This ‘quick start’ guide for elementary school-level instructional leaders is based on scientific research on reading and reading instruction, as well as on studies of successful schools and interviews with successful principals.  It includes critical elements of an effective reading program in elementary school, critical tasks for principals as literacy leaders, and special considerations for reading instruction after third grade.  (The Center on Instruction is a project of RMC Research Corporation in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  It is one of five content centers that support the regional Comprehensive Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary ...

“Through the Online Academy a number of web-based modules and other technology innovations for moving validated educational interventions from research to practice were developed.  These resources were designed to enhance teacher education programs in offering online instruction.  Multi-component modules are available on (a) Reading (seven parts); (b) Positive Behavioral Support (seven parts); and (c) Technology in Education (seven parts).  Five staff development modules and  four Steppingstones modules on incorporating national standards into instruction are also available. (While the Online Academy is no longer operating, the resources it developed continue to be available ...

Provisions in the No Child Left Behind legislation require that schools be held accountable for adequate yearly progress for English language learners as a subgroup.  Having these materials handy may make it easier for educators to respond when questions arise about a student's placement, instruction, special services, and grading.  Inside the starter kit, you'll find the following downloadable monitoring forms, which you can feel free to print and share: (a) Overall Language Performance; (b) Oral Communication Skills; (c) Reading Skills; (d) Fluency Skills: Expressive Reading; and (e) Use of Comprehension Strategies -- plus helpful Spanish-English resources.  (Colorín Colorado ...

This guide, designed for technical assistance providers working with State education leaders to improve reading achievement, describes a suite of Student Center Activities offering teachers a wide range of activities to engage students in differentiated reading activities during small-group work in the classroom.  The activities target specific skills, scaffold student learning, and provide engaging practice to extend student learning and increase the time focused on critical reading skills at all levels of reading proficiency. (The Content Center is operated by RMC Research Corporation in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  It is one of five content centers that support the regional Comprehensive ...

The MITS Assistive Technology Training Modules are designed for presentation as training sessions.  The format is a PowerPoint slideshow that includes trainer notes and handouts. MITS Training Modules have been developed to increase awareness and knowledge regarding assistive technology, ultimately leading to improved services to students.  PowerPoints are available on: (a) Overview of Assistive Technology; (b) Consideration and Decision-Making; (c) Assistive Technology: Access to Play and Literacy; (d) Data Collection; (e) Alternatives to Reading; (f) Single Switch.  

Here you will find six online learning modules on differentiated instruction, primarily concerning differentiation for reading instruction and on response to intervention for differentiation.  These modules were developed between 2004 and 2009.  InfoBriefs on differentiated instruction are also available. On this and other topics, Vanderbilt University’s IRIS Center provides free interactive enhancement materials that translate research into practice for preservice faculty and professional development providers.  IRIS modules apply the “How People Learn” theory developed by John Bransford and his colleagues, which is based on cognitive science research. (IRIS is funded ...

Adaptations are Essential is a series of three resource guides written for teachers and other service providers who work with students with mild disabilities. The guides describe strategies for aligning students' individualized education programs (IEPs) with the state of Washington's essential academic learning requirements. Separate resource guides have been developed for reading, writing and mathematics. Each guide includes the following components: a) general information about adapting learning and assessment and why such adaptations are essential; b) a decision-making model for adapting instruction and assessment; c) suggestions for adapting assessments using materials from the Washington Assessment ...

This ‘quick start’ guide for principals of both middle and high schools identifies three goals for secondary school literacy initiatives and provides elements of instruction required to meet these goals. It then outlines the critical elements of a school-level literacy action plan. (The Center on Instruction is a project of RMC Research Corporation in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  It is one of five content centers that support the regional Comprehensive Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.)

This report provides information about assessment, instructional interventions, and professional development with a particular focus on ELL students who have been identified with a language and/or learning disability or who are at risk for reading difficulties. The focus of the intervention section is on practices that have demonstrated success at remediating reading for ELLs who have either identified language impairment, reading and/or learning disabilities, or those who are performing significantly below their peers in reading achievement. The report also offers recommendations followed by discussion and empirical evidence for the types of instructional interventions that best serve ELLs ...

