This article explores the underpinning assumptions about the changing definition and parameters of early reading that are contained in successive UK Departments for Education (DfE, DfES, DfEE) documentation since 1995 and in Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) reports and official blogs during the same…

Reading is one of the main skills to be learned and used in schools and through the entire life of an individual. Its crucial importance made reading one of the central topics in different academic disciplines such as education, psychology, linguistic and neuroscience. Advances in multidisciplinary approaches to and studies of reading gave us the…

In light of disappointing scores on the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), Arabic-speaking countries have begun to reexamine, and in some case reform, how they teach reading in the early grades. Egypt was one of the first countries to initiate early-grade reading reforms in 2010.…

In light of the recently published Common Core State Standards Initiative, public school curriculum has once again come under scrutiny. While curriculum debates have taken place since the very beginnings of public schooling in the United States, too few have taken more than a passing notice of the textbooks that, in many cases, comprise the…

The purpose of the study was to address possible text complexity shifts across the past six decades for a continually best-selling first-grade core reading program. The anthologies of one publisher's seven first-grade core reading programs were examined using computer-based analytics, dating from 1962 to 2013. Variables were Overall Text…

How might a district support significant teacher and program change that results in higher student reading achievement while using its own personnel? To answer this question, we explored five districts in one Midwestern state that tried to do just that with the help of a local university. We used both quantitative and qualitative data, including…

This paper analyzes the influence of three different learning paradigms for learning literacy--formalist, cognitive-processing, and literacy practices--on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. It argues that the Common Core State Standards are based largely on a formalist paradigm as evident in the emphasis on teaching text…