The purpose of this study was to understand general education teachers' experiences with a school-wide effort to increase the use of evidence-based teaching practices that were highlighted through a professional development workshop in evidence-based reading instruction. A qualitative case study method was used to describe the experiences of five…

The Response to Intervention initiative is in danger of failing and being thrown on the ash heaps of countless education reform initiatives, but not because it is poorly structured, rather on account of poor implementation. Among the implementation mistakes are seven that can be watched for and avoided. (Contains 3 tables.)

The Common State Standards require that students master increasingly complex informational text. But how can we enable students to meet this challenging goal? "We don't simply expect our students to hurtle themselves headlong into a piece of complex informational text alone," write Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher. Instead, teachers…

The present study examines the effect of dialogic reading (DR) on the promotion of Arabic phonological awareness skills (including syllable awareness, rhyme awareness, and phoneme awareness) of Egyptian kindergarteners. The participants were 67 children enrolled in the second level of kindergarten (ages 5-6), assigned to an experimental group…

This article reports on research which identified perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading held by trainee teachers and the impact on my provision as a teacher educator. It found that students' past and present experiences of learning to read and being a reader influenced their perceptions of what reading is and of what it means to teach…

This paper focuses on the development and study of a framework to provide direction and guidance for practicing teachers in using a web-based case studies program for professional development in early reading; the program is called Case Studies Reading Lessons (CSRL). The framework directs and guides teachers' analysis of reading instruction by…

This 4-year longitudinal research was designed to study special education determinations of students who participated in Tier 2 intervention in a Response to Intervention (RtI) model focused on reading across Grades 1-4. We compared identification rates for learning disabilities (LD) and student characteristics of 381 students the year prior to…

Pre-service teachers enroll in teacher education programs accompanied by their varying perceptions of teaching and learning based on their various experiences at school and home. This study was conducted to examine the impact of an early literacy teacher preparation course on pre-service teachers' perceptions of teaching emergent literacy. Data…

This paper describes the ways in which a literacy educator attempted to shift her own and pre-service teachers' mindsets towards the needs of 21st Century literacy learners by employing a pedagogy of discomfort. The focus of the disruption was on contesting normative practices and content while developing and refining novice teachers' skills in…

Reading instruction for students with MoID is typically limited to sight-word instruction. We developed a 2-part, phonetic instructional sequence based upon Direct Instruction teaching methodology to teach students with MoID word-analysis skills that generalize to untaught words encountered in their environment. Elementary and middle-school…

This article describes the collaborative efforts of the Webster Central School District in New York, USA, and the Learning Forward's Center for Results consultants, in the fall of 2010 in a focus to improve the elementary literacy program. The School District realized it was vital to have a strong, sustained foundation of professional and student…

The purpose of this paper is to describe briefly the development and utility of the "Assessment of Reading Instructional Knowledge-Adults" ("ARIK-A"), the only nationally normed (n?=?468) measure of adult reading instructional knowledge, created to facilitate professional development of adult educators. Developmental data…

This article explores the effectiveness of a computer-based spatial learning strategy approach for improving reading comprehension and writing. In reading comprehension, students received scaffolded practice in translating passages into graphic organizers. In writing, students received scaffolded practice in planning to write by filling in graphic…

Research Findings: In the United States a shift has occurred in how children are identified for long-term special education services. Since 2004, U.S. funding for special education services has included a provision for early intervention services, focusing on the importance of providing supplemental instructional opportunities to students who are…

Within a response to intervention framework, Tier 2 is commonly conceptualized as a supplemental, 30-minute intervention that is provided in addition to the core instructional program. Given the resource constraints that many schools face, this type of model might not be feasible. However, in the light of data that suggest a need for a…