Improve instruction and help all students achieve at high levels by making these research-based adjustments to your balanced literacy program. This guidance outlines some of the most common challenges of a balanced literacy model, how they can impede students’ learning, and how you can adapt your reading program to better serve students.

Learn how schools use screening and progress monitoring tools to identify dyslexia characteristics, and then implement reading interventions for students who need dyslexia-specific instruction. You'll also find out about classroom accommodations and modifications that can help your child learn, as well as information about referrals for special education.

The Simple View of Reading is a formula demonstrating the widely accepted view that reading has two basic components: word recognition (decoding) and language comprehension. Research studies show that a student’s reading comprehension score can be predicted if decoding skills and language comprehension abilities are known.

Schools and teachers play an essential role in identifying students with reading difficulties, including dyslexia. This article offers a 5-step framework for identifying reading difficulties and determining if a student is eligible for special education services under IDEA — including the role of RTI, cognitive processing tests, and other statewide assessments and curriculum-based measures.

Learning to read is a challenge for many kids, but most can become good readers if they get the right help. Parents have an important job in recognizing when a child is struggling and knowing how to find help. Here are some signs to look for and things to do if you suspect your child is having trouble reading.

Learn the benefits of getting your child evaluated, who does the evaluation, what happens during an evaluation, what to do with the results, and more. You can also view a video to get an inside look at a dyslexia evaluation.

The IEP team at school decides which assistive technology tools each student needs. Many teams make these decisions using something called the SETT Framework. Learn how the overall process works.

Four strategies and practices are common to effective reading instruction programs: multi-tiered systems of support; universal screening, progress monitoring, and collaboration between special education and general education. This article provides links to tools that support implementation in each area.

In this webinar from the Center on Technology and Disability, AT professionals from Fairfax County, VA public schools demonstrate how to develop and conduct AT assessments, and implement activities in early childhood classrooms and at home.

 

A veteran reading teacher shares takeaways from her 'Teachers as Readers' learning group. What teachers need: enough time to teach language arts, well-stocked classroom libraries, student input, and meaningful professional development.

Three patterns of reading difficulties are common. This article explains how recognizing these three patterns can provide a valuable starting point for planning reading instruction and interventions.

Dr. Lynn Fuchs, Professor of Special Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, answers questions about fluency, progress monitoring, reading intervention, and more.

The National Center on Intensive Intervention has created a chart of scientifically based tools to measure students' progress. Determine which one best fits your school's needs.

The Lead for Literacy initiative is a series of one-page memos for policymakers and early literacy leaders on how to improve young children's literacy, birth to age 9. Using evidence from research, these briefs are designed to help leaders avoid common mistakes and present solutions and strategies for scalability and impact.

A nationally representative sample of 213,100 fourth-graders participated in the 2011 assessment. Learn more about the key findings and trends in this Reading 2011 snapshot.

What are some ways that we can gauge vocabulary development in the content areas? In this article, the authors explain how the intricacies of word knowledge make assessment difficult, particularly with content area vocabulary. They suggest ways to improve assessments that more precisely track students' vocabulary growth across the curriculum, including English language learners.

Learn more about the four recommended practices in Response to Intervention (RTI): universal screening; progress monitoring and differentiation; systematic skill instruction; and system-wide implementation.

The purpose of report cards is to communicate about a child's progress across subject areas. Some kids, especially those having difficulty in school, dread report card time. Here are some suggestions for making report card time a little less scary and a little more productive.

This article briefly highlights the knowledge base on reading and RTI for ELLs, and provides preliminary support for the use of practices related to RTI with this population.

An introduction to 6 + 1 Trait® Writing, customized rubrics, student self-assessment, and peer editing.

Some parents are reluctant to contact their child's teacher. Don't be! A quick conversation or email exchange can solve simple misunderstandings, or make it clear that a longer, more formal conversation is needed. Here are three situations where parent contact is appropriate and even encouraged.

Parents and caregivers are often the first to notice when their child may be showing signs of delayed development. Get answers and advice with this easy-to-understand information about developmental delays.

When the back-to-school bell starts ringing, parents often hear and read school-related terms that are unfamiliar to them. Below are three terms and descriptions related to reading instruction that may help give you a better understanding of what's happening in your child's classroom and what it all means for your young learner.

It's important to recognize what good schools look like. The quality of your child's school has a huge impact on his or her learning.

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders presents age-related guidelines that can help you determine if your child's speech and language skills are developing on schedule.

After reviewing the research, the What Works Clearninghouse recommends that in tier 3 of Response To Intervention, schools provide provide intensive instruction on a daily basis that promotes the development of the various components of reading proficiency to students who show minimal progress after reasonable time. It also provides some specific features that should be considered in carrying out this recommendation.

