This study set out to accomplish two main goals: first, an assessment of how well micro-content modules improved students' critical reading abilities, and second, a look at students' attitudes and perspectives on incorporating micro-content modules into critical reading instruction. A quasi-experimental methodology was used to achieve these goals,…

Reading comprehension seems to be a significant challenge for rising fifth graders with limited vocabulary knowledge. A possible solution is to provide them with explicit vocabulary instruction which may positively impact their reading comprehension. This action research aimed to evaluate the effect of implementing explicit vocabulary instruction…

The report portrays a theory-practice psychology course on reading education in a German teacher education programme. Having completed a theoretical course phase that is largely based on knowledge from cognitive and educational psychology, pre-service student-teachers applied their acquired knowledge by working with a fifth-grader in five…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested in the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) as one strategy to support teachers' and students' transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts. This report provides an early look at the implementation of LDC in sixth-grade Advanced Reading classes in a large Florida…

Researchers have found that teacher preparation programs are not universally preparing teacher candidates in concepts associated with the alphabetic principle. Yet, the majority of students with reading disabilities or who struggle with beginning reading have difficulty with phonology and concepts associated with the alphabetic principle. The…

In this article, the authors reexamine and duplicate research conducted more than 20 years ago to learn if the simple act of sharing literature with kindergarten children through a nurturing dialogic approach will support children's development of literacy skills, including a love of reading. Dialogic reading is based on: (1) child participation;…

Effective reading interventions for students struggling in the early grades have been a focus of considerable research over the past 20 years (Foorman, Francis, Fletcher, Schatschneider, & Mehta, 1998; Foorman & Torgesen, 2001; Geva & Siegel, 2000; Klingner & Vaughn, 1996). Comparable research targeting older struggling students has only recently…

This newsletter of best practices in implementing the High Schools That Work (HSTW), Making Middle Grades Work (MMGW) and Technology Centers That Work (TCTW) school improvement models is based on presentations at the 27th Annual HSTW Staff Development Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the summer of 2013. The newsletter is divided up into…

Recent reading research has shown teachers how to help students comprehend and has identified strategies that good comprehenders use. At the same time, however, researchers report that few if any of these techniques are used in classrooms. Reading teachers and content area teachers alike need to be able to design lessons that help students…

This article describes a study on the module-based online professional development project. The professional development model providing a basis for the Reading CEU (continuing education unit) Module Project involved four groups of stakeholders: master teacher instructors, module participants, module developers, and the university support team.…

Describes the components of a competency-based elementary reading program, including the concept of instruction, the elements of a learning module, the components of modular development, the role of the classroom teacher, and the level of student performance. (JM)

This course on the language of Sri Lanka is intended to be taken under a Sinhala-speaking instructor. This module introduces the Sinhala writing system. The emphasis of the module is on letter recognition. Directions for writing the symbols in the "basic" alphabet are provided so that students will have a culturally appropriate and phonetically…

This teaching module is an overview which, together with the modular sequence that follows, is designed to enable participants to make an informed choice as to the appropriate approach for teaching reading to Spanish-speaking students. Upon completion of this module, participants should be able to (a) discuss current English reading programs for…

This training module provides participants with a theoretical overview of both process and skills of second-language reading, as well as practical classroom applications. Upon completion of the module, participants should be able to (a) differentiate between three categories of second-language readers, (b) explain developmental reading stages, (c)…

This paper outlines a model designed to meet the needs of prospective and inservice secondary reading teachers. The model includes four illustrative modules that provide the rationale and components for evaluating students' abilities, evaluating instructional materials and matching them to students' needs, distinguishing teaching tasks and…