Every Child Reading: A Professional Development Guide

A Companion to Every Child Reading: An Action Plan

November 2000

Appendix A

Professional Development Research Sources

Research sources that teachers may find valuable as part of an ongoing program of reading professional development include the following: American Federation of Teachers. (1995, Summer). American Educator, 19(2).

American Federation of Teachers. (1998, Spring/Summer). American Educator, 22(1).

Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (1999). Ready reference for reading excellence: A research collection. Ann Arbor, MI: Author.

International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Newark, DE and Washington, DC: Authors.

Kamil, M., Mosenthal, P., Pearson, P. D. & Barr, R. (Eds.) (2000). Handbook of reading research: Vol. 3. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Learning First Alliance (1998). Every child reading: An action plan. Washington, DC: Author.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health.

Reading Initiative Center of the Sacramento County Office of Education. (1999). Read all about it: Readings to inform the profession. Sacramento, CA: California State Board of Education.

Snow, C., Burns, S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

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Appendix B

Accomplishments in Reading During the Early School Years

This list of reading accomplishments was developed by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences for their 1998 publication, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. As such, they represent the current consensus among leading research scientists on the normal course of literacy development in young children. Although the timing of these accomplishments will vary depending on the individual child, understanding these benchmarks and how to help children achieve them is central to designing an effective program of professional development for the teaching of early reading.

Kindergarten Accomplishments

Knows the parts of a book and their functions.
Begins to track print when listening to a familiar text being read or when rereading own writing.
"Reads" familiar texts emergently, i.e., not necessarily verbatim from the print alone.
Recognizes and can name all uppercase and lowercase letters.
Understands that the sequence of letters in a written word represents the sequence of sounds (phonemes) in a spoken word (alphabetic principle).
Learns many, though not all, one-to-one letter-sound correspondences.
Recognizes some words by sight, including a few very common ones ("a," "the," "I," "my," "you," "is," "are").
Uses new vocabulary and grammatical constructions in own speech.
Makes appropriate switches from oral to written language styles.
Notices when simple sentences fail to make sense.
Connects information and events in texts to life and life experiences to text.
Retells, re-enacts, or dramatizes stories or parts of stories.
Listens attentively to books teacher reads to class.
Can name some book titles and authors.
Demonstrates familiarity with a number of types or genres of text _(e.g., storybooks, expository texts, poems, newspapers, and everyday _print such as signs, notices, labels).
Correctly answers questions about stories read aloud.
Makes predictions based on illustrations or portions of stories.
Demonstrates understanding that spoken words consist of sequences _of phonemes.
Given spoken sets like "dan, dan, den," can identify the first two as being the same and the third as different.
Given spoken sets like "dak, pat, zen," can identify the first two as sharing a same sound.
Given spoken segments, can merge them into a meaningful target word.
Given a spoken word, can produce another word that rhymes with it.
Independently writes many uppercase and lowercase letters.
Uses phonemic awareness and letter knowledge to spell independently (invented or creative spelling).
Writes (unconventionally) to express own meaning.
Builds a repertoire of some conventionally spelled words.
Shows awareness of distinction between "kid writing" and conventional orthography.
Writes own name (first and last) and the first names of some friends or classmates.
Can write most letters and some words when they are dictated.

