people who can read should help those who cannot. (EL)

This essay describes one man's experiences learning to read in the 1940s. He notes that at that time, parents were not expected to teach their children to read prior to entering school. That was viewed as the teacher's job. However, his parents filled his house and his life with literacy-based experiences. Once he learned to read, his community…

Since Susan Adler, Alberta Dougan, and Jesus Garcia like "big ideas," the author offers one to ponder: young people in this country can not read with comprehension. The saddest thing about this crisis is that it is no secret. The 2001 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for reading, published in every major…

Presents a panel discussion of five eminent educators (Ira Aaron, Jeanne Chall, Dolores Durkin, Kenneth Goodman, and Dorothy Strickland) on a variety of issues in literacy education, including the politics of literacy education and the challenges facing literacy educators in years to come. (MG)

This article comments on the discussion of S. A. Storch and G. J. Whitehurst's literacy development model in the article by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN). Specifically, this comment focuses on concerns raised by the NICHD ECCRN that Storch and Whitehurst's model does…

Analysis of second-language literacy is discussed in light of first-language perspectives on literacy, reading, and writing, and expanding these perspectives into second-language contexts. The current perspectives on literacy are also identified and reviewed. (GLR)