As your school district undertakes the process of evaluating its K-12 reading program, literacy curriculum, or literacy instructional practices, this book will be your go-to resource. Pennell offers a step-by-step guide for educators, school leaders, or professional learning communities to evaluate high-quality instructional materials and…

We examined the effects of a professional development (PD) system designed to support teachers' use of data-based instruction (DBI) to improve early writing outcomes for children with intensive needs. The PD system, called "DBI-TLC," provided tools for early writing assessment and intervention, learning modules including face-to-face…

RFA's three-year mixed methods evaluation of Children's Literacy Initiative's language and literacy supports found positive impacts despite higher-than-typical teacher turnover. In pre-K centers receiving CLI supports, teachers were more able to implement effective instructional practices and created richer classroom literacy environments, and…

Children entering kindergarten vary greatly in their language and literacy skills. Therefore, up-to-date information about evidence-based practices is essential for early childhood educators and policymakers as they support preschool children's language and literacy development. This study used a process modeled after the What Works Clearinghouse…

This Study Snapshot highlights key findings from a study that examines up-to-date information about evidence-based practices that are essential for early childhood educators and policymakers as they support preschool children's language and literacy development. The study used a process modeled after the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) methodology…

The "Effectiveness of Early Literacy Instruction: Summary of 20 Years of Research" study examined information about evidence-based practices that are essential for early childhood educators and policymakers as they support preschool children's language and literacy development. The study used a process modeled after the What Works…

Data from a small randomized control trial of teachers' use of Data-Based Instruction (DBI) for early writing were analyzed to determine the influence of teacher knowledge, skills, and treatment fidelity on student Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) slope. Participants included 11 elementary grade teachers who delivered intensive intervention in…

We examined the effects of a professional development (PD) system designed to support teachers' use of data-based instruction (DBI) to improve early writing outcomes for children with intensive needs. The PD system, called DBI-TLC, provided "tools" for early writing assessment and intervention, "learning modules" including…

Around the country, high school teachers are being called upon to improve student writing, but they often lack the tools and requisite know-how to make a difference. An ambitious new program called Drive to Write is attempting to change that. This report describes an evaluation of the program's implementation in 11 public high schools in New York…

By 2013, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had adopted college- and career-ready standards in English language arts and mathematics, placing a greater emphasis on argument writing to prepare students for life after high school. Solving the specific problem of how to help teachers teach to new standards for argument writing as well as the…

Gladwell (2000) describes context as "the tipping point" for leveraging change. This paper explores how differentiated learning opportunities situated in the school context supported changes in practice for urban elementary teachers during the implementation of Writer's Work-shop (Calkins, 2003 & 2006). The teachers in this…

We conducted a randomized field trial to test an academic vocabulary intervention designed to bolster the language and literacy skills of linguistically diverse sixth-grade students (N = 2,082; n = 1,469 from a home where English is not the primary language), many demonstrating low achievement, enrolled in 14 urban middle schools. The 20-week…

We conducted a randomized field trial to test an academic vocabulary intervention designed to bolster the language and literacy skills of linguistically diverse sixth-grade students (N = 2082; n = 1469 from a home where English is not the primary language), many demonstrating low achievement, enrolled in 14 urban middle schools. The 20-week…

Improving teacher effectiveness is a key strategy to ensure student readiness for college and careers and to address achievement gaps and persistent low performance. In response to the new Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) the National Writing Project (NWP) created a professional development (PD) program to support…

The main goal of the study was to document and describe the beginnings of the implementation of the Strategic Instructional Model at five (5) middle schools in the EPISD. The study also examined Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) data from those students that participated in the program. Methodology: Implementation information was…