After reviewing the research, the What Works Clearninghouse recommends that students in tier 2 of RTI be monitored at least monthly, and use this data to determine if and how primary grade students may need additional reading instructional support.

The What Works Clearninghouse reviewed the research available about using Response To Intervention to help primary grade students overcome reading struggles. WWC's recommendation for tier 2 of RTI is to provide intensive, systematic instruction on up to three foundational reading skills in small groups to students.

After reviewing the research, the What Works Clearninghouse recommends that in tier 1 of Response To Intervention, schools provide differentiated reading instruction for all students based on assessments of students' current reading levels.

This is a checklist to help educators carry out the five recommendations made in the What Works Clearninghouse report Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades.

According to research, the Education Department's What Works Clearinghouse finds that the first step in using Response To Intervention to help early elementary-aged students learn to read is to screen all students and regularly monitor students who are at elevated risk of reading problems.

Heading off to kindergarten is a big event for all kids and parents. For young children who have struggled socially or academically during preschool, it is a transition that needs careful planning and attention. Below are four suggestions for parents of children who may need extra help making a successful move to kindergarten.

Teachers use a leveling system to determine your child's reading score. Learn about the three major leveling systems and how to understand the meaning behind the scores.

Healthy hearing is critical to a child's speech and language development, communication, learning, and social development. Children who do not hear well are at an increased risk of becoming struggling readers. Here are some signals that may indicate a hearing problem.

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a complex subject and states and districts have a lot of discretion with the implementation of this three-step, research-based approach to intervention and placement. Learn about some of the common misconceptions of the RTI process and read about additional RTI web sources.

How do parents know if their child's reading delay is a real problem or simply a "developmental lag?" How long should parents wait before seeking help if their child is struggling with reading? Susan Hall answers these questions.

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.

Children who struggle with reading often need extra help. This help usually comes from the school, but some parents choose to look outside the school for professionals who can assess, diagnose, tutor, or provide other education services.

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.

There are a number of current informal reading inventories — each has its strengths, limitations, and unique characteristics, which should be considered in order to best fit a teacher's needs.

Here are some ways parents can help relieve test anxiety, stress, and pressure, as well as a guide to interpreting your child's test results.

If you think your child might have a learning disability, this article will help. Dr. Larry Silver tells parents the clues to look for in pre-school and elementary school children. Then the article talks about how to get a "psychoeducational evaluation" to find out for sure.

Find out how you can support your child before and after taking a standardized test, as well as ways you can support your child's learning habits on a daily basis so that test day is not so stressful.

Studies show that screening English language learners for abilities in phonological processing, letter knowledge, and word and text reading will help identify those who are progressing well and/or who require additional instructional support.

Learn to develop the evidence you need to support your belief that your child is not receiving the right help in school. Peter and Pamela Wright, from Wrightslaw, tell you how to interpret and chart your child's test scores, graph your child's progress, and successfully communicate with the educators who make decisions about your child.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — a.k.a. The Nation's Report Card — is a nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. This article contains some of the results of the most recent NAEP assessment in reading and compares them to results from assessments in 2005 and in the first year data were available, usually 1992.

Parent-teacher conferences are a great opportunity for families to sit down one-on-one with your child's teacher and talk about school progress. Here are some tips to make the most of this time.

Learn what questions to ask about Response to Intervention (RTI), an approach to helping struggling learners that is gaining momentum in schools across the country. This article from the National Association of School Psychologists tells you the most important features of the process, key terms, and RTI's relationship to special education evaluation.

Can teachers and parents of preschoolers identify learning problems early enough to prevent problems later in school? The Recognition & Response model helps adults know what to look for and how to help, so that later remediation and special education may not be necessary.

Use Curriculum-Based Measurement to make sure students are on track for academic success by charting their trajectory of improvement all the way through the school year. CBM calculates rate of improvement during the first month of school and determines how much a student will need to improve each month to reach benchmark goals.

One of the toughest parts of NCLB for local school districts is creating an accountability plan that works. While school districts have made progress in accountability over the last five years, they have also encountered great obstacles, outlined here.

If you're thinking of hiring a private specialist to test your child for a learning disability, here are some key questions to ask yourself and the prospective evaluator.

School psychologists working in districts that use Response to Intervention (RTI) can offer expertise at many levels, from system-wide program design to specific assessment and intervention efforts with individual students.

There are over two dozen individually administered screening tools produced for the primary grades. Considering their subject matter and purpose, schools must decide which assessment best fits their needs. This article gives an overview of the screening tools and the kind of information they provide.

Learn what reading fluency is, why it is critical to make sure that students have sufficient fluency, how we should assess fluency, and how to best provide practice and support for all students.

