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.
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.
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.
Partner reading is a cooperative learning strategy in which two students work together to read an assigned text. Students take turns reading and provide each other with feedback in order to monitor comprehension.
Sight vocabulary instruction as being less about memorizing a list of words, and more about learning how to recognize and remember words. Research shows that as students get better with decoding, remembering sight words becomes easier.
This guidance from the International Reading Association represents a consensus of the thinking of literacy leaders in the field who support thoughtful implementation of the Standards for student literacy achievement. Seven key topics are addressed: use of challenging texts; foundational skills; comprehension; vocabulary; writing; content area literacy; and diverse learners.
The literacy-rich environment emphasizes the importance of speaking, reading, and writing in the learning of all students. This involves the selection of materials that will facilitate language and literacy opportunities; reflection and thought regarding classroom design; and intentional instruction and facilitation by teachers and staff.
All kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade teachers — as well as reading interventionists — should teach students to keep their eyes on the words on the page so that they do not have to later struggle with breaking a habit that hampers effective, efficient reading.
Dr. Nadine Gaab is an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital Boston and the Harvard Medical School, and a member of the faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Gaab’s research at Boston Children’s Hospital Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience focuses on children diagnosed with or at risk for developmental disorders, particularly language-based learning disabilities.
Don’t know a morpheme from a phoneme? Find out what these and other words mean in this glossary of commonly used terms related to reading, literacy, and reading instruction.
Leaders at the Arlington County (Virginia) NAACP call on the Superintendent of APS Public Schools to adopt evidence-based reading instruction in every district K-3 classroom. Our children’s literacy is a critical civil rights and equity issue. Every child has the right to consistent, high-quality instruction.
Does summer reading really work? Can simply giving books to children actually help close the achievement gap? This article shares what we know and what we are still learning about summer reading.
Do you spend most of the fall reviewing what was taught last spring? Help prevent summer reading loss by finding out why it happens and encouraging family literacy while kids are at home for the summer.