1st Grade Accomplishments

Makes a transition from emergent to "real" reading.
Reads aloud with accuracy and comprehension any text that is appropriately designed for the first half of grade 1.
Accurately decodes orthographically regular, one-syllable words and nonsense words (e.g., "sit," "zot"), using print-sound mappings to sound out unknown words.
Uses letter-sound correspondence knowledge to sound out unknown words when reading text.
Recognizes common, irregularly spelled words by sight ("have," "said," "where," "two").
Has a reading vocabulary of 300 to 500 sight words and easily sounded-out words.
Monitors own reading and self-corrects when an incorrectly identified word does not fit with cues provided by the letters in the word or the context surrounding the word.
Reads and comprehends both fiction and nonfiction that are appropriately designed for the grade level.
Shows evidence of expanding language repertoire, including increasing appropriate use of standard, more formal language.
Creates own written texts for others to read.
Notices when difficulties are encountered in understanding text.
Reads and understands simple written instructions.
Predicts and justifies what will happen next in stories.
Discusses prior knowledge of topics in expository texts.
Uses how, why, and what-if questions to discuss nonfiction texts.
Describes new information gained from texts in own words.
Distinguishes whether simple sentences are incomplete or fail to make sense; notices when simple texts fail to make sense.
Can answer simple written comprehension questions based on the material read.
Can count the number of syllables in a word.
Can blend or segment the phonemes of most one-syllable words.
Spells correctly three- and four-letter short-vowel words.
Composes fairly readable first drafts using appropriate parts of the writing process (some attention to planning, drafting, rereading for meaning, and some self-correction).
Uses invented spelling or phonics-based knowledge to spell independently, when necessary.
Shows spelling consciousness or sensitivity to conventional spelling.
Uses basic punctuation and capitalization.
Produces a variety of types of compositions (e.g., stories, descriptions, journal entries) showing appropriate relationships between printed text, illustrations, and other graphics.
Engages in a variety of literary activities voluntarily (e.g., choosing books and stories to read, writing a note to a friend).

2nd Grade Accomplishments

Reads and comprehends both fiction and nonfiction that are appropriately designed for grade level.
Accurately decodes orthographically regular, multisyllable words and nonsense words (e.g., capital, Kalamazoo).
Uses knowledge of print-sound mappings to sound out unknown words.
Accurately reads many irregularly spelled words and such spelling patterns as diphthongs, special vowel spellings, and common word endings.
Reads aloud with fluency and comprehension any text that is appropriately designed for grade level.
Shows evidence of expanding language repertory, including increasing use of more formal language registers.
Reads voluntarily for interest and own purposes.
Rereads sentences when meaning is not clear.
Interprets information from diagrams, charts, and graphs.
Recalls facts and details of texts.
Reads nonfiction materials for answers to specific questions or for specific purposes.
Takes part in creative responses to texts such as dramatizations, oral presentations, fantasy play, etc.
Discusses similarities in characters and events across stories.
Connects and compares information across nonfiction selections.
Poses possible answers to how, why, and what-if questions.
Correctly spells previously studied words and spelling patterns in own writing.
Represents the complete sound of a word when spelling independently.
Shows sensitivity to using formal language patterns in place of oral language patterns at appropriate spots in own writing (e.g., de-contextualizing sentences, conventions for quoted speech, literary language forms, proper verb forms).
Makes reasonable judgments about what to include in written products.
Productively discusses ways to clarify and refine own writing and that of others.
With assistance, adds use of conferencing, revision, and editing processes to clarify and refine own writing to the steps of the expected parts of the writing process.
Given organizational help, writes informative, well-structured reports.
Attends to spelling, mechanics, and presentation for final products.
Produces a variety of types of compositions (e.g., stories, reports, correspondence).

3rd Grade Accomplishments

Reads aloud with fluency and comprehension any text that is appropriately designed for grade level.
Uses letter-sound correspondence knowledge and structural analysis _to decode words.
Reads and comprehends both fiction and nonfiction that are appropriately designed for grade level.
Reads longer fictional selections and chapter books independently.
Takes part in creative responses to texts such as dramatizations, oral presentations, fantasy play, etc.
Can point to or clearly identify specific words or wordings that are causing comprehension difficulties.
Summarizes major points from fiction and nonfiction texts.
In interpreting fiction, discusses underlying theme or message.
Asks how, why, and what-if questions in interpreting nonfiction texts.
In interpreting nonfiction, distinguishes cause and effect, fact and opinion, main idea, and supporting details.
Uses information and reasoning to examine bases of hypotheses and opinions.
Infers word meaning from taught roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
Correctly spells previously studied words and spelling patterns in _own writing.
Begins to incorporate literacy words and language patterns in own writing (e.g., elaborates descriptions; uses figurative wording).
With some guidance, uses all aspects of the writing process in producing own compositions and reports.
Combines information from multiple sources in writing reports.
With assistance, suggests and implements editing and revision to clarify and refine own writing.
Presents and discusses own writing with other students and responds helpfully to other students' compositions.
Independently reviews work for spelling, mechanics, and presentation.
Produces a variety of written works (e.g., literature responses, reports, "published" books, semantic maps) in a variety of formats, including multimedia forms.

