Improving Literacy Achievement


Book Description

Billions of dollars are spent searching for programs and strategic plans that will prove to be the panacea for improving literacy achievement. With all of the experimental and researched programs implemented in school districts, the overall results are still at a minimum and many improvement gains have been short term. Improving Literacy Achievement focuses on literacy achievement through a Continuous Progress conceptual approach. This book features detailed steps for developing and implementing a literacy program for primary students in grades K-3 and includes chapters on looping, or continuous progress, at higher levels (grades 4-5). Carolyn E. Haley shows how looping at these levels proves to be an effective practice in increasing student achievement in all subject areas as evidenced in her research and extensive work.




Improving Literacy Achievement in Urban Schools


Book Description

All students deserve the opportunity to reach their full literacy potential, yet research shows that the numerous challenges faced by today's urban schools prevent many students from achieving this goal. Therefore, preparing teachers to effectively teach reading in diverse urban populations in ways that students find engaging and relevant must be a top priority of teacher education programs.




Schools Make a Difference


Book Description




Improving Literacy in America


Book Description

divAn alarmingly high number of American students continue to lack proficiency in reading, math, and science. The various attempts to address this problem have all too often resulted in “silver bullet” solutions such as reducing class size or implementing voucher programs. But as the authors of this critically important book show, improving literacy also requires an understanding of complex and interrelated social issues that shape a child’s learning. More than twenty years of research demonstrate that literacy success is determined by a combination of sociocultural forces including parenting, preschool, classroom instruction, and other factors that have a direct impact on a child’s development. Here, Frederick J. Morrison, Heather J. Bachman, and Carol McDonald Connor present the most up-to-date research on the diverse factors that relate to a child’s literacy development from preschool through early elementary school. Urging greater emphasis on the immediate sources of influence on children, the authors warn against simple, single solutions that ignore other pivotal aspects of the problem. In a concluding chapter, the authors propose seven specific recommendations for improving literacy—recommendations that can make a real difference in American education./DIV




Principles of Effective Literacy Instruction, Grades K-5


Book Description

What are the principles that every elementary teacher must learn in order to plan and adapt successful literacy instruction? This concise course text and practitioner resource brings together leading experts to explain the guiding ideas that underlie effective instructional practice. Each chapter reviews one or more key principles and highlights ways to apply them flexibly in diverse classrooms and across grade levels and content areas. Chapters cover core instructional topics (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension); high-quality learning environments; major issues such as assessment, differentiation, explicit instruction, equity, and culturally relevant pedagogy; and the importance of teachers’ reflective practice and lifelong learning.




Raising Literacy Achievement in High-Poverty Schools


Book Description

This book shares lessons gleaned from a two-year intervention in a high-poverty school, which was highly successful in significantly narrowing the literacy achievement gap and in raising children’s motivation and engagement in literacy both inside and outside school. Kennedy argues that there is much that disadvantaged schools can do to close the gap, but this is more likely to occur when a research-based approach to instruction (with a dual emphasis on cognitive skills and motivation and engagement), assessment and professional development is undertaken.




Improving Literacy in the Primary School


Book Description

One of the most important challenges teachers face is making sure children can read. It is an absolutely crucial skill, and current educational policy is giving it a very high priority. Based on one of the largest studies ever undertaken of what primary schools do to improve literacy, this book reports what Professor Ted Wragg and his research team found. The importance placed on literacy has never been greater. When children learn to read, they are laying the foundations for their entire educational future. Effective teachers can make a huge difference, as a poor start can hinder children throughout their schooling and beyond. By looking at what actually goes on in classrooms, this volume provides an invaluable insight into what happens to children and how their reading progresses. It shows how particular teachers manage the improvement of their pupils' reading levels, and also follows individual pupils through a school year. This is a very readbale account of a fascinating and crucial area of research that is highly topical. Every class teacher should read it.




Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children


Book Description

While most children learn to read fairly well, there remain many young Americans whose futures are imperiled because they do not read well enough to meet the demands of our competitive, technology-driven society. This book explores the problem within the context of social, historical, cultural, and biological factors. Recommendations address the identification of groups of children at risk, effective instruction for the preschool and early grades, effective approaches to dialects and bilingualism, the importance of these findings for the professional development of teachers, and gaps that remain in our understanding of how children learn to read. Implications for parents, teachers, schools, communities, the media, and government at all levels are discussed. The book examines the epidemiology of reading problems and introduces the concepts used by experts in the field. In a clear and readable narrative, word identification, comprehension, and other processes in normal reading development are discussed. Against the background of normal progress, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children examines factors that put children at risk of poor reading. It explores in detail how literacy can be fostered from birth through kindergarten and the primary grades, including evaluation of philosophies, systems, and materials commonly used to teach reading.




Raising Reading Achievement in Middle and High Schools


Book Description

Strengthen student literacy achievement in middle and high schools! In response to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), raising literacy levels in secondary schools has taken on a new urgency. Recognized literacy author, Elaine K. McEwan, focuses her revised second edition on enhancing the "five big ideas" for raising reading achievement with seven cognitive strategies of highly effective readers and more than twenty research-based "teaching for learning" tips to infuse into daily content instruction. Featuring reflection and discussion questions for reinforcement, this indispensable guide demonstrates how to improve students′ literacy with these five teacher-friendly strategies: Focus on changing what you can change Teach the students who can′t read how to read Teach every student how to read to learn Motivate all students to read more, to read increasingly more challenging books, and to be accountable for what they read Create a reading culture in your school With new programs designed for adolescent learners, this update provides suggestions and developmental tools to effectively strengthen reading curriculum and instruction. Reading specialists, special education teachers, literacy coaches, intervention specialists, and central office administrators can also use this essential tool for evaluating middle and high school reading programs and formulating school and district improvement goals.




Literacy Achievement and Diversity


Book Description

Literacy Achievement and Diversity is an indispensable collection of wisdom from respected literacy researcher Kathy Au. In this timely book, Au addresses the question of what educators can do to close the literacy achievement gap. She begins by outlining theory and research and then provides practical strategies to help teachers improve the literacy learning of students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This book shows that the literacy achievement gap can be closed by adhering to four proven-effective keys to success: (1) recognizing that the solution must be multifaceted, (2) providing students with ample instruction in higher-level thinking with text, (3) building on the strengths that students bring from home, and (4) pulling together schools as places where teachers can collaborate to reach a shared vision of excellence in literacy achievement. Book Features: Provides a social constructivist perspective on closing the literacy achievement gap. Offers a detailed treatment of culturally responsive instruction and its role in improving literacy achievement. Addresses complex topics such as phonics, non-mainstream varieties of English, and ownership of literacy in a clear and comprehensible manner. Includes a reflection activity for students at the end of each chapter.