Teacher self-efficacy has been shown to impact student's achievement. This study examined teachers' self-efficacy beliefs as it related to their ability to implement culturally responsive teaching and reading instructional practices as part of Response to Intervention Tier 1 practices in a high-poverty school district. The belief scores of 99…

Licensure tests should be an efficient and comprehensive way for policymakers to ensure that all teachers possess the basic knowledge and skills they need to effectively teach students to read. Yet more than half of states use a weak licensure test that fails to adequately measure elementary teachers' knowledge of scientifically-based reading…

The author, a fifth-grade teacher, describes how she reimagined the literary essay curriculum to amplify student identity, agency, and voice by creating a class podcast. Because of their similar structure and organization, teaching students literary analysis and interpretation through podcast writing offered entry into literary essays. The author…

Scholars have long recognized that reading in digital spaces requires unique skills, strategies, and competencies in comparison to those needed for reading printed text. In recent years, the ubiquity of social media and algorithmically targeted content has radically changed the nature of online reading and meaning making. Technological changes…

This dissertation critically examines the Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act (READ Act) through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, focusing on the discursive construction of the Act and its impact on educational opportunities for multilingual learners. The study explores the role of power and knowledge in shaping the READ…

The purpose of this report was to evaluate the Lalilo software program. This large-scale quasi-experimental study independently conducted by Lehigh University reported that K-1 students in schools using Lalilo increased their early literacy skills at a greater rate than students in similar schools that did not use Lalilo.

The study examined how, in the current context of reading reform, teachers' beliefs coalesced and aligned with prevailing paradigms of reading instruction (Science of Reading, Balanced Literacy, and Whole Language). The sample included 14 graduate students (in-service teachers) and 13 undergraduate students (pre-service teachers). Q Methodology…

Purpose: In this study, we investigated the effects of a schoolwide program, Bookworms K-5 Reading and Writing, on student achievement. Method: The study included seven cohorts of students (N = 8,806) in grades 2-5 in 17 elementary schools across three school years. We used a comparative interrupted time-series design, conducting multilevel growth…

South Carolina implemented its Read to Succeed (RTS) policy in 2014 in accordance with federal requirements. The problem addressed in this study was that there are many students in South Carolina Title I schools still failing to achieve reading proficiency after 3 years of full implementation of RTS. The purpose of this qualitative study was to…

Background: South Africa is a country with a reading crisis: 81% of Grade 4 learners are unable to read for meaning in Grade 4. Teaching methods and practices have been identified as a primary cause; there is an over-reliance on choral methods, very little focus on meaning, weak feedback and assessment, and little interaction with books. Aim: This…

Background: Failure to learn early reading skills leads to lower reading comprehension later in elementary school (Double et al., 2019; Paige et al., 2019), which can then lead to poverty, underemployment, and increased likelihood of being incarcerated (World Literacy Foundation, 2018). Early reading skills are best developed in kindergarten…

In July 2023, Governor DeWine and the General Assembly enacted bold literacy reforms via his budget plan (House Bill 33) that require Ohio elementary schools to follow the Science of Reading starting in 2024-25. This approach to reading instruction emphasizes phonics to help students "decode" words, as well as knowledge- and…

The English Hub Programme (EHP) has been running since 2018. The programme was developed by the Department for Education (DfE) to improve the phonics and early reading outcomes for schools with pupils who fall below the expected level of performance on Phonics Screening Check (PSC) scores or schools in areas of high deprivation. It is delivered by…

The traditional textbook model is problematic for students who either buy expensive textbooks and add to their already considerable student debt, opt out of buying expensive textbooks, or opt out of enrolling in courses known to require expensive textbooks. Switching to open textbooks directly addresses these problems by decreasing costs, removing…

In this study, we randomly assigned struggling readers in special needs education (n = 23; 8-12 years of age) to a dog-assisted reading intervention or a similar intervention without a dog present. Students participated in 30-minute reading sessions twice a week for a total of six weeks. Using two standardised tests we measured reading skills…