Educators nationwide are receiving training through Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling® (LETRS®), a program rooted in a structured literacy that encompasses all five essential components of literacy recommended by the National Reading Panel (NRP, 2000): phonemic awareness, phonics skills, fluency, vocabulary, and…

In 2022, Ohio House Bill 436 went into effect. The law required Ohio reading teachers to shift their literacy instructional practices to be consistent with structured literacy based on The Science of Reading research. This large body of research may be in direct conflict with widely used instructional practices that are generally thought of as…

In pursuit of Academic Excellence, MCPS allocated funds for school year 2022-2023 to ensure every elementary school had a full-time reading specialist to serve as a literacy coach. This evaluation focused on understanding how the reading specialist position supported teachers' increased capacity to implement the MCPS literacy program, including…

Background: Teachers are responsible for curriculum implementation and transformation. Therefore, they are viewed as the primary agents of change in teaching and learning. As agents of change, they are responsible for being innovative and creative in their teaching and learning in their English First Additional Language (EFAL) class. Objectives:…

This study examined the perceptions of participants regarding the use of embedded video demonstration lessons during literacy professional development sessions. The videos were captured in an urban elementary classroom and modeled two new literacy strategies. Based on survey responses from 160 kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school…

In 2016, the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, the nation's 15th-largest school district, confronted two dilemmas common in U.S. education. First, a quality review had revealed weaknesses in its literacy curriculum. Although curriculum can have profound effects on student learning, not all curricula are rigorous and engaging…

Students with special needs deserve a free and appropriate education. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research study was to explore factors responsible for creating a sustainable literacy initiative in special education schools and in addition, to analyze the effectiveness of instructional leadership in 10 special education…

In this piece, a practicing teacher discusses an institutional and collegial experience as she attempts to implement an innovative, research-based curricular model for literacy education.

At the core of every teacher is a set of beliefs and knowledge regarding teaching and learning. As a teacher develops her expertise, curricular practices are refined and self-efficacy is enhanced. Teachers possess varying degrees of efficacy and perceptions that impact literacy instruction within their classrooms. Yet, often times they are…