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By: Susan Lafond (2012)
The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and Literacy are rigorous, internationally benchmarked, and aligned with college and work expectations. The standards set requirements not only for English language arts but also for literacy across the content areas, including history/social studies, science, and technical subjects.
By: Susan Lafond (2012)
Get the basics on the Common Core State Standards — what they are, who created them, goals, how they address content-area literacy, and what they offer for ELLs and special education students.
By: Reading Rockets (2011)
Get ready for a great school year. Discover ideas for planning a sparkling back-to-school night, creating a literacy-rich classroom that is welcoming to all students, establishing an effective 90-minute reading block, building parent engagement, and more.
By: Corrie Kelly (2011)
Reading intervention programs play an important role in helping all students become confident, skilled readers. There are lots of programs available to schools. If you are planning to purchase an intervention program for instruction, it is important to do your homework — and get as much information as you can about a program's benefits and effectiveness. This article provides basic comparative information about a range of commercially available intervention programs.
By: Center for American Progress, Claire E. White, and James S. Kim (2009)
The powerful combination of systematic vocabulary instruction and expanded learning time has the potential to address the large and long-standing literacy gaps in U.S. public schools, particularly with low-income students and English language learners.
By: Thomas Toch and Robert Rothman (2008)
Comprehensive methods of evaluating teachers that avoid the typical "drive-by" evaluations can promote improvements in teaching.
By: National Center for Technology Innovation (2008)
With the range and variety of commercial software products on the shelves today, how can an educator or parent choose a program that will most benefit a particular student? Where are product reviews that can inform the decision?
By: Stan Paine (2008)
How can school leaders support school-wide reading initiatives? Here are keys to leading the way in the areas of reading curriculum, instruction, assessment, and motivation.
By: The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement (2008)
This research brief from the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement examines the research on teacher leadership and what it says about drawing on the skills of experienced teachers to facilitate school improvement.
By: National Association of School Psychologists (2008)
In this statement, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) identifies the characteristics of students more likely to be retained and the impact of retention at the secondary school level, late adolescence, and early adulthood. NASP also provides a long list of alternatives to retention and social promotion.
By: Linda Fitzharris, Mary Blake Jones, and Allison Crawford (2008)
Knowing what teachers know and how they practice is necessary to ensure that there are professionals in every classroom meeting the diverse needs of students. Researchers evaluated case studies from a group of teachers and revealed four different levels of knowledge, indicating that future staff development needs to be differentiated and individualized.
By: Ellen Delisio (2007)
Hours of test preparation, especially in underperforming schools, has left little time for electives or even some of the un-tested basic subjects. Adding time to the school day and year has helped some schools improve their scores and flesh out their curriculums.
By: Lucy Steiner and Julie Kowal (2007)
Many school districts have adopted instructional coaching as a model for teachers' professional development. This brief offers guidance on how school leaders can tailor the most promising coaching strategies to the needs of their schools.
By: The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement (2006)
What are the factors that can improve school districts? This research brief from the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement reviewed more than 80 research articles that investigated the attributes of schools and districts that have improved over time and found 13 themes or characteristics common to them.
By: Amy Milsom (2006)
The school experiences of students with disabilities can be positively or negatively influenced by the attitudes and behaviors of students and staff and by general school policies. School counselors can take the lead in assessing school climate in relation to students with disabilities and initiating interventions or advocating for change when appropriate. This article provides an overview of factors to consider in creating positive school experiences for students with disabilities and suggestions for intervention efforts.
By: Andres Barona and Maryann Santos de Barona (2006)
This article discusses the challenges in providing psychoeducational services to the rapidly increasing minority populations in the U.S. and offers a brief elaboration of the role and function of school counselors and school psychologists and how they can meet the mental health and educational needs of this large and growing population.
By: Craig D. Jerald (2006)
It is possible for educators to make better choices about how and when to teach to the test than the alarmist newspaper articles and editorials would seem to suggest. This article from the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement aims to help readers think beyond simple compliance with federal law or basic implementation of programs.
By: Craig D. Jerald (2006)
Walk into any truly excellent school and you can feel it almost immediately — a calm, orderly atmosphere that hums with an exciting, vibrant sense of purposefulness. This is a positive school culture, the kind that improves educational outcomes.
By: The Center for Public Education (2006)
Like class size reduction, increasing instructional time has lots of common-sense appeal as mechanism for raising student achievement. But more time in school can be costly. These key lessons summarize the current research on different approaches to organizing school time and schedules, beginning with the obvious question: Does more time make a difference?
