Summary: The Alabama Reading Initiative

The 2001 Summer Reading Program sought to meet the following goals: (1) provide children in grades pre-K–3 with the opportunity to improve and retain reading skills in order to achieve greater success in school; and (2) encourage parents to participate and play an active role in reading with their children. The data from all stakeholders in the program - libraries, students, parents, and teachers - demonstrate that the Program made great strides towards meeting its

Many students were reading below grade level, and Tyner needed an intensive reading model that could fill in the gaps of each student’s literacy. She began using a basal reading program called Early Steps (Morris, Tyner, & Perney, 2000). Tyner decided to use some of the components of Early Steps to develop her own reading model that would focus on the needs of beginning and struggling readers. The Small-Group Differentiated Reading Model consists of a framework specifically designed for beginning and struggling readers so that they may progress through the appropriate developmental stages and become proficient

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

In every school across America, effective practices of reading instruction are being discussed. Calkins (2012) suggests that over 85% of students being tested on grade level literacy standards are non-proficient. Research suggests that students, who are unable to read proficiently by third grade, are not predicted to ever learn to read or have successful lives when they reach adulthood (Martinez, 2008). For these reasons, it is important that districts implement literacy models and instructional reforms that have been well researched and shown to be successful. The instructional reform method of Balanced Literacy is being used throughout the country to meet the challenging standards of the Common Core. Teachers will need

This critique is on the evaluation program of Freedom School Partners Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools. This evaluation report was composed in October of 2013 by Dr. D. Bruce Taylor, Dr. Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo, and Dr. Crystal Glover members of The Center for Adolescent Literacies at UNC Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the fifth evaluation of The Freedom School Partners Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools. The main purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the outcome of this summer program on a student’s reading accomplishments while attending a Freedom School Partners in Charlotte. Ten of the nineteen Freedom Schools were chosen for evaluation.

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information which is essential in being a productive member of society. If and when a student missed an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for reading, it’s has a profound impact on their lives. As educators we realize that teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction. We are also aware that children, who are struggling with reading must receive

Our local ROE recently offered a two-day professional development workshop focused on the new Illinois learning standards for English Language Arts. This workshop provided an overview of nine ELA shift kits. These kits are provided by ISBE to aid classroom teachers in the shift to the CCSS. For this evaluation of a reading program, I have chosen to evaluate the usefulness of these ELA shift kits and my school’s familiarity with these ELA shifts.

Third grade is the last year of education that students are taught to read. In 2002, forty-two percent to third graders in Polk County failed the reading portion of the FCAT. This very clearly shows that most of Florida’s, or at least Polk County’s reading problems begin in elementary school. The blame for this can go to schools that have sub-par reading programs. It can alternatively be attributed to parents who don’t take the time to read with their children or hire tutors to help them when they need it. Most likely both are at blame, but only the schools seem to be putting forth an effort for changes. Florida’s parents need to understand that they are very capable of teaching their children to read.

Next, is the Early Literacy Intervention Literacy Intervention Initiative Act. “The early childhood years are the most Important period for literacy development.” (Freeman, Decker, Decker (2013) p. 231). The Early Literacy Initiative is a joint effort with the State and local government to identify children with reading deficiencies and implement early reading intervention programs. The purpose of Early Literacy Initiative is to reduce the number of poor readers by providing research based prevention programs to ensure that every student can read by the 3rd

Reading and writing is crucial for increasing achievement among people of all ethnicities. For many young kids, books are their primary source of learning how to read and write besides the parameter of the classroom. However, there is a significant decrease in the literacy rate found in African-American communities. There is a need for stronger literacy education for this particular group of the population. A huge problem associated with that can be attributed the failure of the public school system to effectively educate the youth. According to the 2009 NAEP data, only 33 percent of 4th graders and 32 percent of 8th graders in the U.S performed at or above proficiency in reading on national tests. These results are very discouraging, in the African-American community, but the results are even worse because only 16 percent of African American 4th graders and 14 percent of African American 8th graders performed at or above the grade proficiency level in 2009.

This article is commentary to Justice's (2005) article on the effects of EBP and RTI on reading instruction. Both RTI and EBP can be used to promote effective change in the way services are provided in the school setting. As a response to the original article, Ukrainetz (2006) stated that utilizing RTI and EBP can provide opportunities as well as challenges for SLPs. Using these techniques can make considerable changes in the way children are identified for services as well as refining language intervention.

With the emergence of No Child Left Behind, the National Literacy Strategy of 1998, and even more recent the Ohio Third Grade Reading Guarantee test, it is not longer the norm to accept that a child may be unable to read. The Literacy Strategy of 1998 has certainly put primary schools under more pressure to teach reading (and to teach to the tests) and they have been doing so much more intensively since then. The National Literacy Strategy that was introduced in fall 1998 intended to play a major role in increasing the standards in literacy and reduce the lower expectations of the education system. (Wall, 2003)

In class on Tuesday we discussed how Michigan is in last place out of all the states for reading. Ever since 2003 Michigan has been declining (about 15 years now!). To help turn Michigan’s reading curriculum around the Michigan Department of Education has implemented the 3rd Grade Reading Law. Professor Masko mentioned that those of us who will be employed in three years will be impacted by this law. Our professor also mentioned how important reading is because reading impacts every subject. Students read out of a science book during science time and read out of a book during social studies time. Word problems are found in math so reading really is apart of every subject. A speaker at the Community Literacy Summit stated that “children unable

As a transformational leader who will serve as a vital change agent for the implementation of “Dynamic Reading Program”, following the outline of Beckhard and Harris’s planned change model (1977). They proposed a general six-step change process to effectively manage change as the school leader. As it relates the implementation of the new reading core, a school leader must take the first step of the model and diagnose the present condition of the school’s reading success rate. The school leader of a school within the district must work with a collaborative team to analyze the school’s reading assessment data and data by grade level to compare it to Washington Elementary School’s reading assessment data. All students need to have a data point from which will become the beginning data for the start of the reading program. This will affect

My philosophy of literacy is centered on providing a learning environment rich in authentic literature, instruction that is engaging, fun, and balanced, collaborative, and also involving families in the child’s education. My ultimate goal of literacy instruction is to help children become lifelong readers and writers by providing the skills necessary to comprehend, construct, and make meaning of text, speak, and write. (Torgesen, 2002). According to the National Reading Panel, there are five essential components that must be taught in effective reading programs: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. (Reading Horizons). According to Konza (2014), reading instruction should be changed to six foundational reading elements, adding oral language and early literacy. I also believe that early literacy should be