The International Reading Association (2003) has recently established new guidelines for graduate students enrolled in reading and literacy programs. These guidelines require graduate students to maintain direct contact with students during their coursework for advanced degrees. Field experiences support best practices in bridging the gap between…

Following a nationwide trend, reading scores at Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School in suburban Chicago began dropping with the entrance of the new millennium. However, through its newly created Reading Department, Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School is providing comprehensive, direct reading instruction throughout grade and skill…

Discusses the uses of surveys, notes the types of survey instruments available, and provides examples of survey instruments to assess teacher competencies and student reading behavior. Suggests that surveys are especially useful for providing information for two sections of grant applications: the needs assessment and comprehensive planning…

THE READING COMMITTEE SHOULD GUIDE THE TOTAL READING PROGRAM. THE READING CONSULTANT FUNCTIONS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK ESTABLISHED BY THE READING COMMITTEE. THE COMMITTEE SHOULD PROVIDE THE CONSULTANT WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE STATUS OF READING IN THE DISTRICT--DISTRICT TEST RESULTS, TEACHERS' BACKGROUNDS, INDIVIDUAL STUDENT RECORDS,…

The management of a reading program should be based on objectives rather than on tasks. There are eight functions that apply to successful management: planning, organization, staffing, direction, control, innovation, representation, and communication. The R3C concept (reading coordinator, reading committee, reading center) is helpful to delegate…

Suggests that secondary school reading specialists desiring to establish a school-based, schoolwide reading program form a reading committee composed of content area teachers who propose ideas and help implement them. (MKM)

The purpose of this case study is to describe the challenges one coach faced during the initial implementation of a coaching initiative involving 33 teachers in an urban, high-poverty elementary school. Reading coaches are increasingly expected to play a key role in the professional development efforts to improve reading instruction in order to…

Intended for reading specialists who wish to become expert resource persons, this book provides a number of suggestions on how to bring about change in the attitudes of other educators concerning the place of the reading specialist in regular classroom settings. The nine chapters of the book provide the following information: (1) an overview of…

This report explains the role of reading/language arts resource specialists, contains tips for setting up a resource specialist program, and presents data--and discussions of this data--collected in a field testing of a staff development project conducted by the Florida Right to Read effort during the 1973-74 school year. The latter half of the…

Against a background of declining student performance and fragmented programs, the Oakland (California) Unified School District reorganized its reading programs and instructional support personnel. This included reorganization of the central office, new positions, and a new department of curriculum and instruction. An instructional strategy…

Designed to identify and develop reading skills, stimulate the desire to read, promote an appreciation of literature, and encourage reading as a lifelong habit, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools Comprehensive Reading Program presented in this pamphlet outlines the major functions of the reading improvement specialist (RIS). These…

Reading teachers should be flexible enough to adapt to varying situations that they encounter when they are asked to develop school-wide reading programs. Under ideal conditions, the faculty and administration are enthusiastic volunteers who accomplish the bulk of the reading program's objectives in their classrooms, allowing the reading…

A successful content area reading program not only includes reading classes that teach specific skills, but also provides for the inservice training of teachers, offering activities that facilitate student reading comprehension in the content areas. For such a program to succeed, the financial commitment and time devoted to teacher training must…