Effective Literacy Programs: A National Perspective

Written by Nancy Padak andTim Rasinski of Kent State University
Allington, R. (2001). What really matters for struggling readers: Designing research-based programs. New York: Longman.

Struggling readers need:

• to read a lot (60-90 minutes per day in school)
• easy access to books they can read and want to read
• to learn to read fluently
• to develop "thoughtful" literacy (summarize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate)

Learning First Alliance. (1998). Every child reading: An action plan (available online at www.learningfirst.org/publications/reading/).

The Alliance (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Council of Chief State School Officers, Education Commission of the States, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Education Association, National PTA, National School Boards Association) calls on educators and policy makers to:

• Base educational decisions on evidence, not ideology, and provide all children explicit, systematic instruction in phonics and exposure to rich literature, both fiction and nonfiction.
• Promote adoption of texts based on the evidence of what works.
• Improve the quality of ongoing professional development on instructional strategies that includes discussion of how children learn to read as well as extensive in-class follow-up.
• Promote whole school adoption of effective methods.
• Involve parents in support of their children's reading.
• Provide additional staff for tutoring and to reduce reading class size.
• Administer diagnostic assessments regularly to kindergarteners and first graders.

Learning First Alliance. (2000). Every child reading: A professional development guide (available online at www.learningfirst.org/publications/reading/).
 

• The context for professional development is critical. Everyone who affects student learning must be involved. Curriculum alignment is important. Professional development must be given adequate time and must take place during the school day. Strong instructional leadership must be present. Outside expertise should be available and accessed as often as necessary. Schools need to commit to a long-range plan that is adequately funded.
• The process of professional development is likewise critical. The overall process of classroom-based change, for example, involves teachers a) understanding the theory and rationale for the innovation, b) observing a model in action, c) practicing the new behaviors in a safe context, and d) trying the new behavior with peer support in the classroom. Those planning and implementing such efforts must recognize that change occurs in identifiable stages. A variety of professional development activities will meet individual needs better than a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Self-evaluation must be part of an individual professional development plan. After initial, concentrated work, follow-up consultations and individual support must be offered. Sufficient time must be allowed before the outcomes of the professional development program are determined.

• Children have the right to appropriate early reading instruction based on their individual needs: motivation, constructing meaning, background knowledge and vocabulary development, decoding, fluency.
• Children have the right to reading instruction that builds both the skill and the desire to read increasingly complex materials.
• Children have the right to well-prepared teachers who keep their skills up to date through effective professional development.
• Children have the right to access a wide variety of books and other reading material in classroom, school, and community libraries.
• Children have a right to reading assessment that identifies their strengths as well as their needs and involves them in making decisions about their own learning.
• Children who are struggling with reading have a right to intensive instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach reading.
• Children have a right to reading instruction that involves parents and communities in their academic lives.
• Children have a right to reading instruction that makes meaningful use of their first language skills.
• Children have a right to equal access to the technology used for the improvement of reading instruction.
• Children have a right to classrooms that optimize learning opportunities.

The National Reading Panel selected research to review using rigorous criteria. Results and implications are provided in several topic areas:
 

• Phonemic Awareness: Teaching children to manipulate phonemes is highly effective. Phonemic awareness instruction also helps children learn to spell.
• Phonics Instruction: Systematic phonics instruction produces significant K-6 benefits for normally progressing and struggling readers. Programs that focus too much on teaching letter-sound relations and not enough on putting them to use are unlikely to be effective.
• Fluency: Fluency is one of several critical factors necessary for reading comprehension. Guided oral repeated reading procedures are particularly effective.
• Comprehension: Vocabulary instruction, both direct and indirect, leads to comprehension gains. No one method alone can be successful; students must be actively engaged in vocabulary instruction. Teaching a combination of reading comprehension techniques is most effective.
• Teacher Education: For teachers to use new strategies effectively, extensive formal instruction is necessary. Inservice professional development produces significantly higher gains than preservice teacher education only.
• Computer Technology: Computer-presented text, the use of hypertext, and the use of word processors are promising uses of technology. 

• Organizations and government bodies concerned with the education of young children must promote public understanding of early literacy development.
• Public authorities and education professionals must provide research-based guidelines for parents, pediatricians, and preschool professionals to use so that children who may struggle in learning to read are identified early and provided appropriate support.
• Early childhood environments must promote language and literacy growth: a) reading that stimulates verbal interactions and fosters language development and print awareness; b) word games and songs that emphasize rhyming and sound manipulation; c) activities that highlight the speech/print match; and d) integrated (not isolated) instruction and literacy interactions.
• Kindergarten instruction should focus on a) phonemic awareness and letter recognition; b) concepts about print; c) talk about books; and d) unaided writing.
• First grade instruction should focus on a) decoding strategies; b) independent reading; c) the growth of linguistic and conceptual knowledge; and d) unaided writing. Correct spelling of previously learned words should be expected in final drafts.
• Instruction for independent readers should focus on a) decoding strategies; b) fluency; c) comprehension strategies; and d) daily writing.
• Students with limited English proficiency should be taught to read in their native language. If this is not possible, instruction should focus on oral English proficiency before learning to read English.
• Children who struggle with learning to read despite high-quality classroom reading instruction need additional support from well-qualified reading specialists.
• In cases of schoolwide poor performance, school restructuring designs that focus on both organizational issues and coherent classroom reading instruction should be considered.
• Schools with greater numbers of struggling readers need extra resources to lower class size, support teacher preparation, make specialists available, and increase the quality and quantity of instructional materials and books.
• Volunteers can expand childrenís opportunities to read and provide motivation, but they should not be expected to provide instruction.
• Teachers need ongoing professional development in reading.
• Every school needs appropriate access to qualified specialists in reading, speech and language, and second-language learning.

• Identifying similarities and differences in a corpus of concepts or ideas -- compare-contrast, creating and exploring with and through analogies and metaphors.
• Paraphrasing and summarizing -- putting ideas in your own words; note taking; learning logs.
• Nonlinguistic representations of ideas -- re-representing information in ways other than language.
• Cooperative learning -- group learning, group discussions, group tasks;  learning from others, learning by teaching and explaining to others.
• Generating and testing hypotheses -- making and explaining predictions, inferences, higher-order thinking.
• Setting objectives -- giving the big picture before the learning takes place, going from whole to part rather than from part to whole; helping students be able to see the "forest from the trees," advanced organizers, building background, organizational webs.
• Interactive learning -- assimilation and accommodation, encouraging questions and giving feedback to refine thinking and understanding, feedback that explains to students what they are doing that is correct and what is not correct, student-directed feedback, teacher-led and student-led conferences, the Socratic method.
• Other effective strategies --  providing reinforcement and recognition for superior work and extraordinary effort; extending the learning experience beyond the school day and school year (practice, homework, intellectual engaging activities outside of school).

The most effective primary grade schools in increasing student achievement are distinguished by the following characteristics:
Time spent in reading instruction is maximized (on average 134 minutes per day).

• Teacher acts as coach during reading and word recognition instruction.  (see also Hogan, K., & Pressley, M. (Eds.) (1997).  Scaffolding student learning:  Instructional approaches and issue.   Cambridge, MA:  Brookline Books.
• Teachers use higher-level (inferential and critical) questions and activities during comprehension instruction. 
• Students write in response to what they read.