Students must pass high stakes tests to graduate high school. These tests are a major barrier for students with learning disabilities who often do not test well. Accommodations can help. Learn how to help children with learning disabilities do well on these tests.

Screening, diagnosing, and progress monitoring are essential to making sure that all students become fluent readers — and the words-correct per-minute (WCPM) procedure can work for all three. Here's how teachers can use it to make well-informed and timely decisions about the instructional needs of their students.

When a doctor develops a treatment plan for a sick child, the doctor uses objective data from diagnostic tests. Your child's individualized education program is similar to a medical treatment plan, and you need objective tests to know that your child is acquiring reading, writing, and arithmetic skills.

This article explains how to consider your child's present levels of academic performance and use baseline data to develop goals and objectives for a individualized education program.

Too often annual goals listed in an individualized education program are not specific and measurable. Find out how to avoid this pitfall.

Learn what makes a strong individualized education program (IEP) and the five components of a SMART IEP.

Individualized education program (IEP) goals cannot be broad statements about what a child will accomplish. Goals that cannot be measured are non-goals. Learn how to help the IEP team devise specific, measurable, realistic goals.

Learn about an early intervening system being developed for young children, called Recognition and Response, designed to help parents and teachers respond to learning difficulties in young children who may be at risk for learning disabilities as early as possible, beginning at age 3 or 4, before they experience school failure and before they are referred for formal evaluation and possible placement in special education.

Not only must schools teach academic skills, but they must measure how successful each child is acquiring these skills. One way to do this is Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM), which uses brief, timed tests made up of academic material taken from the child's school curriculum.

Progress monitoring can give you and your child's teacher information that can help your child learn more and learn faster, and help you make better decisions about the type of instruction that will work best with your child.

Is your school planning to implement student progress monitoring (SPM)? Are you thinking of using it in your classroom? If so, consider a number of factors to make SPM an integral part of classroom activities, rather than a series of isolated assessments unconnected to other parts of the learning experience. This brief offers some suggestions on how to use SPM in an integrated way.

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM), which teachers use on an ongoing basis to track students' progress toward annual goals, offers a number of benefits to parents and students, as well as teachers.

For English language learners, proper identification of learning disabilities can be crucial to success. The author offers practical tips for identifying learning disabilities and developing appropriate accommodations.

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can play a number of important roles in using RTI to identify children with disabilities and provide needed instruction to struggling students in both general education and special education settings. But these roles will require some fundamental changes in the way SLPs engage in assessment and intervention activities.

Handheld formative assessment technology provides teachers with a virtually real-time picture on which students need help, where they need it, and how the teachers can help best.

According to author E. D. Hirsch, Jr., the only useful way to prepare for a reading test is indirectly by becoming a good reader of a broad range of texts, an ability that requires broad general knowledge.

RTI is not a particular method or instructional approach, rather it is a process that aims to shift educational resources toward the delivery and evaluation of instruction that works best for students. This article provides a quick overview of RTI as it relates to reading.

How can you tell when a student has a language-learning disability and when he or she is merely in the normal process of acquiring a second language?

Assessment accommodations help people with learning disabilities display their skills accurately on examinations. Teachers, learn how to test the true knowledge of your students. Don't test their ability to write quickly if you want to see their science skills! Parents, these pointers will help you assure that your children are tested fairly.

The No Child Left Behind law requires each school test students in Reading/Language Arts & Math each year in grades 3-8, and at least once more in grades 10-12. In some cases, children eligible for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) services may be able to access testing accommodations or even alternate tests, but parents need to fully understand the implications and potential consequences of participation in the various testing options.

The purpose of this National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD) report is to examine the concepts, potential benefits, practical issues, and unanswered questions associated with responsiveness to intervention (RTI) and learning disabilities (LD). A brief overview of the approach is provided, including attributes, characteristics, and promising features, as well as issues, concerns, unanswered questions, and research needs.

School psychologists play a critical role in the lives of children who are struggling to learn. More and more, for example, school psychologists are leaders in developing and carrying out the assessments and placements decisions that impact students from the beginning of their school careers. With your help, schools can reduce the number of students who lag behind grade level – and increase the number of successful readers.

How do you choose the best method for measuring reading progress? This brief article describes which assessments to use for different reading skills so that you can make sure all students are making progress towards becoming readers!

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.

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.

An informal assessment of phonic elements, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

An informal assessment of reading fluency, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

An informal assessment of word recognition, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

An informal assessment of reading accuracy, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

An informal assessment of reading inventory, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

An informal assessment phonological awareness, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

An informal assessment of the concepts of print, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

An informal assessment of phonemic awareness, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

An informal assessment of letter/sound recognition, including what the assessment measures, when is should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered.

