This article targets a teaching dilemma found in today's schools, which is the challenge for teachers in our multicultural classrooms to provide appropriate, targeted instruction for the English Language Learner (ELL), most specifically, in the two critical areas of oral language and literacy. The concepts of experiential instruction in this essay…

Teachers and supervisors of reading instruction need to stay abreast of trends and concerns when assisting pupils to achieve more optimally. Reading which meets high expectations is needed in school and in society. Thus, professionals involved in teaching reading in different academic and curriculum areas need to utilize the best methods of…

When schools and teachers adopt core reading programs they can use them with fidelity or make intelligent decisions about the texts, lessons and components they select to use. The evidence suggests that these programs are not research-based documents, but rather compromises between what the research suggests about effective reading instruction and…

This guide was produced by the Center on Instruction for technical assistance providers and others who work with state education leaders to improve reading achievement among elementary school students. It describes a suite of "Student Center Activities" (SCAs) designed to offer K-5 classroom teachers a wide range of activities that can…

How does one build connections with students who do not feel they are part of the school community? Penn-Trafford High School in Harrison City, Pennsylvania, always seemed to have a number of students who felt no connection to the school or their classmates. They skipped class or didn't participate when they did attend. They were prime candidates…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that an Individualized Education Program (IEP) be developed for each child that receives special education services. To develop the most effective IEP, information is gathered from everyone who has worked with the child. In many schools the child receives early intervention services prior to…

Brewster Elementary, a rural K-6 school of almost 500 students, just north of Yakima, WA, could reasonably be considered a school at risk: Fully 92 percent of its students qualify for Title I funding; 83 percent use English as a second language. For eight years running, Brewster has been using the HOSTS Learning system, with funding help from the…

Describes the origins and continuing successes of the New Adventure in Learning (NAIL) program in the Leon County (Florida) school district. NAIL's effectiveness in tackling reading problems through a combination of group instruction using basals and newer, diagnostic/prescriptive, individualized techniques has led to the program's national…

Describes the introduction of the Prescriptive Reading Inventory in an elementary school, outlines its use, and presents several mastery learning theories that support and clarify its use. Concludes by recounting the benefits of the program. (Author/IRT)

There always has been a problem with grouping practices in reading programs. The complexity of the interaction between readers, texts, and the contexts in which reading takes place often is ignored by educational decisions that suggest that one program, set of materials, instructional technique, or grouping arrangement can address the needs of all…

This program, included in "Effective Reading Programs...," serves 391 children from preschool through grade 6. The students are largely disadvantaged, and some are physically handicapped an/or mentally retarded. The program is designed to improve students' reading skills and attitudes toward reading, to improve teachers' ability to…

This program, included in "Effective Reading Programs...," serves 346 children in kindergarten through grade six. About 50 percent of the children are rural blacks, and about 50 percent are whites from the suburbs of a small city. To provide meaningful reading instruction that will enable the students to read at or above expected levels,…

This program, included in "Effective Reading Programs...," serves an unselected cross section of more than 700 seventh- and eighth-grade students from suburban middle-income families. The program aims to make students proficient in the areas of word attack skills, including phonetic and structural analysis, comprehension skills,…

This program, included in "Effective Reading Programs...," serves about 5,950 first, second, and third graders from 33 schools. The program hopes to significantly diminish reading problems in its children by offering three years of intensive diagnostic reading instruction for 90 minutes a day during their first three years of school. The…

This program, included in "Effective Reading Progrms...," serves 265 elementary and presecondary-level students in six private learning centers. In addition, more than 7,000 students in K-12 are served in 30 public school reading-achievement centers. The program is designed to help children at all levels of reading ability. It employs an…