Early literacy is a key developmental milestone for succeeding in school, yet far too many children in America, particularly the most socially vulnerable, are not meeting this key milestone. For example, NAEP data from 2013 shows that over 80% of Black and Latinx students are below proficient in reading by the end of fourth grade, as compared to…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, tutoring has gained popularity as a strategy to improve the academic achievement of struggling students. Intensive, relationship-based tutoring is a highly effective academic support for many students. A range of tutoring approaches are available to accelerate young students' literacy. Sarah Novicoff and Susanna Loeb…

Future Forward is an early primary literacy program that pairs one-on-one tutoring with family engagement. Future Forward's approach is informed by both systems theory and a school-family-community partnership model. Future Forward understands that schools are not solely responsible for developing student literacy. Instead of viewing families and…

The study described here is a case analysis of an emergent bilingual and her English literacy development. Mobilizing identity theory, the study explores ways in which the young girl's language and literacy identities played out across the large group, small group, and tutorial settings for instruction. The study took place over one school year.…

Purpose: As part of this clinical forum on curriculum-based intervention, the goal of this tutorial is to share research about the importance of language and literacy foundations in natural environments during emergent literacy skill development, from infancy through preschool. Following an overview of intervention models in schools by Powell…

Marie Clay's body of work has influenced classroom instruction in direct and indirect ways, through large overarching themes in our pedagogical content knowledge as well as specific smart practices. This paper focuses on her the contributions to our thinking about instruction which come from two broad theoretical concepts; emergent literacy…

Given that many schools have limited resources and a high proportion of students who present with deficits in early literacy skills, supports aimed at preventing reading failure must be simple and efficient and generate meaningful changes in student learning. We used a randomized group design with a wait-list control to extend the work of Volpe,…

This randomized-control trial examined the learning of preservice teachers taking an initial Early Literacy course in an early childhood education program and of the kindergarten or first grade students they tutored in their field experience. Preservice teachers were randomly assigned to one of two tutoring programs: Book Buddies and Tutor…

As teacher educators, we continue to focus on tutoring experiences as ways to help tutors connect coursework to practice. This study presents a preservice tutoring program designed to provide a field-based experience where the tutors would be able to (a) learn about literacy instruction, (b) use a multitude of assessment data rather than…

The "Book Buddies" manual and "Emergent Reader" training videos provide comprehensive and easy-to-implement guidelines for setting up and running a successful tutorial program in the early grades. Portraying the "Book Buddies" model in practice, this 51-minute videotape entitled "Emergent Reader--Day One"…

The "Book Buddies" manual and "Emergent Reader" training videos provide comprehensive and easy-to-implement guidelines for setting up and running a successful tutorial program in the early grades. Portraying the "Book Buddies" model in practice, this 44-minute videotape, entitled "Emergent Reader--Mid-Year"…

Presents the use of cross-age tutoring to enhance literacy in kindergarten students. Covers benefits of the approach in comparison to other methods. Describes tutor and tutee selection, frequency and length of tutoring, tutor training, tutoring session format, evaluation, and problems encountered. Discusses results, including increased emergent…

Developed for the America Reads initiative, this paper presents the LEARNS (Linking Education and America Reads through National Service) Literacy Assessment Profile (LLAP), a student assessment system that is designed to improve providers' ability to deliver high quality literacy programs to students, assess students' literacy understanding, set…

Describes the experiences and the effective instructional practices of one college student who over a three-year period was a literacy tutor in a university America Reads program. Describes his two distinctive tutoring roles. Examines social interactions, activities he used to scaffold instruction for at-risk emergent readers, and the impact of…

Presents a project to develop emergent literacy awareness and increase success with reading and writing through the America Reads program. Suggests the value of early experience and interaction with print in children's reading and writing development. Finds that approaches in which systematic code instruction is included alongside meaning…