The research question was, "What text characteristics do primary teachers think are most important for early grades text complexity?" Teachers from across the United States accomplished a two-part task. First, to stimulate teachers' thinking about important text characteristics, primary teachers completed an online paired-text…

This qualitative study explored reasons K-6 teachers did or did not engage students regularly in writing. Interviews with 14 teachers, classified as high, transitional, and low implementers of writing instruction, revealed three themes: hindrances and helps, beliefs concerning practice, and preparation and professional development. Both high and…

In this study, we tracked elementary preservice teachers' (N = 41) perceived ability to teach reading as they moved through their teacher preparation program. After graduation, we conducted follow-up teaching observations and interviews with five of these novice teachers to explore their perceptions about their ability to teach reading. An…

This research focuses on read-aloud discussions in the classroom of an exemplary second-grade teacher, Mae Graham, during an academic year. We found the classroom environment Mae created, along with her instructional moves, fostered engagement and student-initiated talk. Our analysis affirms the importance of teachers' language in building…

The study examines comprehension after oral and silent reading in elementary- and middle-school students. It investigates whether and when one mode is superior to the other for comprehension as children develop, independent of reading ability levels. One hundred and seventy three children in first through seventh grades orally and silently read…

This research investigated factors that influence the implementation levels of evidence-based comprehension strategy instruction (CSI) among K-3 teachers. An explanatory design was chosen to gather and probe the data. Quantitative data were gathered via a mailed survey distributed through a representative sample of the 40 school districts (through…

This study focused on the link between parental involvement in reading and schooling and children's reading motivation. The sample consisted of 128 low-income Latino students in the second through seventh grade and their immigrant parents. The specific questions addressed were: (1) How involved are Latino parents in their children's schooling and…

In this case study, two teacher educators in literacy examined teacher candidates' (N = 24) learning of writing instruction across a three-course sequence of literacy methods. Data collected included a survey of candidates' knowledge of writing instruction, their formal observations of writing lessons in their student-teaching placements, a…

Twenty-four studies were included in this systematic review of vocabulary research literature. The review corroborates the findings of past studies that several strategies have emerged that increase students' vocabulary knowledge. Findings further reinforce the National Reading Panel's recommendations regarding the context and magnitude of studies…

There are hundreds of tutoring programs that utilize community volunteers being implemented across the country; however, there are few rigorous efforts to evaluate their effectiveness. This article presents findings on reading achievement from an evaluation of the New York City Experience Corps[R], a program that uses older volunteers to work with…

This study analyzed and compared the characteristics of expert and less expert teachers' noticing ability during observation of literacy instruction, and builds a conceptual framework for expert noticing during such teaching. Expert participants (n = 7) were defined as university faculty in reading with intensive and long-term experience in…

The purpose of the study was to examine short- and long-term effects of two instructional approaches designed to improve the reading fluency of second-grade children: Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (or FORI; Stahl & Heubach, 2005) and a wide reading approach (Kuhn et al., 2006). By the end of second grade, children in the wide reading…

The current study examined the sight word acquisition rate (AR) of 43 second-grade students who were English language learners (ELL) from three diverse, urban schools. The AR was analyzed in relation to each student's oral proficiency in English, and examined whether or not children who are ELL but have a higher level of English proficiency would…

A mixed methodological approach was used to examine the effect of a cross-age tutoring writing program among second- and fourth-grade students in a rural elementary school in Delaware. Pre-test and post-test writing prompts were administered and evaluated using the 6+1 traits writing assessment rubric. Students were assessed qualitatively through…

In 1996 President Clinton established the America Reads Challenge Act (1997), which included a commitment that every child will read independently and well by the end of third grade. This initiative was predicated on links between achievement and poverty (Riley, 1996, 2002) and that children reading below grade level in the early grades perform…