http://www.ncrel.org/policy/curve/nclbprint.htm

A timeline for No Child Left Behind by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

Submitted by Molly Ness.

http://www.ncte.org/collections/literacycoach

“Coaches” were once found only on the athletic field, yet currently coaching
for effective instruction is rapidly increasing in elementary, middle, and
high schools across North America. Effective literacy coaches support
teachers in becoming more thoughtful and knowledgeable about their
instruction and help significantly improve student outcomes. This collection
of on-line resources showcases literacy coaching as part of an ongoing
professional development process through which classroom teachers deepen
their literacy understandings, instructional methods, and assessment
strategies. Approaches to coaching and literacy models embraced by schools
and districts are quite varied, as are the challenges. The resources
included here can support both coaches and districts considering a coaching
model, as well as the policymakers who legislate and fund such professional
development efforts.

Submitted by Molly Ness.

http://www.ciera.org/library/reports/inquiry-1/1-001/Report%201-001.html
http://www.ciera.org/library/reports/inquiry-1/1-001/1-001.pdf

This report examines texts based on high-frequency and phonetically regular
words as well as the trade books of current literature-based reading
programs. Questions included: What does a beginning reader need to know
about written English to be successful with a particular type of text? What
will a beginning reader learn about text if consistently presented with a
particular type of text?

by: Timothy R. Konold, Connie Juel, and Marlie McKinnon
University of Virginia

http://www.ciera.org/library/reports/inquiry-1/1-003/1-003.html

Cognitive models of literacy acquisition generally define early acquisition
as dependent upon factors considered core to developing (a) word recognition
and (b) reading comprehension. Much is known about specific processes
involved in reading acquisition, as well as more global stages in reading
development. Phonemic awareness has been found to be associated with the
early development of word recognition and reading, and factors strongly
associated with comprehension include oral vocabulary and listening
comprehension (Adams, 1990; Juel, 1994; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998;
Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1994). Models have also been proposed
delineating developmental stages of oral language and phonological awareness
(Berko-Gleason, 1951; Brown, 1973; Yopp, 1995). While an understanding of
how these causative agents function is important, learning to read is a
multivariate phenomenon that requires joint consideration of these
processes.

By: Hiebert, Elfrieda
http://www.textproject.org/library/papers/Hiebert-Fisher-2002a.pdf

Presented at the annual meeting of AERA in April 2002, this paper examines
the effects of differences in the difficulty of texts on the speed,
accuracy, and comprehension of beginning readers. Text difficulty was
measured by Critical Word Factor (CWF), an index of the word recognition
demands of texts.

http://www.aimsweb.com/norms/reading_fluency.htm

The Edformation Normative Performance Tables are calculated using the
AIMSweb Pro student database. Below is the Oral Reading Fluency Normative
Performance Chart. It displays the oral reading fluency rates (words read
correctly in one minute from Edformation’s Standard Reading Assessment
Passages) for grades 1-8. The information is presented by percentile rank
and by fall, winter, and spring benchmark periods.

http://www.nrrf.org/analyses_grade1.htm

Analyses of Grade 1 Reading Programs

From the National Right to Read Foundations

We have just received notice of a fine evaluation of Grade 1 Reading
programs recently completed by Educational Research Analysts from Longview,
Texas. It analyzes the programs named for the state of Texas’ 2000 adoption
and includes all improvements ordered by the Texas State Board of Education.
Their introduction and analyses follow.

http://www.scoe.org/content.php?PageId=169

Complex issues of language (e.g. vocabulary, syntax, grammar, semantics)
surround making wise choices about literacy instruction. A number of useful
websites can support your inquiry including: Biemiller’s Teaching
Vocabulary: Early, Direct, and Sequential; Hiebert’s Text Project; and other
vocabulary teaching resources.

By James Hiebert, Ronald Gallimore, and James W. Stigler
In American Educator, Spring 2004

http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/spring2004/doors.html

To achieve small and continuing improvements in the average classroom
requires a major shift in educators’ thinking--from teachers† to teaching.
Rather than focusing only on evaluating the quality of teachers, the
educational community must begin examining the quality of teaching. What
kinds of methods are teachers using now and how could these methods be
improved? Tackling this deep-seated problem begins with opening the
classroom door. The process starts by learning to analyze the details of
ordinary classroom instruction, with all its warts and foibles, and then
learning to see more effective ways of teaching. But to do this, to even
begin down this path, teachers must be willing to open their doors. They
must be willing to allow others to use their lessons as data that can be
examined and discussed over and over.

(What these teachers did with math, we can do with reading.)

HTML Format...(116K) http://www.prel.org/products/re_/ES0419.htm
PDF Format...(5.5M) http://www.prel.org/products/re_/ES0419.pdf
PDF Format...(2.5M) http://www.prel.org/products/re_/ES0419bw.pdf

The second booklet in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series,
A Focus on Vocabulary,†explores vocabulary development as a component of
reading comprehension. The text examines research results on how students
acquire vocabulary and about instruction that helps students develop the
kind of vocabulary knowledge that will contribute to their reading success.
The document is available online only and can be accessed in HTML, color
PDF, or black & white PDF format. Users are asked to complete a survey to
access this free, online document.

This resource comes from PREL: Pacific Resources for Education and Learning
(PREL) is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation that serves the
educational community in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, the
continental United States, and countries throughout the world.