Considering the necessity to facilitate the optimal development of reading ability, and the cooperation of the community, family, school, student, and teacher, this paper presents Washington State's Essential Academic Learning Requirements in Reading as a way to encourage equal access to excellent reading instruction and opportunities to learn for…

Describes techniques used in a multi-age class at Coupeville Elementary School, Washington, to boost reading comprehension and inspire students' love of books: access to an abundance of books, challenges to students, skills reinforcement, combined phonics and whole-language instruction, running-record assessment, paired reading, independent…

Focusing on eliminating the disparity of literacy between low income, ethnically or culturally diverse populations and their more advantaged counterparts, this paper describes policies and procedures on how to ensure that all children in Washington State schools attain the highest levels of literacy possible. After some background information, the…