Transcript analysis is a way for teachers to engage in inquiry on their own practice. The insights of three teachers who engaged in transcript analysis of their own classroom discussions are described in this article. The teachers analyzed and reflected on their transcripts using a coding manual and a comparison and reflection guide. The coding…

A group of 37 8-year-old children who had scored below the 20th percentile on a national reading test were offered intensive reading instruction in groups of four during Grade 3 in two periods (10 and 5 weeks). The intervention was delivered by six teachers who received training in a comprehensive reading intervention programme called…

During the past three years, the author has been exploring Grade 5 students' processes of reading and understanding contemporary picturebooks with Radical Change characteristics and metafictive devices, and examining how students use their knowledge of these characteristics and devices to create their own texts. "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other…

This paper discusses the shift from a clinic model to a community model for the practicum experience for literacy education graduate students. The traditional program for the remediation of struggling readers followed a deficit model. Therefore, the reading specialist would pull out the child from regular classroom instruction to isolate a reading…

In this article, the author shares her journey with evidence-based reading instruction. Her experience with evidence-based reading instruction (as the adult basic education coordinator at Windham Adult Education in Windham, Maine) has been a journey of change both professionally and programmatically, and the students at Windham Adult Education are…

In this article, the author shows how vocabulary learning and reading can be combined into an effective, comprehension activity. Two steps are involved: first, individual reading and self-study of vocabulary at home, and, second, exchanging readings and helping each other with comprehension in class. The success of the activity relies on the…

In this article, the authors review the research on curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in reading published since the time of Marston's 1989 review. They focus on the technical adequacy of CBM related to measures, materials, and representation of growth. The authors conclude by discussing issues to be addressed in future research, and they raise…

This article describes an original way to integrate the visual arts with classroom literacy practices. Artists have a well developed repertoire of ways to observe the world around them through fresh eyes, and classroom teachers can use many of these same techniques to help young readers focus on subtle clues to meaning in stories. We describe…

The current study investigated the effectiveness of an integrated word identification and communication intervention for children with complex communication needs. Using a nonconcurrent, multiple baseline design, the study involved three participants who completed 75 lessons across 4 to 6 weeks of instruction. All three participants improved their…

This study investigated the efficacy of an instructional training module focused on alphabetic principle, more specifically, the speech sounds of English on letter-sound knowledge of preservice teachers enrolled in elementary or special education teacher certification programs. In addition, this study examined preservice teachers' ability to apply…

It is easy for intermediate students to get the wrong ideas about the purpose of reading. Educators pay so much attention to decoding and fluency in the early years that children sometimes come to believe that flawless and rapid word recognition is the point. As texts get more demanding or unfamiliar, some of the "good readers" in classes begin to…

The focus of this article is recent CBM work that incorporates diagnostic reading assessment. The goal is to help general and special educators tailor more effective reading instruction for developing readers. The development process for this CBM diagnostic reading assessment is described; the resulting assessment is presented; and preliminary…

We conducted two case studies to evaluate the effectiveness of individualized remedial reading instruction linked to direct measures of student learning and transfer. The participants were two first grade children at serious risk of reading failure. The instruction targeted decoding of one syllable short vowel words and first emphasized…

The author examined the techniques of 3 middle school struggling readers to use silence to protect or promote their specific identities as readers in and out of school. J. Gee's (2002) theory of discursive identity framed this article. Results challenge the ways that teachers and researchers typically think of struggling readers. Rather than being…

Some important approaches to reading instruction and assessment, as well as influential theories of reading, are based on the assumption that reading fluency is necessary for good comprehension. However, this may not always be the case. This article takes another look at the relationship between word reading fluency and comprehension. It also…