Describes a peer tutoring program used in grades two and three of a school where the majority of children entering school do not speak English as their first language. Shows impressive gains made by the children in reading fluency, comprehension, and in spelling. Notes the program's positive effects on reading attitudes, positive social skills,…

The Partnership for Reading (PFR) in the United States has recently thrown its hat into the ring of adult literacy research and practice. Its information about adult literacy comes, almost entirely, from the National Reading Panel's (NRP) data on children. Building its case from the NRP data, the PFR advocates for a narrow, school-based conception…

Legislative language, mandated by the newly reauthorized Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004 and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, underscores a number of issues relevant to students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds displaying reading-achievement difficulties. In this article,…

Oral reading fluency is defined as the combination of accuracy (i.e., words read correctly) and rate (i.e., number of words read in a specified time). One strategy that addresses oral reading fluency is repeated reading of passages. Repeated reading can improve students' reading skills by building reading fluency linked to specific performance…

The materials included in this manual are organized according to the Indiana's Kindergarten Academic Standards for English/Language Arts. In each section teachers will find: (1) Indiana's Kindergarten Academic Standards for English/Language Arts Assessments: Black Line Masters of diagnostic/practice pages for skill areas, checklists, and rubrics;…

The effectiveness of an explicit, systematic reading intervention for first-grade students whose home language was Spanish and who were at risk for reading difficulties was examined. Participants were 69 students in 20 classrooms in 7 schools from 3 districts who initially did not pass the screening in Spanish and were randomly assigned within…

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, nearly 4 in 10 fourth graders read below the basic level. These literacy problems get worse as students advance through school and are exposed to progressively more complex concepts and courses. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of four remedial reading programs…

The materials included in this manual are organized according to the Indiana Grade 1 Academic Standards for English/Language Arts. In each section teachers will find: (1) Indiana Grade 1 Academic Standards for English/Language Arts; (2) Assessments: diagnostic/practice pages for skill areas, checklists, and rubrics; (3) Classroom Activities:…

The materials included in this manual are organized according to the Indiana Grade 2 Academic Standards for English/Language Arts. In each section teachers will find: (1) Indiana Grade 2 Academic Standards for English/Language Arts Assessment Tools: diagnostic/practice pages for skill areas, checklists, and rubrics; (2) Classroom Activities:…

This guide offers a set of 13 lessons designed to help learners understand the components of reading that are part of becoming a more fluent reader, and to guide them as they work with the teacher to set their own goals for reading. The lessons can be used as an independent mini-course, or they can be integrated into an existing curriculum. The…

Noting that some children struggle with learning to read, this 15-minute videotape describes the essential components of an Accelerated Reading program (which provides supplemental instruction for struggling readers in Texas) and reports results of a study examining the effectiveness of various Accelerated Reading instructional approaches. It…

The purpose of this document is to help teachers, schools, and districts see clearly the relationship between California's English Language Arts (ELA) and English Language Development (ELD) standards and to design and implement an articulated and integrated system of instruction and assessment for English learners. ELA standards are written by…

Combining essential background knowledge with hands-on tools, this practical resource and textbook provides a detailed road map for conducting multidimensional reading assessment. The book presents effective ways to evaluate K-6 students' spelling, word recognition, fluency, comprehension, strategic knowledge, and more. Intended for preservice and…

Noting that much has been written about children who have difficulty learning to read but little has been written about children who are fluent early readers, this book explores why some children succeed in reading at a very early age. The book resulted from a 3-year research project that studied the progress of 29 English children before they…

Discusses the effects of teachers' beliefs and practices on teachers' perceptions of students' abilities and potential for success. Uses the example of a child referred from a traditional kindergarten, where he did poorly, to a whole language child development center, where he excelled. Urges teachers to examine the impact of their beliefs on…