The Adolescent Literacy KnowledgeBase provides ways to integrate literacy and content area instruction across grades 4 through 12. The KnowledgeBase supports content teachers with resources to make their teaching more effective.  The four elements in this KnowledgeBase are (a) Nature of Adolescence; (b) Adolescent Literacy Concepts; (c) School and Community Context; and (d) Literacy and Content Area Instruction Integration. (Located at the University of Oklahoma, the Mid-Continent Comprehensive Center is a regional technical assistance center funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.)

Use these webcasts as the centerpiece of staff development workshops or watch them for your own professional development whenever you have time.  Each webcast features a 60-minute video program that you view from the AdLit.org website.  The webcasts include recommended readings and suggested discussion questions.  You can also sign up for email alerts about upcoming webcasts.  (AdLit is a national multimedia project of WETA Public Television and Radio, Washington DC, and is funded by the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.)

The target audience for this guide is a broad spectrum of school practitioners such as administrators, curriculum specialists, coaches, staff development specialists and teachers who face the challenge of providing effective literacy instruction for English language learners in the elementary grades.  The guide also aims to reach district-level administrators who develop practice and policy options for their schools.

This module was developed by the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN). This resource is a 508 compliant presentation featuring searchable presentation captioning and video, navigation points, and synchronized, downloadable accompanying materials. This unit covers basic instructional strategies, and discusses how to work with students who use assistive technologies or have exceptional needs. It also focuses on math and reading instruction and best practices in each area. The instructor has the user complete exercises in order to better understand the material.

This guide offers five specific recommendations to help educators identify struggling readers and implement evidence-based strategies to promote their reading achievement.  Teachers and reading specialists can utilize these strategies to implement RtI and multi-tier intervention methods and frameworks at the classroom or school level.  Recommendations cover how to screen students for reading problems, design a multi-tier intervention program, adjust instruction to help struggling readers, and monitor student progress.

Use this toolkit to build your afterschool program, in professional development settings, for activities and ideas, and as a research base in effective afterschool programming.  The topics are (a) literacy; (b) math; (c) science; (d) arts, (e) technology; and (f) homework.   Each subject area is filled with standards-based multi-media resources including: research-based practices, sample lessons, interactive activities, and video segments taken from afterschool programs across the country.  The web site demonstrates different ways to use the toolkit to promote staff development and support collegial learning.  (The primary contactor of this collaborative project, SEDL, ...

Reading Rockets provides access to a selection of videos and podcasts.   Topics include (a) assessment; (b) brain and learning; (c) children’s books; (d) classroom management; (e) content instruction;  (e) differentiated instruction; (f) English language learners; (g) families and schools; (h) learning disabilities; (i) social and emotional issues; (j) struggling learners; (k) teacher education -- and many more.  You can click on the menu at the right to access these presentations by topic.  (Reading Rockets is an educational initiative of WETA public television and radio in Washington, D.C., and is funded by the U.S. Department ...

These podcast programs cover research-based, classroom tested strategies on reading and writing.  Among the topics are (a) creating a home reading program; (b) teaching vocabulary in middle and high school; (c) writing to learn across the curriculum; (d) supporting struggling adolescent readers -- and more.  Podcasts are accompanied by related articles and references to the research base.  (The International Reading Association is a nonprofit, global network of individuals and institutions committed to worldwide literacy.  Headquarters are in Newark, Delaware.)

Produced in partnership with KDE's Early Literacy Branch, this DVD-ROM resource showcases strategies that content area teachers can use to help students who struggle with literacy. It features 90+ video clips shot in classrooms across Kentucky. KDE is providing a free copy of this resource to every public school in the State, and the videos are posted online.

This guide provides information critical to developing and implementing an effective school-level intervention program.  It is designed to suggest some guiding principles along with examples of how these principles can be operationalized to develop an effective school-level system for meeting the instruction needs of all students. (The Center on Instruction is a project of RMC Research Corporation in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  It is one of five content centers that support the regional Comprehensive Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.)

This paper describes the adolescent literacy problem (grades 4 to 12), its consequences, and contributing factors.  Guiding principles for assessment, instruction, and professional development, as well as recommendations for short-term and future consideration, are also addressed.  (Founded in 1975, the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities is a national committee of representatives of organizations committed to the education and welfare of individuals with learning disabilities.  LD Online serves as the official website for NJCLD.)

