Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S1

Contents
Online Exclusives
S2 Teachers Turn to New Read-Aloud
S4 Alabama Coaches Up
Literacy Lessons
S8 Broadening the Push for
Grade-Level Reading
Strategies For Common-Core Era S10 Forget Word Lists: Vocabulary
Lessons Start With Context
S16 Should 3rd Grade Be Pivot
Point for Early Reading?
S20 Fluency Still Seen as
Neglected Skill
Listen to young fluent and nonfluent readers in
a reading program in the District of Columbia.
www.edweek.org/go/fluency
MULTIMEDIA
Take an interactive quiz to test
your knowledge of early reading
development.
www.edweek.org/go/reading-quiz
Watch a read-aloud lesson-and an explanation
of the process-at Ruby Duncan Elementary
School in Las Vegas.
www.edweek.org/go/reading-video
A Note From the Editors
GETTING AN EARLY START: Vada Mooney, left, and Jakhai Bland-Jenious play
literacy games on tablet computers at Pine Ridge Prep, a preschool in
Topeka, Kan., part of a free program for children in public housing. PAGE S9
Copyright © 2015 by Editorial Projects in Education Inc. All rights reserved. No part
of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the written permission of the
copyright holder.
Readers may make up to five print copies of this publication at no cost for personal,
noncommercial use, provided that each includes a full citation of the source. Visit
www.edweek.org/go/copies for information about additional print photocopies.
Early-grades reading instruction has
long been a central point of emphasis-and
concern-for educators and policymakers.
That's in large part owing to a provocative
body of research showing that students who
don't read with proficiency by the end of 3rd
grade are far more likely to experience poor
academic outcomes, including leaving school
without a diploma. Early-grades reading
skills, in other words, are often seen as a key
indicator of educational achievement.
By that standard, many U.S. schools have
struggled to give students adequate pathways.
On the 2013 National Assessment of
Educational Progress, or naep, only 35 percent
of 4th graders scored at or above "proficient"
in reading. The rate was considerably
lower for minority students-18 percent for
blacks and 20 percent for Hispanics. Meanwhile,
the average naep reading score for
4th graders has increased only minimally
over the past decade.
This Education Week special report takes
a wide-ranging look at new efforts to address
the challenges of early-grades reading
instruction, particularly in light of the waning
influence of the federal Reading First
program. While that initiative, launched
in 2002, drew praise for providing some $1
billion annually to expand reading instruction
and professional development and support
for teachers, it was criticized by many
teachers and reading experts for focusing
too narrowly on basic skills. A number of
the stories highlight the growing impact of
the Common Core State Standards, whose
early-grades reading expections often diverge
from previous instructional systems.
Scanning the changing landscape of literacy
instruction, the report explores new
thinking on time-honored practices such
as read-alouds, teaching vocabulary, and
developing reading fluency; details schoolcommunity
efforts to boost early-reading
skills; dives into recent research on the
potentially negative effects of focusing too
rigidly on 3rd graders' reading proficiency;
and looks at an Alabama professional-development
program that has shown promise
in boosting achievement across racial
categories, in part through a combination of
consistency and responsiveness to change.
-The Editors
PRESIDENT & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Virginia B. Edwards
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Gregory Chronister
EXECUTIVE PROJECT EDITOR
Debra Viadero
CONTRIBUTING PROJECT
EDITORS
Anthony Rebora
Karen Diegmueller
STAFF WRITERS
Catherine Gewertz
Liana Heitin
Stephen Sawchuk
Sarah D. Sparks
PROJECT LEAD
Sumita Bannerjee
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Charles Borst
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Laura Baker
ART DIRECTOR
Gina Tomko
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR
Vanessa Solis
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Swikar Patel
ONLINE NEWS EDITOR
Stacey Decker
SENIOR ONLINE PRODUCER
Alison Kitchens
MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER
Deanna Del Ciello
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION
Jo Arnone
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
COORDINATOR
Dana Gittings
ADVERTISING:
For information about print
and online advertising
in future special reports,
please contact Associate
Publisher Sean Herdman at
sherdman@epe.org or
(301) 280-3126.
COVER PHOTO: Kindergartners, left to right, Jaylen Rivers and Jalisha Lee, work with teacher Diane Daniel at Southside Primary School in Selma, Ala.
Photo by Julie Bennett for Education Week
Barrett Emke for Education Week
http://www.edweek.org/go/reading-quiz http://www.edweek.org/go/reading-video http://www.edweek.org/go/fluency http://www.edweek.org/go/copies

Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report

Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report
Contents
Teachers Turn to New Read-Aloud Strategies For Common-Core Era
Alabama Coaches Up Literacy Lessons
Broadening the Push for Grade-Level Reading
Forget Word Lists: Vocabulary Lessons Start With Context
Should 3rd Grade Be Pivot Point for Early Reading?
Fluency Still Seen as Neglected Skill
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - SCover2
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - Contents
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - Teachers Turn to New Read-Aloud Strategies For Common-Core Era
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S3
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - Alabama Coaches Up Literacy Lessons
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S5
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S6
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S7
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - Broadening the Push for Grade-Level Reading
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S9
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - Forget Word Lists: Vocabulary Lessons Start With Context
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S11
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S12
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S13
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S14
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S15
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - Should 3rd Grade Be Pivot Point for Early Reading?
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S17
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S18
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - S19
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - Fluency Still Seen as Neglected Skill
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - SCover3
Education Week - May 13, 2015 - Special Report - SCover4
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