In 2009, the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences (IES) allocated $120 million to establish the Reading for Understanding (RfU) initiative. This initiative responded to concern that children's improvement in reading comprehension had leveled off over the previous few decades, coupled with the observation that research on reading comprehension had…

The purpose of this article is to describe a 40+ year journey during which researchers have endeavored to design and evaluate an integrated, empirically based reading intervention for secondary students and to chronicle the lessons learned as well as suggest future directions for this type of work. Initial development of the intervention began in…

The purpose of this report is to provide formative and summative feedback to the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) regarding evidence of implementation and impact for the Interventions for Reading Difficulties Pilot Program. The report, while addressing the effects of the Interventions for Reading Difficulties Pilot Program, is also designed to…

This article describes a case study on a reading programme, named Reading Strategies Training Scheme (RSTS), for second language learning in a Hong Kong primary (elementary) school. The scheme, serving learners of English as a second language from Primary One to Six (ages 6--12), was developed by the school's English teaching team. As it was being…

Students who struggle to read on grade level by the end of third grade are less likely to make academic progress and graduate before the age of 19. The district leaders in a suburban district in Texas were interested in determining the root cause of stagnant reading standardized test scores. After determining the root cause, a lack of a…

This guide is designed to facilitate self-studies of planning and implementation of state-required summer reading camp programs for grade 3 students who scored at the lowest level on the state reading assessment. It provides a template for data collection and guiding questions for discussion that may improve instruction and increase the number of…

This article recounts the experience of the Regent University Library in planning and implementing a festival of Tolstoy and Russian culture as part of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read initiative. The NEA launched the Big Read in 2006 to counter the alarming decline of literary reading documented in its 2002 report Reading at…

This paper presents step-by-step guidelines for evaluating a reading course. A concept of evaluation is discussed as a guide to decision making for teachers in the ongoing development of an instructional program. A procedure for developing an evaluation plan for instructional reading programs is explained, specific questions are delineated that…

Focusing on the Right to Read program in Arizona for the 1970s, sections in this pamphlet concern the national Right to Read effort, the history of Right to Read in Arizona, the reality of the reading crisis, specific activities comprising Arizona's program, the proposed plan of action, the twenty local education agencies identified as Arizona's…

A questionnaire designed to discover the effectiveness of a reading program model for secondary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School system was submitted to the junior and senior high school principals and 24 coordinators. Answers indicated that most schools considered most of the steps in the model, but that they varied the emphasis on…

Criteria applicable to all reading programs (and particularly to reading programs for Mexican-American children), regardless of philosophical or methodological differences among the various programs, are delineated. These criteria are listed and discussed in the form of the following nine questions: Has a good learning environment been…

Offers a broad overview of the developmental reading program at Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Discusses the unwritten and written course goals, the administration of the reading program, and four aspects of the organization (courses, conferences, evaluation, and use of support services). (MS)

Presenting 12 standards by which school districts can document evidence of a well-planned comprehensive reading program, this publication can also be used as a guideline for identification of promising practices, assessment of current programs, development of long-range goals and program plans, planning inservice and staff development programs,…

The reading program planning procedures presented in this manual are based upon material developed by the National Right to Read Program. The contents include: "Introduction"; "Step One: Right to Read Center Data," which discusses the establishment of baseline data for a particular school; "Step Two: Needs Assessment…