Strong foundational reading skills empower students to succeed both within and beyond the classroom. This Spotlight will help readers identify how much time should be spent teaching foundational reading skills; review how reading aloud to students can be a critical tool for developing literacy; investigate how teachers can support older students…

This evaluation study explored a two-year literacy reform effort in a school district with 10 of its 13 elementary schools in the improvement process. Schools were placed in three groups. Group 1 (four schools, 80 teachers) implemented new instructional practices in Year 1 and then added a new curriculum. Group 2 (four schools, 102 teachers)…

In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that learning to read is a fundamental human right and failure to provide appropriate education for students with reading disabilities is discriminatory (Moore v. British Columbia, 2012). In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, the Human Rights Commission's inquiry in 2022 found the province's…

Given the current emphasis on how to teach reading, also known as the debate on the "Science of Reading," this text addresses the fundamentals of reading instruction and provides practical evidence-based research and strategies to support students who may be experiencing reading challenges. With a keen focus on how to apply knowledge of…

The current study meta-analyzed 27 effects from 21 studies to determine the effect assessment of text difficulty had on reading fluency interventions, which resulted in an overall weighted effect size (ES) = 0.43 (95% CI = [0.25, 0.62], p < 0.001). Using reading passages that represented an instructional level based on accuracy criteria led to…

The primary goal of the present systematic review was to examine the criteria and measures used for assessing students with "specific comprehension deficit" (SCD) who have adequate decoding skills but still perform poorly on reading comprehension assessments. From a systematic review of 32 studies, we found four predominant selection…

Foundational reading skills are key to the mastery of early literacy skills. While the process of reading is characterized by a combination of both word decoding skills and language comprehension, there are many reading skills that contribute to students being able to proficiently read text. In addition to mastery of skills, good school attendance…

This meta-analytic review investigated non-repetitive reading fluency interventions for K-12 students with reading difficulties. Eight studies met inclusion criteria. The approaches were distinguished by their intervention structures; student groupings; and text difficulty, length, and genre. The overall multivariate weighted average standardized…

This meta-analysis systematically identified culturally relevant interventions for Black students in K-12 school settings to determine (a) the effect of culturally relevant reading interventions on reading comprehension and reading fluency (b) the effect of culturally relevant behavioral interventions on student behaviors (c) the extent to which…

Repeated reading (RR) is an established and extensively researched intervention which has been shown to improve reading fluency and comprehension. However, past reviews have found the rigor of the RR research insufficient for it to be considered evidence-based. Previous review of the RR research were updated and expanded. Forty-four group designs…

Strong reading and literacy skills are essential for students' success in K-12 and beyond by providing the foundation for understanding the world and communicating effectively. This Spotlight will help readers learn how classroom conversations can boost reading proficiency; identify research on how to get students absorbed in reading; examine…

The Institute for Multi-Sensory Education's (IMSE) mission of "empowering districts, schools, teachers, and parents to be agents of change toward equitable literacy instruction for all learners that is driven by research" is reflected in the organization's structured literacy approach to the Orton-Gillingham (OG) curriculum and their…

Video modeling (VM) is known as an effective practice for teaching various skills to students with disabilities. However, there are a lack of studies investigating the effects of VM on improving student academic reading skills. The 13 selected single-case design studies published by 2019 were systematically reviewed to understand how VM was used…

This dissertation is an examination of one reading fluency intervention presented in digital form. It begins as an overview of the academic challenges faced by students classified as emotional behavioral disorder in our P-12 schools, due to challenges accessing the curriculum. Children that also have reading fluency deficits have an even more…

The gender difference in reading achievement in favor of adolescent girls is a robust finding in the literature, but the evidence is mixed when considering younger children. The present study followed the development of reading skills among Finnish children (N = 1867) from kindergarten age (6 years) to 18 years of age to determine the onset of…