This article conveys one practitioner's career-long journey related to teaching reading. The author gained valuable information from relevant research reports regarding the keys to effective reading instruction and has learned even more while implementing a systematic approach to teaching reading as a volunteer tutor.

As our literate society becomes aware of the gaps between education and educational achievement, teachers of reading must deliver a superior reading program. To sharpen their skills, teachers of reading must research and educate themselves on essential reading instruction components, useful professional development, the characteristics that define…

Reading proficiency is essential to positive school and transition to adult life outcomes, as reading skills contribute to high school graduation, gainful employment, and the ability to enact the full range of rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship. This article discusses concerning trends in school-based reading instruction and…

Reading and literacy are woven through Alaska's Education Challenge. The Alaska Reads Act, signed into law in June 2022, is focused on supporting all students to read at grade level by the end of third grade. Region 16 is working with Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) to provide capacity-building services by: (1)…

Middle Grades teacher candidates participated in a "field trip" in an Integrated Reading course to model best practices in culturally responsive teaching. The college students visited their downtown city including a regional art museum and memorial sculpture garden commemorating local Black history to experience and contemplate…

Special educators are responsible for providing quality reading instruction to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), but they often experience difficulties fulfilling this responsibility, especially for students with EBD who are placed in dedicated settings, including self-contained classes. Administrators can help by ensuring…

Special educators are responsible for providing quality reading instruction to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), but they often experience difficulties fulfilling this responsibility, especially for students with EBD who are placed in dedicated settings, including self-contained classes. Administrators can help by ensuring…

Evidence based reading instruction and intervention are essential for students with disabilities. The authors recommend that elementary special education teachers emphasize both code-based and meaning-based skills as part of delivering intensive reading interventions, including providing explicit and systematic decoding and vocabulary instruction.…

The Learning Passport project is part of a joint collaborative project that involves UNICEF and the University of Cambridge based around a Programme Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between Cambridge University Press and UNICEF signed in April 2019. The goal of the project is to develop a blueprint curriculum framework as a basis for programme and…

Effective teachers use assessment data to make instructional decisions. One of the most informative techniques to assess young learners' reading progress in the primary grades is the running record. Running records provide concrete evidence of students' skills, reading levels, strategies, and progress as readers. The data gathered help teachers…

This article presents virtual reality as a tool for classroom literacy instruction. Building on the traditional use of images as a way to scaffold prior knowledge, we extend this idea to share ways virtual reality enables experiential learning through field trip-like experiences. The use of technology tools such Google Street view, Google…

This article describes a semester-long project developed by the authors to create a positive connection between children and nature. The project integrated reading instruction with science activities to emphasize the natural world in the lives of children. This intervention involved the authors visiting an elementary classroom five times over the…

Realizing that ESOL students often do not integrate naturally into their new communities, we developed a reading class that focuses only on topics such as history, culture, arts, nature and entertainment that pertain to Portland or Oregon. In addition to readings, we asked that students go out and "live" what they learned through a…

Many American students struggle to perform even basic comprehension of text, such as locating information, determining the main idea, or supporting details of a story. Even more students are inadequately prepared to complete more complex tasks, such as critically or analytically interpreting information in text or making reasoned decisions from…

Because of its continued commitment to and investment in high-quality early & elementary learning, West Virginia has established itself as a national leader in the area of early learning. This accolade is not uncommon for West Virginia's early learning system, as West Virginia has a history of leading the nation in early learning and with…