The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text-reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity): how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency, reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word-reading fluency and reading comprehension. The study examined (a) developmentally changing relations…

Children with delayed language skills, who were from a socio-economic area defined as disadvantaged, made significant improvements in language skills after their parents were trained in easily learned strategies, enabling them to make simple changes in the way they interacted with their children. The 36 children, mean age five years, were…

The pressure to ensure that all children learn to read and become lifelong readers has never been as strong at it is now. For this to become a reality for all students, including those that are not motivated to read, teachers must use any and all appropriate strategies. With this in mind, literacy teachers should enlist assistance from other…

The purpose of this paper is to consider the importance of intervening with early literacy instruction at the preschool level. Research has found phonological awareness skills in preschool to be one of the most robust predictors of early reading success in a child's first few years of formal schooling. The efficacy of phonological awareness…

Due to changing demographics, our students are coming into schools with diverse life experiences, which do not always reflect the cultural reality of their schools. Given the research on the importance of using literature that is relevant to the students' background, this study sought to explore how first grade urban students connect to literature…

Drawing and writing in response to picturebook read-alouds, elementary children construct varying "visual hooks" in their sketches as effective visual devices for extending ideas for writing: the bubble hook, the zoom hook, and the group hook. This article reports on a 12-week qualitative study in which children in second grade develop as writers…

One hundred percent literacy is a relatively modern goal. According to The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago (n.d.), writing was invented in 3200 BC. However, it was not until the Industrial Revolution, in the 19th century, that large numbers of ordinary people began to read and write. Today, most people believe that becoming a…

Research Findings: This study examines the effects of low- and high-cognitive demand discussion on children's story comprehension and identifies contributions of discussion, initial vocabularies, and parent reading involvement. A total of 70 English learner preschoolers took baseline vocabulary tests in Portuguese and English, were randomly…

As the call for evidence-based programs and practices heightens (e.g., the Every Student Succeeds Act), there is little doubt about the urgency to bring solid research into the classroom. Implementing findings generated from rigorous research continues to be a viable, trustworthy, and necessary factor in preventing and addressing learning…

How can teachers motivate students to read extensively in a second language? One strategy is for teachers to read aloud to students to promote the joys of reading generally, to build students' language skills and to introduce students to specific authors, book series, genres, websites, etc. This article begins by discussing why teachers might want…

This report provides an update on the state of the research on testing accommodations as well as to identify promising future areas of research. Previous reports by NCEO have covered research published since 1999. We summarize the research to review current research trends and enhance understanding of the implications of accommodations use in the…

Decades of research have identified features of classrooms and teachers' talk that are associated with children's language growth. Unfortunately, much of this work has not yet translated to widespread practice in early childhood classrooms. Given the important contributions that early language development makes to later academic achievement,…

This study investigated the influence of book genre (narrative or didactic) on mothers' language use during a book sharing interaction with their 18- to 25-month-olds. Mother-child dyads were videotaped sharing both a narrative and a didactic book, adapted from two commercially available books, and matched in terms of length, quantity of text, and…

This column explores the research that investigates teaching children with informational texts, which is a growing concern and focus in Common Core State Standards (CCSS.) The authors highlight empirical data that study the use of informational texts with young learners. The article is foregrounded in four key findings: make the texts available…

Standing tall in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty is an enduring symbol of America. Layers of historical content and symbolism are uncovered in books that tell various parts of her story. By reading one or more of these books, students can begin to see that the experience of immigration is complex--it's not one narrative, but many that…