One of the most misunderstood parts of the Common Core State Standards is the section on literacy standards for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. To help reduce some of the lingering confusion about these disciplinary literacy standards, Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan offer responses to a number of Frequently Asked Questions.…

Does the Common Core State Standards' focus on informational text mean that teachers must teach fiberglass installation manuals and the minutes of National Reserve Board meetings? No, responds literacy expert Timothy Shanahan. "I've pored over the lists of exemplary texts suggested by the standards, and I've not been able to…

With the Common Core State Standards, instruction in English language arts will dramatically change. Unlike prior state standards, these new standards place a greater emphasis on reading challenging texts. To that end, teachers will need to support students in paying closer attention to such texts. Instead of focusing on pre-reading activities…

During the past several years, middle schools and high schools have been shifting their attention to disciplinary literacy. The Common Core State Standards are explicit in requiring teachers to teach the literacy of science, literature, and history, and even states that are not part of Common Core (such as Texas) are making this shift as well.…

Reading comprehension--the ability to understand the meaning of text--is a foundational ability that enables children to learn in school and throughout life. Children who struggle with reading comprehension in the third or fourth grade are at high risk for dropping out of school, with detrimental effects on their future employment, income, and…

This rejoinder provides responses to the conceptual concerns expressed in the nine critiques published in this issue of "Educational Researcher" of the 2008 National Early Literacy Panel report. It explains the necessity of adhering to clearly established study selection parameters in conducting trustworthy meta-analyses and the need to be…

A study examined the relationship of multiple measures of reading and writing at the second and fifth grade levels. Multiple reading tests (measuring vocabulary, word recognition, sentence comprehension, and passage comprehension) and writing tests (evaluating vocabulary diversity and syntactic complexity, and providing qualitative and…

A study was designed to measure the relationship between learning to read and learning to write at the elementary school level. Measures of phonics knowledge, reading vocabulary, spelling, reading comprehension, and grammatical and organizational complexity of writing were administered to 256 second grade and 253 fifth grade students. The findings…

Noting that recommendations for integrating elementary reading and writing often fail to provide adequate specific suggestions, proposes seven instructional principles based upon research on the reading-writing relationship and suggests specific techniques for each principle. (NH)

Reviews studies that explore the nature of the relationships between reading and writing and that suggest the influence of writing on word recognition, reading comprehension, and reading motivation. Offers six recommendations for classroom instruction based on the available information about the reading/writing relationship. (GT)

Teaching language-minority students to read and write well in English is an urgent challenge in the nation's K-12 schools. Literacy in English is essential to achievement in every academic subject-and to educational and economic opportunities beyond schooling. Compounding this challenge are increasing numbers and diversity of language-minority…

Describes how to select functional materials and techniques for teaching reading survival skills. (DD)

Four literacy experts lay out the evidence in this compelling book, based on the well-known Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development that inspired the landmark resource "Beginning Literacy with Language." Following a group of children living in low-income families from preschool through high school, the authors charted the students'…