This article critiques the articles by Connor et al., Croninger and Valli, Pianta and Hamre, and Rowan and Correnti, which appeared in the March 2009 issue of "Educational Researcher," by taking a cultural-historical perspective on reading and reading instruction. In this paradigm a number of those authors' assumptions are seen as questionable,…

In this article, the author argues that there is minimal scientific support for the pedagogical approaches promoted for low-income students in the federal Reading First initiative. In combination with high-stakes testing, the interpretation of the construct "systematic phonics instruction" in Reading First has resulted in highly…

Examines whether (1) the belief of reading educators that beginning reading methods do not significantly differ is correct; (2) differences exist among methods for teaching older readers and for remediating disabled readers; and (3) instructional methods differ across subject type, treatment characteristics, different achievement measures, and…