NCLB and Reading First are negotiated in implementing beginning reading instruction. The article describes and analyzes how two critical conditions for creating opportunity--access to qualified teachers and rigorous academic curriculum--are met by examining the enactment and adaptation of a prescriptive core reading program disproportionately…

Considerable research indicates that high-stakes accountability policies have the capacity to influence language arts instruction, particularly in urban, high-needs schools where pressure to increase test scores tends to be most acute. This article utilizes Cultural Historical Activity Theory to critically examine the constraints and affordances…

Souto-Manning shares her journey as a second-grade teacher-researcher, offering insights into the relationship between a reading program that is (over)determined by scores, multiple-choice questions, and book levels, and the ways children, parents, and teachers worked together to maintain their commitment to a more equitable community of learners.…

This article describes how establishing a literacy-focused school leadership team can strengthen and expand the reach of the literacy coach. This team helps bring faculty into dialogue to critique and transform their current literacy practices and works towards developing a common vision, beliefs, and a shared language within the school. This…

Draws on articles in the ERIC system to describe several notable programs in the development of the Right to Read project. (DD)

A list of skills needed for both reading and science programs are discussed.

The art of filmmaking is an excellent means of covertly teaching reading and other communication skills.

Describes programs such as "Read Together" and the "Gift Book Program" that were developed by "Beginning with Books," a prevention-oriented literacy agency affiliated with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Discusses projects that promote literacy in home and community. (MG)

This study examines claims regarding the benefits of systematic and explicit phonics programs by comparing literature-based programs with commercial phonics-based programs to determine which best supports second grades' reading strategies and comprehension. Students in literature-based programs performed comparably in their use of graphophonics…