By: Elizabeth Crawford and Joseph K. Torgesen (2006)
Improving the effectiveness of interventions for struggling readers is critical. It requires a school-level system for early identification of 'at risk' students and then providing those students with intensive interventions. This article describes what the Florida Center for Reading Research has learned by visiting Reading First schools that have demonstrated success in reaching struggling readers. School leaders will find ideas described here that can help them successfully meet the unique challenges within their own schools.
By: The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement (2005)
The most influential educational leaders are the principal and superintendent, and their leadership is inextricably linked to student performance. This article looks at the basics of good leadership and offers practical suggestions.
By: Lucy Steiner and Julie Kowal (2005)
Research shows that effective school leaders focus on improving classroom instruction, not just managerial tasks. A natural way for school leaders to take on the role of instructional leader is to serve as a "chief" coach for teachers by designing and supporting strong classroom level instructional coaching. Here's how to selecting a coaching approach that meets the particular needs of a school and how to implement and sustain the effort.
By: The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement (2005)
Research shows that parent involvement can improve students' behavior, attendance, and achievement. But how can schools foster high-quality, successful parent involvement? The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement offers some research-based advice and resources to help.
By: National Association of School Psychologists (2004)
School psychologists are highly trained in both psychology and education to help children be successful academically, socially, and emotionally. Learn more about their role and the kinds of support and services they offer.
By: Sally M. Reis and Robert Colbert (2004)
Recent research on academically talented students with learning disabilities indicates that they have specific counseling needs that often are not addressed in elementary and secondary school. This article looks at what kinds of support students with this profile need, and how school counselors can provide it.
By: Partnership for Reading (2004)
School administrators have a critical leadership role to play in helping students become good readers. This article suggests seven key action steps on how principals and other administrators can create a school framework for success.
By: National Summer Learning Association (2004)
Research demonstrates that all students experience significant learning losses in procedural and factual knowledge during the summer months.
By: Richard Allington (2002)
This article by Richard Allington provides a clear-eyed view of what he believes matters most in teaching kids to read – effective and expert teachers.
By: Mark Stricherz (2001)
The National Association for Elementary School Principals has released a booklet on what principals should know and be able to do. Learn about their recommendations, including a focus on instructional leadership and six steps to raise test scores.
By: Laura Bush (2001)
Quality can look different in individual primary grade classrooms. However, there are certain characteristics of effective early reading programs that parents can look for in their children's classrooms. First Lady Laura Bush presents a list of these characteristics in this guide for parents.
By: International Reading Association (2000)
Every child deserves excellent reading teachers — they make a profound difference in children's reading achievement and motivation to read.
By: International Reading Association (2000)
Because reading specialists have advanced degrees in reading, they are in a position to prevent reading failure at their schools. This position statement describes the roles reading specialists can play in instruction, assessment, and school leadership.
By: New American Schools (2000)
Improving education requires a comprehensive approach to school reform. This overview describes the context of school reform efforts and outlines the steps necessary to implement such reform.
By: Learning First Alliance (2000)
For teachers to help more children learn to read, their own learning must be a valued and integral part of their work. Here are guidelines for the conditions for and content of effective professional development in reading.
By: Learning First Alliance (2000)
In order to adopt research-based practices for teaching reading, teachers must be supported with quality professional development that helps them develop an extensive knowledge and skills base. This guide, written by Learning First Alliance (an organization of twelve national education associations), calls for changes in the context, process, and content of professional development in reading.
By: Linda Butler (2000)
The NICHD Early Interventions Project was designed to increase reading achievement in nine low-performing schools in the District of Columbia. This article describes the experience of one researcher working with these schools, and makes recommendations for policymakers and administrators.
By: Holly Kreider, Ellen Mayer, and Peggy Vaughan (1999)
Good communication between parents and teachers has many benefits. When parents and teachers share information, children learn more and parents and teachers feel more supported. Good communication can help create positive feelings between teachers and parents.
By: Learning First Alliance (1998)
When it comes to reading, the nine months of first grade are arguably the most important in a student's schooling.
By: Catherine Snow, Susan Burns, and Peg Griffin (1998)
Socioeconomic differences are conventionally indexed by such demographic variables as household income and parents' education and occupation, alone or in some weighted combination.
By: Texas Education Agency (1996)
Research-based reading instruction allows children opportunities to both understand the building blocks and expand their use of language, oral and written. These opportunities are illustrated by classroom activities in these twelve components of reading instruction for grades one through three.
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