Educators and researchers have been fighting the reading wars for the last century, with battles see-sawing literacy instruction in American schools from phonics to whole language and, most recently, back to phonics again. Over the last decade, 32 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new "science of reading" laws that require…

This book, intended as a resource for educators, administrators, policymakers, and parents concerned about how to successfully teach children to read, points the way to implementing the best research-based practices in adopting reading materials, training teachers, and providing the necessary school leadership. Studies of effective teaching…

Research-based reading instruction could reduce recidivism and increase employment opportunity for incarcerated juvenile offenders. Reviews of the research literature provide ample evidence of the link between academic failure, delinquency, and reading failure. A re-examination of the research literature and interviews with reading instructors…

Approaches that appear most effective for teaching beginning reading to children who are having difficulty learning to read are discussed in this paper. Research indicates that a code-emphasis method produces the best results. To determine which type of code instruction is most appropriate, reading programs were analyzed in terms of content,…

This paper provides an overview of the Four Blocks framework, a teaching framework developed by professional educators, that aims to teach all children to read by providing daily exposure to a variety of instructional approaches. Four Blocks is intended for use in regular, heterogeneously constructed K-3 classrooms. It supports individual learning…

A guide for teachers selecting reading textbooks, this report brings together information about basal programs on the market and clarification of important issues in reading instruction. A general analysis of 20 basal programs includes a prose explication and a table comparing contents (skills), reading selections, methodology, assessment tests,…

Creating a link between current research findings and classroom practice, this book analyzes, compares, and critiques prevalent classroom strategies in beginning reading instruction in light of expertise available in other countries. The book begins with a section on "Points of Departure," consisting of three chapters:…