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The Learning First Alliance

The Learning First Alliance is a permanent partnership of 12 leading educational associations that have come together to improve student learning in America's public elementary and secondary schools. Members of the Alliance represent more than 10 million Americans engaged in providing, governing, and improving public education.

Our nation's public schools are the key to our future. They are an essential vehicle for ensuring that young people enter adulthood with the knowledge, skills, and moral character to be productive members of our diverse and democratic society.

The Alliance is an unprecedented, self-initiated commitment to develop and deliver a common message to all parts of the education system, align priorities, share and disseminate success stories, encourage collaboration at every level, and work toward the continual and long-term improvement of public education based on solid research.

The Learning First Alliance works with and through its member organizations to achieve the following three goals. We commit our 12 organizations to these interrelated goals, which are central to our mission of improving student learning in America's public elementary and secondary schools.

First, the Alliance works to ensure that high academic expectations are held for all students.

States and school districts should have high academic standards for their core subjects. These standards should lay out clearly and specifically what students should know and be able to do by the end of each grade level, sequence of grade levels, or other specific checkpoints. This specificity will ensure that educators, students, parents, policymakers, school board members, and the public all share an understanding of, and commitment to, what is expected of students. The standards of local school districts should be consistent with those set by states, but need not be limited to them.

To provide all students the opportunity to achieve these standards, policies, curriculum, instruction, materials, facilities, technologies, educator preparation, continuing professional development, assessment, school structures, and delivery systems must be in alignment. Students who need extra help should receive timely and intensive interventions, and students should not be promoted to higher levels of schooling without meeting the standards. Student assessments should enhance learning and enable all stakeholders to know whether students are meeting the standards.

Educators must be prepared in the specific subjects they teach. In addition, teachers and other school personnel should be equipped to make judgments about the extent to which students are meeting the standards, diagnose student needs, and provide particular interventions so that all students may succeed.

Second, the Alliance works to ensure a safe and supportive place of learning for all students.

Schools should be fair, caring, and effective learning communities that are free from intimidation or fear. All students should be able to attend schools in which they are known and valued, their overall progress is monitored and supported by at least one adult, they are provided clear and rigorous expectations of behavior and academic performance, and they feel connected to their school community. Individual schools and school districts should address the ways that students learn best and accommodate children with special needs. Moreover, appropriate and rigorous alternative placements should be available to address the needs of students whose behavior is disruptive to the education of other students.

All adults within schools should work together to create safe and supportive learning communities by modeling behaviors that demonstrate the highest levels of respect, responsibility, character, and civility. Further, school districts and individuals should adopt and enforce clear codes of conduct for all students so that school personnel, students, and parents will share an understanding of the behavior that is expected of students and the consequences for not meeting those expectations. Teachers and other school personnel should receive training in the knowledge and skills necessary to create safe and supportive learning environments, including effective classroom management practices.

In addition, teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members, and other school leaders should put in place policies that reflect the best research on creating safe and supportive learning environments. Finally, all those involved with the delivery of public education should become advocates on behalf of youth to promote safe, healthy, orderly, and supportive communities beyond the walls of the school.

Third, the Alliance works to engage parents and other community members in helping students achieve high academic expectations.

States and local school districts should maximize the ways that parents and community members can participate in schools. For example, community members and parents should participate in the development of standards, programs, and assessments that affect students' academic performance. Families should be encouraged to participate in all facets of the child's education. Public schools should develop partnerships with businesses, civic organizations, and other community groups to promote adult participation in children's education and to maximize the resources available to support learning. Teachers and other school personnel should be trained in effective practices that support parenting and parent involvement.

The Alliance believes that communities should hold schools accountable for the achievement of these three goals. To achieve these goals, the Alliance is committed to working with local and state members to organize collaborative action at the state and local levels, providing concrete and useful tools for educators, and articulating to the education community and to policymakers important new developments in the improvement of the American education enterprise.

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