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…

Information about effective interventions for students with early reading difficulties is essential when deciding about how best to provide support. MiniLit, a small-group intervention for young struggling readers, was released in 2011 after several years of development and trials. This paper provides a rationale for MiniLit, a brief history of…

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 study was to explore the operations of a sample of university-based reading clinics in order to better understand their functions and practices and to inform the planning for the authors' own clinic. This study was carried out in two phases. In Phase I, the authors conducted Internet searches and contacted knowledgeable…

While literacy interventions can be implemented in any grade, focusing on prevention and intervention in kindergarten through grade 2 is optimal because reading difficulties become expensive and challenging to remediate as students become older. The Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004 allows districts to do just this, with 15 percent of…

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…

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…

As extensive reading becomes more commonplace in the EFL/ESL classroom, there is a rise in the number of instructors and administrators who are looking for cost-effective and space-saving methods to carry out extensive reading activities. Two extensive reading systems to respond to such concerns were developed with the support of a Grant-in-Aid…

Many high school teachers and administrators think that reading instruction belongs in the lower grades. But according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 31% of eighth graders read at or above the proficient level, which means that many are entering high school unprepared for its advanced textbook reading and language…

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…

In face-to-face instruction of "Reciprocal Teaching (RT)", students' reading processes and dialogues with their peers are hardly observed. As a result, the teacher has few clues to identify students' learning difficulties and provide further scaffoldings. To record students' reading processes and enhance their comprehension, this study reports on…

The New England Consortium criteria of excellence are 26 statements of conditions which describe a quality reading program and which must exist if all children are to learn to read. These statements are grouped under five goal areas, the fourth of which, selecting and utilizing materials, is treated in this position paper. The paper supports…

Advises deemphasizing reader materials and prepared programs as sources for the solution of reading problems. (MB)

The California Right to Read program is for schools interested in changing or revising their reading programs. Right to Read offers services and materials designed to guide schools through program planning. This approach is based on the philosophy that California Right to Read can most effectively serve a school by working with its staff to plan…