Guided reading is an instructional practice commonly used in primary and intermediate grades (Ford & Opitz, 2008; Fountas & Pinnell, 2001). It is used less in middle grades settings (Allen, 2000) where "one size-fits-all instruction" prevails (Allington, 2012). While teachers can read about the principles of guided reading in…

The purpose of this article is to inform teachers about the dangers of misalignment between core (Tier 1) instruction and Tiers 2 and 3 supplementary instruction for struggling readers and students with learning disabilities. Misalignment between core and supplementary instruction is problematic for students at risk of academic failure because it…

Liberal arts students are expected to graduate college with fully developed critical reading and writing skills. However, for a variety of reasons these skills are not always as well developed as they might be--both during and upon completion of college. This paper describes a reading assignment that was designed to increase students'…

This study examined the relations among socioeconomic status (SES), early phonological processing, vocabulary, and reading in 262 children from diverse SES backgrounds followed from ages 4 to 9 in Beijing, China. SES contributed to variations in phonological skills and vocabulary in children's early development. Nonetheless, early phonological and…

Too often, instruction designed to improve literacy achievement for black male readers and writers focuses on skill-based learning, ignoring cultural, social, and personal development. This article calls for the use of critical literacy strategies with African American male students, which can raise expectations for academic achievement by…

Joseph Schwab, a curriculum theorist, described four commonplaces, or universals, of teaching: content, students, milieu and teachers. This article considers how the Reading Standards of the ELA-CCSS are shaping these commonplaces in the teaching of reading. The organization of the Reading Standards, for example, focuses on two broad grade bands,…

Reading levels of high school students are a rising concern among secondary educators. Although some recent research has shown certain reading practices to be effective, the results have not been conclusive. Further study was needed to not only determine the most effective reading practices to use with struggling high school students, but also…

A mixed method study explored a theoretical model that employed, combined, and added to the theories of self-determination, the reading engagement perspective, and the four-phase model of interest to motivate adolescent struggling readers to read for pleasure. The model adds to the existing body of research because it specifies an instructional…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the relationship between the administrator and the literacy coach and describe the administrator's role in facilitating the work of literacy coaches. This study was guided by four questions: (1) What essential knowledge must administrators possess in order to effectively facilitate the work…

The Grade 5 Informational Text Reading Inventory (ITRI) was developed to address the specific reading challenges that grade 5 students encounter when reading their textbooks and other informational text. In fifth grade, students are expected not only to comprehend difficult passages, but also to extend their comprehension through drawing…

This paper provides causal evidence to answer the question, "Does the application of a double dose of literacy instruction in middle school improve student performance on subsequent academic outcomes?" The focus of this paper is on an intervention where the second dose of literacy instruction uses research-based instructional strategies,…

The problem of summer reading loss among low-income children has been amply documented by researchers. Over time, income-based disparities in reading achievement appear to grow more rapidly during the summer months than the academic school year. This paper describes two experiments in which teachers scaffold summer book reading with two different…

The purpose of this study was to see if students made gains in reading achievement in the area of reading comprehension by having used a computerized reading instructional program entitled "READ 180RTM." The researcher included a qualitative component to gather teacher and parent perceptions of the use of this program. The theoretical…

This four-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 through 4. We compared identification rates for learning disabilities and student characteristics of 381 students the year prior…

Students with learning disabilities characteristically demonstrate unexpected underachievement and continued learning challenges in spite of appropriate instruction. Because reading is fundamental to competency of all future endeavors, reading interventions have been the focus of considerable public and professional attention. Intensive…