Recent Australian data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicate that around 14% of children are performing poorly on reading. Comparisons with earlier data show that the relative numbers of Australian children with low reading status have not declined in this century. This is despite a surge of robust research…

While movement is critical to young children's development, there is an ongoing debate about the time devoted to teaching movement in early childhood classrooms. Nevertheless, research has established a link between specific precursor motor skills and early literacy development. This study investigated the synergistic effect of practising specific…

In 2010, more than 40 states adopted the Common Core State Standards. Initially, the standards were quickly and easily embraced, but over the past year the standards have become enmeshed in various controversies, raising many questions about how the standards were written and what they include. This article attempts to provide authoritative…

In a test-driven educational environment, teachers see a great need for more engaging resources that produce the literacy results needed for students to thrive academically. In 2015, The National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 36% of fourth graders scored at or above the Proficient level of reading. This statistic was…

This paper presents an evaluation of two reading methods, phonics-based instruction and whole language learning, for English Language Learners (ELLs) and discusses the learning theories, behaviorism and constructivism that are associated with each method, respectively. The study took place in a K-12 international school, with 110 Grade 1 subjects…

As reading is vital to success in life and opens the door to nearly all other learning opportunities, it is essential that educators understand why students with learning how to read. Therefore, it is key for both professionals and researchers to establish their own approaches to assist those with reading difficulties. "Developing Effective…

This authoritative text and PreK-12 teacher resource is now in a substantially revised seventh edition with 80% new material, foregrounding advances in inclusive, equitable instruction. Teachers are guided through every major component of reading, as well as assessment, motivation, teaching bilingual learners, strengthening connections with…

This article critiques the current arrangements for the assessment and testing of English in early-years settings and primary schools in England. It is broadly supportive of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. It is highly critical of the Year 1 phonics check, and of the tests of reading and of grammar, punctuation and spelling at the end of…

This article offers instructional suggestions and strategies based on research and theoretical literature for developing reading fluency through the use of rhyming poetry and other texts beyond the narrative and informational texts that have been traditionally used for reading instruction. Readers' lack of fluency in reading can be a monumental…

This study reports on the instruction provided in district-designed intensive summer reading programs. The Tier 3 intervention was provided to 374 students from 24 school districts who were not meeting the end of third-grade reading benchmarks; students were exiting third grade and entering fourth grade. Observations of the 40 classes were…

Successive UK government policies have strengthened the phonics element of the National Curriculum for English in England. The policies have included inviting publishers to submit completed self-assessments of their systematic phonics programmes. The self-assessment criteria focus on what is deemed to be 'high-quality provision', as defined in the…

In a Southern state at a rural high school, leadership staff implemented phonics-based strategies with 9th grade English teachers to improve students' Lexile reading scores. The absence of formative data related to program implementation left stakeholders without a clear understanding of the influence of the phonics-based strategies. The purpose…

With the concise and readable "Brain Words," you will learn how children's brains develop as they become readers and discover ways you can take concrete steps to promote this critical developmental passage. Introducing their original, research-based framework of "brain words"--dictionaries in the brain where students store and…

Introduction: Many ESL college students have reading comprehension problems in English, such as difficulty understanding ideas explicitly or implicitly stated in a text, making inferences, and inferring meanings of difficult words from context. Aims: The article proposes the integration of inspirational quotes in the teaching of English to EFL…

This document provides the following four tips for supporting reading skills for children ages K-3 at home: (1) Have conversations before, during, and after reading together; (2) Help children learn how to break sentences; (3) Help children sound out words smoothly; and (4) Model reading fluently by practicing reading out loud with your child.…