Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text (PACT) is a text- and discourse-based set of instructional practices that engage students with disciplinary texts as a means of building content knowledge and improving reading comprehension. PACT)s "efficacy" has been the subject of extensive previous trials. The purpose of this study was to…

Fewer than half of all students across the nation qualify as proficient readers. Compounding this problem are the underlying challenges to students and their teachers of learning disabilities and dyslexia. Professional development courses can help teachers address these deficiencies. The purpose of this study was to determine how graduates of the…

English learners (ELs) in Florida face numerous challenges including low test scores, and high dropout rates, and are typically several years behind their peers when compared to other states. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental ex-post-facto study was to compare the differences between ACCESS 2.0 scores of high school ELs in…

This paper introduces a new observation system that is designed to investigate students' and teachers' talk during literacy instruction, "Creating Opportunities to Learn from Text" (COLT). Using video-recorded observations of 2nd-3rd grade literacy instruction (N=51 classrooms, 337 students, 151 observations), we found that nine types of…

New data and analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality finds significant progress on the science of reading instruction in teacher preparation. For the first time since NCTQ began publishing program ratings in its 2013 Teacher Prep Review, the number of programs in the nation to embrace reading science has crossed the halfway mark,…

Reading comprehension--the ability to understand the meaning of text--is a foundational ability that enables children to learn in school and throughout life. Children who struggle with reading comprehension in the third or fourth grade are at high risk for dropping out of school, with detrimental effects on their future employment, income, and…

This mixed-methods study investigated elementary teachers' perceptions of curriculum-based readers theatre (CBRT) as a relevant approach for teaching English language learners (ELLs). I collected quantitative survey data from teachers who worked at the school with the largest population of ELLs in a large Florida school district. The survey…

Low achievement in reading is a concern in a suburban school in the southeastern part of Florida. In an attempt to combat this issue, the school's administration has focused on teaching disciplinary literacy in content area classes, specifically social studies. In addition, the state standards also require that social studies teachers meet the…

Theatre instructional techniques, including reader's theatre and process drama teaching strategies, have been employed as instructional strategies in classrooms to enhance reading comprehension and vocabulary learning in students. In this era of increasing accountability for educational outcomes, quantifying what, if any, impact such instructional…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Document Based Questioning (DBQ) with third, fourth, and fifth grade students during their 120-minute literacy block. Standardized test scores in the areas of reading and writing during the 2013-2014 school year dropped significantly (Florida Department of Education, 2013). As a result,…

The present study examined the amount, type, and quality of Tier 1 and supplemental reading instruction provided to fourth-grade struggling readers and whether specific elements of instruction predicted growth in reading skills. 110 students identified as having reading difficulty, receiving school-based reading instruction in 22 classrooms…

The present study examined the amount, type, and quality of Tier 1 and supplemental reading instruction provided to 4th-grade struggling readers and whether specific elements of instruction predicted growth in reading skills. In all, 110 students identified as having reading difficulty who were receiving school-based reading instruction in 22…

This document was prepared to assist literacy specialists in the national Regional Comprehensive Center network as they work with states to improve educational policy and practice in the area of adolescent literacy. It comprises three major parts: Part One: "Improving academic literacy instruction for students in grades 4-12." Based on…

This article reports research that examines the impact of fidelity to a scripted program in two third-grade classrooms. The data was drawn from a study conducted in an elementary school functioning under pressure from state and district policy to increase student standardized reading test scores. Thematic analysis was used to analyze observation…

Reading fluency has been identified as a key component in effective literacy instruction (National Reading Panel, 2000). Instruction in reading fluency has been shown to lead to improvements in reading achievement. Reading fluency instruction is most commonly associated with guided repeated oral reading instruction. In the present retrospective…