This is a book about effective elementary literacy instruction, intended for the many constituencies who have a need to know about what works to develop readers in elementary school. It suggests that since the initial publication of this book, the research support for balanced literacy instruction has continued to grow. This revised and updated…

This study compared the "Bridge" experimental reading program and whole language instruction with 106 economically disadvantaged first graders at risk for reading difficulties. The "Bridge" program uses icons or picture symbols to facilitate print word identification. The "Bridge" group performed significantly better…

This study compared two beginning reading programs, Integrated Reading-Writing (IR-W) and DISTAR in comparable urban schools with students "at risk" for literacy problems. Although the two programs resulted in comparable gains in word recognition and overall reading achievement by the end of first grade, children in IR-W tended to…