Standardized testing is one form of assessment used in schools. Find out about standardized tests, how and why schools use them, and how you can support your child.

Standardized testing is one form of assessment used in schools. Find out about standardized tests, how and why schools use them, and how you can support your child in this article for parents.

Early intervention works. Because it is also expensive, it's important to be able to identify the kids who are most at risk of reading failure. Thanks to a new generation of screening assessments, we can identify these students as early as kindergarten — and then invest in interventions for them.

The following are sample charts you can use when assessing students informally in the classroom. Most of the assessments here should be given one-on-one.

What should you do if you think your child is having trouble with reading? Sometimes children just need more time, but sometimes they need extra help. Trust your instincts! You know your child best. If you think there's a problem, there probably is.

This article discusses current research-supported instructional practices in reading and writing. It also reviews alternatives to ability-achievement discrepancy in identifying students for special education services, as well as introduces the idea that ability-achievement discrepancies should be based on specific cognitive factors that are relevant to specific kinds of learning disabilities rather than Full Scale IQ.

Hearing the difference between similar sounding words such as grow and glow is easy for most children, but not for all children. Children who unable to hear these differences will be confused when these words appear in context, and their comprehension skills will suffer dramatically.

This is a cautionary tale, not just for people who have no real idea of what a learning disability is and probably suspect the whole thing is an overindulgent scam, but also for any parent of a child struggling mightily through school.

Does your child need to be evaluated for a learning disability? Learn how to find the best professional, prepare for evaluation, and get the most information from the experience.

Progress monitoring is an assessment technique that tells teachers how and when to adjust curriculum so that students meet benchmark goals by the end of the year. This research shows that progress monitoring is an effective way to set and meet academic goals.

Many professionals are involved in the diagnosis of LD: psychologists, educational specialists, and other professionals who work in specialized fields such as speech and language. This article identifies licensure requirements and who can diagnose LD and/or ADHD.

Learn how school psychologists can partner with reading specialists and classroom teachers to evaluate the benefits of early intervention reading programs in their districts.

You may have a child in your life who isn't as successful with reading as you think he or she could be. The challenge is that not all reading difficulties look the same, and not all reading difficulties should be addressed in the same way.

From annual goals to special education services, there are certain categories of information required by law to be included in a student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Learn what these categories are in this overview of the content of IEP's.

When a child is having a language or reading problem, he just may need more time to learn language skills. Some children might have trouble seeing, hearing, or speaking, while others may have a learning disability. If you suspect a problem, it's important to get help quickly.

Parents and teachers as well as other professionals are required by law to be involved in writing a student's IEP. Find out about the members of an IEP team and the roles they play.

The special education process under IDEA is designed to ensure that each individual child's needs are carefully considered and addressed. Learn ten steps in the special education process, from evaluation to reviewing student progress.

If your child hasn't started speaking by age one and or you are worried about their speech and language skills, there may be a concern. Early identification is key. They need to receive treatment before school begins so they won't miss out on essential pre-reading skills. Learn what the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has to say about early identification, evaluation, and speech-language treatments.

Your child may be eligible for special services that will help him or her succeed as a reader. Find out basic information about special education and which children are eligible for receiving special education services.

Parents who have a child they suspect has a disability are likely to have many questions about special education. Find answers to commonly asked questions about special education eligibility, IEP's, and re-evaluation in this guide for parents.

Evaluation is used to identify the children who are eligible for special education and the type of help they need. Find out four steps in the evaluation process, from analyzing known information to developing a program.

Early identification is crucial when it comes to helping children who are having trouble learning to read. This seminal article by Joseph Torgesen explains the assessment process and reviews the more commonly used assessment tools.

Parents who suspect their children have special needs can take several steps to make sure they get the support they need to help their children succeed. Find out some of these steps in these tips for parents.

The most common learning disability is difficulty with language and reading. Here are some warning signs of learning disabilities to look for in preschool and elementary school children.

Student writing can be evaluated on five product factors: fluency, content, conventions, syntax, and vocabulary. Writing samples also should be assessed across a variety of purposes for writing to give a complete picture of a student's writing performance across different text structures and genres. These simple classroom help in identifying strengths and weaknesses, planning instruction, evaluating instructional activities, giving feedback, monitoring performance, and reporting progress.

There are several informal assessment tools for assessing various components of reading. The following are ten suggested tools for teachers to use.

Because early intervention is so important, children who require special services need to be assessed at a young age. Here are six stages in the assessment process, from child-find to program evaulation.

When schools screen large numbers of students, they may under- or over-identify students with disabilities. Find out how school-based screening can be used effectively.