Background: Animal-assisted Education (AAE), including Reading to Dogs (RTD), is an area of growing interest internationally across all phases of education, and increasingly considered an innovative approach to improving pupil outcomes. As creating RTD interventions necessitates a combination of expertise from the fields of education and…

Specific learning disabilities (SLD) is a general term referring to a heterogeneous group of disorders displayed by individuals with special needs. SLD refers to disorders in reading, writing and mathematics. A large proportion of students with SLD need support in reading as well as in reading comprehension skills, an important component and…

Haitian Creole, or Krey'ol, has a unique history because it is historically an oral language; however, significant efforts have been made to standardize its orthography and to promote its literacy base. It also comes from a diglossic society: Haitian Creole is spoken in familiar settings such as the home, while French is used in formal settings…

In 2009, the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences (IES) allocated $120 million to establish the Reading for Understanding (RfU) initiative. This initiative responded to concern that children's improvement in reading comprehension had leveled off over the previous few decades, coupled with the observation that research on reading comprehension had…

This paper presents a case study of developing a blended reading program for Korean EFL middle school students using a process drama methodology to generate intrinsic motivation to read, improve reading comprehension and language fluency, and foster twenty-first-century skills such as creativity, communication, and cooperation. For the development…

Online classes in teacher education are becoming more common in higher education in the United States as universities realize that the same outcomes can be achieved without requiring preservice and in-service teachers to enter a physical classroom. This provides savings to both the student and university and fosters broader access to higher…

The purpose of this study was to explore the operations of a sample of university-based reading clinics in order to better understand their functions and practices and to inform the planning for the authors' own clinic. This study was carried out in two phases. In Phase I, the authors conducted Internet searches and contacted knowledgeable…

The purpose of this report is to provide formative and summative feedback to the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) regarding evidence of implementation and impact for the Interventions for Reading Difficulties Pilot Program. The report, while addressing the effects of the Interventions for Reading Difficulties Pilot Program, is also designed to…

This article describes a case study on a reading programme, named Reading Strategies Training Scheme (RSTS), for second language learning in a Hong Kong primary (elementary) school. The scheme, serving learners of English as a second language from Primary One to Six (ages 6--12), was developed by the school's English teaching team. As it was being…

Elementary charter schools increasingly serve students who are at-risk for reading challenges, giving them a critical role in establishing literacy for young children. This article examines the complexities of starting early childhood literacy programs in charter schools. Specifically, the first year of K-3 literacy programs in a new and a…

This paper is concerned with the modifications implemented in a second year foreign language (FL) reading program with respect to the problems students experience while reading in FL. This research draws on the sources of FL reading anxiety identified in the first year reading program with a motivation to re-design the second year program to help…

Following a nationwide trend, reading scores at Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School in suburban Chicago began dropping with the entrance of the new millennium. However, through its newly created Reading Department, Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School is providing comprehensive, direct reading instruction throughout grade and skill…

In face-to-face instruction of "Reciprocal Teaching (RT)", students' reading processes and dialogues with their peers are hardly observed. As a result, the teacher has few clues to identify students' learning difficulties and provide further scaffoldings. To record students' reading processes and enhance their comprehension, this study reports on…

The New England Consortium criteria of excellence are 26 statements of conditions which describe a quality reading program and which must exist if all children are to learn to read. These statements are grouped under five goal areas, the fourth of which, selecting and utilizing materials, is treated in this position paper. The paper supports…

This paper presents step-by-step guidelines for evaluating a reading course. A concept of evaluation is discussed as a guide to decision making for teachers in the ongoing development of an instructional program. A procedure for developing an evaluation plan for instructional reading programs is explained, specific questions are delineated that…