Future Forward is an early primary literacy program that pairs one-on-one tutoring with family engagement. Future Forward's approach is informed by both systems theory and a school-family-community partnership model. Future Forward understands that schools are not solely responsible for developing student literacy. Instead of viewing families and…

Marie Clay's body of work has influenced classroom instruction in direct and indirect ways, through large overarching themes in our pedagogical content knowledge as well as specific smart practices. This paper focuses on her the contributions to our thinking about instruction which come from two broad theoretical concepts; emergent literacy…

Presents the use of cross-age tutoring to enhance literacy in kindergarten students. Covers benefits of the approach in comparison to other methods. Describes tutor and tutee selection, frequency and length of tutoring, tutor training, tutoring session format, evaluation, and problems encountered. Discusses results, including increased emergent…

Describes the experiences and the effective instructional practices of one college student who over a three-year period was a literacy tutor in a university America Reads program. Describes his two distinctive tutoring roles. Examines social interactions, activities he used to scaffold instruction for at-risk emergent readers, and the impact of…

Presents a project to develop emergent literacy awareness and increase success with reading and writing through the America Reads program. Suggests the value of early experience and interaction with print in children's reading and writing development. Finds that approaches in which systematic code instruction is included alongside meaning…