In May 2016 an Invitational Symposium on the Reading for Understanding (RfU) Initiative was held in Alexandria, Virginia. Co-hosted by ETS and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the symposium brought together 160 state and local education leaders to examine the results of the RfU initiative. The goal of the U.S. Department of…

This paper reports findings from a multi-year study of the scale-up of Reading Apprenticeship (RA), an approach to improve academic literacy by helping teachers provide the support students need to be successful readers in the content areas. WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI), began developing the program in 1995 and has since reached…

In October 2010, WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) won an i3 "Validation" grant to scale up and validate the Reading Apprenticeship (RA) model in three core secondary content area classes: U.S. history, biology, and English language arts. SLI's proposal stated two goals. Goal 1: To transform academic literacy teaching and…

The purpose of this paper is to describe and demonstrate how social networks such as "Facebook" and "Goodreads", and information and communication technologies (ICTs) tools like laptops and iPods can support and enhance literature circles. The innovation described is implemented by the library and aims to promote reading for…

This slide presentation outlines one state's (Utah) version of implementation of a model for literacy learning under the Reading Excellence Act (REA). According to the presentation, the model is called "The Utah Reads K-3 Literacy Model." The presentation is divided into the following sections: Utah's Vision: What We've Learned So Far;…

This slide presentation outlines the components of the Reading Excellence Program. It gives the background of the Reading Excellence Act of 1998; and states that 1999 state grantees were in 17 states and would be in 14-16 states in 2000. It provides content and key strategy: six dimensions of reading, use of scientific research base; informs about…

One model that can serve as a guide for developing a reading program and for making necessary refinements to meet the specific needs of the school system served divides the stages of development into three phases. The first phase, program organization, deals with planning, implementing, and maintaining the program. In other words the first phase…

Project IRIS (Improving Reading Instruction School-Wide) is one school district's effort to improve reading instruction. The project's first three years have produced median reading gains of one year or more per student per year. Although the most important aspect of Project IRIS is school-wide commitment to improving reading instruction, other…

This paper presents a summary of data from one program, Success for All, that is in the process of making the transition from local pilot to national model. Earlier evaluations of Success for All in its original home, Baltimore (Maryland), have shown that it can be highly successful in increasing reading achievement among very disadvantaged…

This ethnographic study describes the relationships involved in the Partnership for Family Reading, a collaborative project between Montclair State College and a low-income urban school district to promote parent involvement in children's literacy development. Participant observation and other ethnographic research methods were used to produce…

While the initial phases of instructional program development are heavily dependent on knowledge sources outside the classroom, knowledge developed in the classroom by the individual teacher is usually vital to program implementation. Interviews with teachers, principals, and district administrators connected with four urban elementary schools…