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THIS ISSUE: High
Quality Reading Instruction
Dear
Arizona Promising Practices Subscriber, Welcome
to another online addition of the Arizona Promising Practices forum.
For those new to this service, you will receive periodic updates
focusing on: (1)
Recommended National Education websites; and (2) One
promising practice article in condensed form. We welcome your
recommendations for improvement to this forum or suggestions on
future topics (these will be wide ranging so if nothing in this
update interests you, hold on for future editions!) The
Arizona Promising Practices Forum and website, www.azpromisingpractices.com
is a FREE resource of the Arizona Department of Education. In
this issue of the Promising Practices Forum we have been asked to
provide a quick reference that educators may give to parents or
those who work with young children on the importance of reading
early. This practical guide may be shared as a reminder of the
importance of written and spoken language at an early age. National
Website of Importance: Mid-year
educational recruitment season is fast approaching so we
remind all job seekers to check out the Arizona Educational
Employment Board (www.arizonaeducationjobs.com).
This one stop recruitment resource provides listings of jobs across
Arizona as well as an online
application in which to apply. Promising Practice Research and Tips High-Quality
Classroom Instruction Research
has demonstrated that most reading problems can be prevented by
providing high-quality classroom reading instruction in the early
grades, along with supplemental intervention for students who need
it. Classroom Reading Instruction
That Supports Struggling Readers
The
Power of Instruction
A central
theme of this body of reading research is that quality reading
instruction is powerful! In fact, brain imaging research has
demonstrated that the way the brain processes information is
different in typically developing readers than in those at risk for
or experiencing reading difficulties, but that these processing
patterns in the brains of struggling readers—even those with
severe dyslexia—can actually change in a period of a few weeks
when they are provided with concentrated, powerful reading
instruction. Quality
Classroom Reading Instruction
Providing
quality classroom reading instruction with certain
research-validated characteristics can make a big difference for
struggling readers. For example, Foorman, Francis, Fletcher,
Schatschneider, and Mehta (1998) found that when provided with a
quality reading program that included explicit, systematic
instruction in the alphabetic principle (how print represents the
sounds of language) within a print-rich classroom environment, 75%
of the 1st graders who were in the bottom 20% of their classes in
reading could learn to read words in the average range without
additional intervention. This is important, because the most
prominent characteristic of students with dyslexia is the inability
to accurately read words (see Lyon, 1995). What does this powerful classroom instruction look like? Teach
essential skills and strategies.
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