There have been few areas in England over the last 50 years where government has drawn more heavily on research to inform policy and practice than in the area of teaching reading. The focus of this article is an analysis of the research and evidence on early reading, in particular the role of phonics, on which government policy in England and the…

We are pleased to contribute to this inaugural issue of The Reading League Journal. The journal's goal is to share information about linking reading science to educational practice. The need is great: literacy levels in the US are shockingly low; a very large percentage of children and adults have only basic reading skills, as indicated by every…

This study was conducted to explore elementary school teachers' uses of reading disabilities research. A modified version of Knott and Wildavsky's (1980) knowledge utilization framework underpinned the investigation. Teachers completed a questionnaire and participated in focus groups which elicited their reported uses of reading…

This pre-pilot study explored the usefulness of a knowledge utilization framework comprised of Knott and Wildavsky's (1980) seven stages of knowledge use and Stone's (2002) three routes to knowledge use to investigate the gap between reading disabilities research and teachers' self-reported use of that research. Semi-structured interviews of ten…

Reviews findings on miscue analysis, a psycholinguistic study that seeks to explain why and how readers produce inaccuracies when they read words from the page. Discusses the classification of miscues, oral reading vs. silent reading, and the importance of context. (KH)

This article examines what science offers general and special educators who teach reading. It reviews scientific findings about reading and their practical implications and considers some broader ways that science may be useful to educators. Suggestions for educators interested in becoming more astute consumers of research are provided. (Contains…

This article describes a model of inservice training for regular and special educators (K-4th grade), with a focus on updating teachers on recent research developments in preventing and treating reading and writing disabilities and translating this knowledge into classroom practice. The effectiveness of the model is discussed. (Author/CR)

Discusses why the proven-effective reading instruction method (phonics instruction alongside an ample emphasis on meaning and connected reading) is not adopted by classroom teachers and compares today's situation with that of 30 years ago as recounted by Jeanne Chall in "Learning to Read: The Great Debate" (1967). (CR)

School psychologists can become involved in providing service for children's reading problems in four areas: assessment, direct behavior intervention, teacher consultation, and parent consultation. The school psychologist can be a "knowledge-linker" who occupies a strategic position to integrate recent research into practice. (Author/BW)

Twenty-nine elementary teachers participated in a 2-week summer reading institute and received follow-up support. Teachers identified as high implementers, moderate implementers, and low implementers lamented a lack of instructional time, however, high-implementing teachers reported administrative support as their top facilitator, while five…

This article describes a collaborative partnership between universities and schools designed to facilitate the work of both special and general educators instructing students at risk of reading failure. It discusses how teachers integrated this professional development in early literacy into teaching practices, and describes instructional…

Discussion of the teaching of writing, spelling, and reading using code-based literacy methods, such as Orton-Gillingham examines the cognitive challenge of the transition from spoken to graphic word and then reviews new research findings, such as the letter as model for sound variation, ease of spelling the low vowel, and the creation of word…

Reactions to H. Lee Swanson's paper "Toward a Metatheory of Learning Disabilities" are outlined, and his arguments are applied to reading disabilities, focusing on the importance of the scientific attitude, the misuse of ecological validity, interpretation of Thomas Kuhn's work, modularity and reading disability, and scientific progress…

Research based teaching strategies for improving the reading comprehension of mildly handicapped students include identifying learning goals, breaking goals into simpler units, ordering instruction developmentally, and teaching the use of metacognitive strategies for reading. (CB)

This paper reviews the literature on the role of judgment and collaboration between clinicians and researchers to identify and instruct students with reading difficulties, particularly reading difficulties based on either underlying core deficits in phonological processing or poor language comprehension. For students with speech-sound based…