The IRIS Center offers a set of online modules on learning strategies.  These include  (a) CSR: A Reading Comprehension Strategy; (b) Improving Writing Performance: A Strategy for Writing Expository Essays; (c) Providing Instructional Supports: Facilitating Mastery of New Skills; (d) RTI: Reading Instruction; (e) SOS: Helping Students Become  Independent Learners; (f) Using Learning Strategies: Instruction to Enhance Student Learning -- and several modules on the PALS reading strategy for high school instruction and early grades.  Case studies and InfoBriefs on learning strategies are also available. On this and other topics, Vanderbilt University’s IRIS Center provides ...

Here you will find eight online modules on various aspects of reading, literacy, and language arts instruction for struggling learners.  Topics include:  (a) Classroom Assessment: Evaluating Reading Progress; (b) CSR: A Reading Comprehension Strategy; (c) Improving Writing Performance; (d) two modules on RTI for reading instruction; and (e) three modules on the PALS reading strategy for early grades, elementary grades, and high school.   Case studies and InfoBriefs on reading, literacy, and language arts are also available.  On this and other topics, Vanderbilt University’s IRIS Center provides free interactive enhancement materials that translate research into practice ...

Reading Rockets’ professional development webcast series features top experts in the field of reading.  The webcasts include recommended readings and suggested discussion questions.   Some webcasts include the presenters' PowerPoint slides.  You can use them as the centerpiece of staff development workshops or watch them for your own professional development.  Among the topics are (a) Educational Media: Screen Time and Literacy; (b) Academic Language and  English Language Learners; (c) Teaching Writing; (d) English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities; (e) Assessment: On the Track to Reading Success -- and more.  (Reading Rockets is an educational ...

The Arkansas Literacy Intervention Matrix includes (a) best practice, research based, curricular approaches linked directly to the Arkansas Frameworks to use with all students (including students with disabilities) to maximize total literacy success, (b) probes to assist teachers in functional analysis of possible deficits in literacy, which are linked to, (c) sample lessons providing a framework to address a particular skill deficit. These lessons include Tier II, III, IV and V interventions to use when students are not acquiring critical skills in these curricula and need different and/or more intensive strategies to facilitate mastery across the five essential elements of literacy.

Reading Rockets produces award-winning PBS television programs about reading and education.  At the website, you can view the programs in the “Launching Young Readers” series.  Programs cover a range of teaching and learning topics, as well as a program for parents.  (Reading Rockets is an educational initiative of WETA public television and radio in Washington, D.C., and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s  Office of Special Education Programs.)

These guides for workshop presenters relate to the Texas Prekindergarten Curriculum Guidelines but should be useful for personnel in any State.  The guides are (a) Implementing the Prekindergarten Curriculum Guidelines for Language and Early Literacy, Part I: Language Development and (b) Part II: Early Literacy; (c) Implementing the Prekindergarten Curriculum Guidelines for Mathematics and Science; (d) Implementing the Prekindergarten Curriculum Guidelines in Social Studies.   A booklet of activities to implement the guidelines is also available.  The guides were developed in 2000-2001.  (Founded in 1996, the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts is a research ...

The Texas Teacher Reading Academies are scientifically based professional development courses designed to enhance teachers’ knowledge and skills so they can effectively teach young students to read.  Thousands of elementary teachers across Texas—as well as in other States, U.S. territories, and countries — have completed the Academies.  All five grade-level Teacher Reading Academies — Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, and Fourth Grade — include explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  In addition, the Academies highlight effective instructional practices such as grouping, monitoring ...

This is a set of guides for workshop presenters.  Guides that are available for download are (a) Effective Fluency Instruction and Progress Monitoring; (b) Establishing a Field-Based Literacy Lab; (c) Foundations of Reading: Effective Phonological Instruction and Progress Monitoring; and (d) Word Analysis: Principles for Instruction and Progress Monitoring. These guides were developed between 2000 and 2009. Also see related booklets at the top of the page. (Founded in 1996 as the Texas Center for Reading & Language Arts, the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts is a research and development initiative at the University of Texas at Austin.  The Center draws upon State, ...

