This guide for district and school leaders shows how to recognize opportunities to embed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) into planned policies or programs. Opportunistic RCTs can generate strong evidence for informing education decisions--with minimal added cost and disruption. The guide also outlines the key steps to conduct RCTs and responds…

Surveys 20 elementary school administrators. Finds they: do not share the same definition of reading, and differ in their perception of which aspects of reading are most important; agreed that teachers and central office personnel established goals for reading programs, and seek advice from teachers and reading supervisors; and felt they best…

Teachers and supervisors need to provide quality experiences in reading for each learner. School systems can appraise the effectiveness of their present reading curricula in a variety of ways. The following issues are involved in evaluating the reading curriculum: (1) objective selection; (2) objective sequencing; and (3) appraisal procedures to…

This book provides an explanation of sustained silent reading, why it is important, and how to implement it in school and classroom programs. The book presents an overview of underlying research and reviews eight essential factors ensuring a program's success, explicitly identifying them and explaining how they may be incorporated. The factors…

Eleven shortcomings of remedial reading programs are delaying the program; analyzing word identification skills; teaching phonic skills systematically; avoiding having students read; using controlled-vocabulary reading materials; disregarding student background knowledge; encouraging readers to sound out unfamiliar words; insisting upon accuracy…

Offers 22 characteristics of a good reading lesson and suggests that administrators keep four things in mind when observing a reading lesson: motivation, clarification, application, and satisfaction. (FL)

Suggests that the acronym "SCIENCE" may be used as a guide to evaluating seven factors that should be promoted by a reading program: success, curiosity, interest, enthusiasm, nurture, challenge, and enjoyment. (MKM)

We will never teach all our students to read if we do not teach our most at-risk students to read. Another way to say this is: "Getting to 100% requires going through the bottom 20%." Teaching all students to read requires a school level system for early identification of at-risk students and a school level system for providing those students with…

Provides seven recommendations for an effective secondary reading program that will treat reading as a body of skills taught in all subject areas. (MKM)

Intended for reading teachers, supervisors, and administrators, this guide can be used to develop a parental involvement program. The book first presents a preprogram survey, an informal assessment of attitudes and skills that are important in parent programs. Chapter 1 contains the parent reading engagement profile, which includes guidelines and…

In this practitioners' guide, a recognized reading expert explains how educators, parents, and concerned citizens can spot ineffective reading programs that may hide under the "scientifically-based" banner. Although the term "whole language" is not commonly used today, programs based on its premises remain popular. These…

Argues for the consideration of five major components that must be addressed within each local school or school system: 1) curriculum; 2) methodology; 3) organization; 4) administration; and 5) staff development. Emphasizes the support and active involvement of the local superintendent of education in this reading improvement process. (RAE)

Based on the belief that learning to read is an ongoing process that continues into the upper grades, this guidebook is intended as a "starter kit" to help teachers, literacy specialists, and administrators design strong literacy programs that span the secondary grades. The guidebook maintains that as learners encounter unfamiliar and complex…

Designed for use by elementary school principals, this guide contains suggestions for (1) assessing the effectiveness of the school reading program, (2) determining the instructional needs of teachers and the reading skill needs of students, and (3) implementing specific strategies to effectively accomplish desired reading program improvements.…

To obtain perceptions of student growth in reading, this evaluation report assessed the first-year implementation of a seventh grade reading pilot program at Bell, Correia, Standley, and Wilson schools in the San Diego Unified School District. The pilot program addressed the reading needs of seventh grade students achieving two or more years below…