We examined how educating paraprofessionals in preschool classrooms on dialogic reading (DR) affected their storybook reading and effects on children's single word vocabulary. Through a single-case multiple-probe across participants design including four paraprofessionals and eight preschool children, we identified a functional relation between…

Explores procedures for improving the teaching of reading through the use of a direct instruction staff development model based on research that includes the application of five principles of effective staff development. Includes theory presentation, demonstration, guided practice, classroom practice, feedback, and coaching. (PRA)

The journey toward 100% proficiency is most successful when a whole school works as a team. School leaders must focus their school's energy and effort on schoolwide initiatives that will make the changes needed to increase student learning and improve students' scores on state tests. The structure of the school and the collaboration of the faculty…

Describes several strategies California principals can use to make effective use of thematic assessment data to improve reading instruction, guide staff training in the use of assessment data for instructional decision-making, and establish schoolwide norms for aligning assessment data with instructional practices. (PKP)

Few teachers set objectives for pupils to achieve when reading across the curriculum is implemented. Teachers in academic disciplines need to participate in staff development programs or inservice teacher education to be instructors of reading. Skills emphasized in staff development need to be tried out in the classroom and feedback should be…

More is known about the effective teaching of reading than is reflected in classroom practice. The critical link in the chain from research findings to classroom practices is staff development. A staff development model was designed, based upon the notions that change is a gradual and difficult process for teachers; that teachers vary widely in…

Describes a reading program, Reading Recovery, that provides intensive instruction for young children who are at risk of failure during frist grade. Provides responses solicited from four Reading Recovery teacher leaders. (MG)

This evaluation summary synthesizes the results of the first year of the Wisconsin Rural Reading Improvement Project (WRRIP), a project aimed at helping small, rural schools improve reading instruction by teaching reading as thinking (also termed "strategic reading"). The means used is staff development: specifically, a leadership team…

The materials in this document, which is to be used for teaching teachers and assistant teachers how to teach reading, are presented in five modules: (1) "Teaching Reading: An Overview for Classroom Teachers and Assistant Teachers"; (2) "Teaching and Reinforcing Word Recognition: What to do When a Child Doesn't Respond Correctly to…

Based upon case studies, surveys conducted in 18 participating school districts in fall 1987 and spring 1988, meeting observations, discussions with project staff, and an audit trail, this report evaluates the first year of the Wisconsin Rural Reading Improvement Project (WRRIP), a school improvement project aimed at helping small, rural schools…

This compilation presents material relating to the ReCaRe (Reading and Content-area Resource) program, a one-semester elective course for secondary school students of all ability levels designed to develop their reading comprehension, vocabulary, rate of reading, and study skills. The first part of the compilation is a 48-page booklet entitled…

This report discusses a practicum designed to offer support strategies to 55 at-risk students in the eighth grade, 53 of whom indicated they were unable to read their present textbooks even with teachers' help and guidance. The major goals of the intervention were to assist the at-risk students in achieving a score of 70 percent in all content…