The Vaughn Gross Center has developed a range of professional development materials for personnel working with students who have disabilities, including several for workshop presenters.  A variety of instructional topics are covered under (a) K-12; (b) primary grades; and (c) secondary grades.   Some are general education guides that have been adapted for special education, and these are indicated.  Nine materials are available for download. They were developed between 2000 and 2009. (Founded in 1996 as the Texas Center for Reading & Language Arts, the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts is a research and development initiative at the University of Texas ...

The Teaching Reading K-2 Workshop introduces innovative research-based principles, teaching practices, and classroom activities designed to stimulate your teaching. Each of the eight workshop sessions examines a critical issue of early literacy. These sessions are designed to enhance the way you teach your K-2 students to read and write.  The eight video programs follow Professor Jeanne R. Paratore of Boston University and twelve K-2 teachers as they work through the major issues of teaching reading.  Colorado State University offers graduate-level semester credits to those who view the complete sequence, download the support materials and participate in the discussion questions, ...

This guide presents strategies that classroom teachers and specialists can use to increase the reading ability of adolescent students.  The recommendations aim to help students gain more from their reading tasks, improve their motivation for and engagement in the learning process, and assist struggling readers who may need intensive and individualized attention.

The "School Leadership for Common Core Standards and College and Career Readiness" webinar series features six bi-weekly webinars, beginning January 2011, examining the important role principals and school leaders will play as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are implemented.

 This compendium of papers authored by leading scholars and practitioners in the field of early childhood education and literacy explores the importance of increasing early literacy opportunities in the Latino community.  This work calls parents, early childhood educators, and community advocates to engage more deeply in a national dialogue that promotes reading and language development among Latino children.  The expertise, insight, and suggestions shared in this volume will benefit those who wish to ensure the educational success of Hispanic Americans.  (The National Council of La Raza is the largest civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S, with nearly 300 affiliated ...

This guide addresses how community Literacy Coalitions and their partner organizations can track the progress they are making to improve literacy in their communities, then use this information to improve their activities and, therefore, the effectiveness of their work.  While the guide focuses more on performance measurement and management from the perspective of community Literacy Coalitions, many of its recommendations are also intended to be helpful to individual literacy service providers.   Click under "Special Institute Literacy Projects" for the full text.  (The National Institute for Literacy is a federal agency that provides leadership on literacy issues.)

This guide, designed to help principals monitor and support adolescent literacy instruction in their schools more effectively, can be used at the late elementary school level, in content-area classes in middle and high school, and with intervention groups or classes. It provides a scaffold to build principals' understanding of scientifically based reading instruction, as a means for a principal to gather information about the quality of literacy and reading intervention instruction in a school, and as a data collection guide for planning targeted professional development and resource allocation. It includes examples of what a principal might expect to see in a classroom as well as templates ...

This suite of resources has two purposes. First, it is designed to guide the delivery of instruction for adolescent struggling readers, particularly secondary interventions in the general education context. Second, it seeks to deepen technical assistance providersâ? knowledge of reading-related issues for adolescents with reading difficulties and learning disabilities and enrich providersâ? work with State and local education agencies. Detailing selected research-based instructional practices associated with positive effects for adolescent struggling readers, the suite comprises (a) a meta-analysis, (b) a practice brief, (c) a professional development module, and (d) a training of trainers ...

This is a very extensive collection of training materials, including PowerPoints, handouts, forms and case studies. The topics are (a) Problem Solving; (b) Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM); (c) Consultation; (d) Reading; (e) Math; (f) Positive Behavior Support; (g) Comprehensive Assessment of Need. Some are available in both English and Spanish.

This module includes a webinar focusing on data analysis and utilization for Illinois Reading First teachers, coaches and administrators, as well as a variety of handouts on determining the need for diagnostic testing, interpreting data, and organizing data meetings. Parts of this module may be state-specific. To access this module, scroll down and select â?Webinar: Using Assessment to Inform Instruction in Reading First Schools.â?

CELLtools is an extensive library of tools and resources that aide in supporting families with early literacy training. (CELL is a project of the Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute in Asheville and Morganton, North Carolina. CELL is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education.)

This session focuses on the development of critical processes and skills in beginning writers. Topics include: -A review of research -The simple view of writing -Exploration of transcription, translation and initial planning and organizing skills and processes.

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