This article is about what the future of reading looks like. Currently many districts across the country--including New York City--are adopting research-based methods called the science of reading that focus on mechanics. Leanne Ellis surmises the future of reading holds great promise if school librarians can promote, showcase, and advocate for a…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has created additional opportunities for school librarians to collaborate with classroom teachers, reading specialists, and other educators in support of schools' literacy goals. This potential for expanded collaboration suggests a need for increased focus on reading instruction as part of the school…

Reading RACES--Relevant and Culturally Engaging Stories (RR) is a repeated reading intervention using culturally relevant literature that is delivered through computer software. This study extends previous research with RR intended to further evaluate the effects of RR on the fluency and comprehension growth of second-grade students with reading…

Summer drift, otherwise known as loss of reading comprehension skills or reading achievement, has been a well-known and well-documented phenomenon of public education for decades. Studies from the late twentieth century to the present have demonstrated a slowdown in summer drift attributed to specific summer reading programs addressing motivation…

Top Chef is one of America's top food television shows. In one episode, lead judge Tom Colicchio, chef and restaurant owner, chides a contestant for hurriedly slicing a piece of meat as soon as it had emerged from the oven. The meat was fully cooked, but the competitor had not "let it rest," or let it steep in its own juices outside the oven for…

Today school library media specialists operate in an environment of daily challenges and controversies. "No Child Left Behind" established mandates that all educators are scrambling to meet. No matter how people feel about the way the legislation is being carried out, it is difficult to argue against its purpose--that all educators must…

Story structure is how humans think. If school librarians help students master the elements that define this story structure, then students can be assisted in efficiently and effectively mastering both reading comprehension and all forms of writing. Without exception and without equivocation, research studies conducted over the past quarter…

With the widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), classroom use of information texts is increasing. CCSS mandate an emphasis on the use of these texts so that students become adept at reading and comprehending complex information in order to write compelling arguments. Students are encouraged to read, write, and engage in…

The Position Statement on the School Library Media Specialist's Role in Reading, adopted by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Board in February 2009, is a guide to help practitioners build library programs that support every learner's development in reading. As part of the Learning4Life (L4L) plan to implement the Standards for…

It's hot in Accra. There aren't many roads in Ghana. No matter where one lives, he/she needs to get along with others. These are a few of the observations third grade students made during a collaborative unit that was aimed at increasing reading comprehension. Some of what these third graders learned was on the list of AASL standards the author…

A short newspaper or magazine article can be used by teachers and librarians to boost students' reading comprehension, increase background knowledge, and enhance vocabulary skills. This method can be a powerful bridge to reading longer articles and eventually lead to reading entire books. This article presents a few types of articles for…

The reading patterns and habits of young and old are changing as reading migrates from the printed page to the computer screen. Now, new forms of expression such as remixes and mash-ups are emerging from interactive digital environments. How can school librarians help students read with understanding in dynamic digital environments? How can they…

In this article, the author presents anecdotal scenarios which reflect some important moments in the teaching and learning of reading. In the first scenario, a student recognized fluent reading and named it, illustrating the power of a common vocabulary. The second scenario addressed the importance of common visual supports in the school…

This study of the reading process was written by a librarian for other librarians in order to explore what happens as the end result of the librarian's job, the meeting of a person and a book. A model of the reading act is constructed which makes the reader the subject rather than the receiver, as in the communications model of "transmitter…

Not convinced that teachers and teacher-librarians were actively suppressing their students' visual literacy, the author decided to conduct informal interviews with four local teacher-librarians (three elementary and one secondary) attending classes at the university where he instructs. All four indicated that though their libraries were rich…