The Council Bluffs Community School District uses assessments and fidelity of implementation to design the best summer reading program, says Director Carly Gates in our Q&A.

A look at what sight words are, why they are important to reading effortlessly, and how to teach them.

Emily Crandall, Iowa Reading Research Center student assistant, reflects on how her job has provided valuable experience with literacy best practices and made her a better writer.

A continued look at teaching writing fluency through timed practice, focusing on giving students’ immediate and corrective feedback, and monitoring student progress toward writing goals.

Writing fluently allows students to focus their thinking on more complex writing aspects. Help students improve this important skill using timed practice.

Greene County Community School District Reading Specialist Julie Neal talks about the IRRC’s structured professional development modules in this Q&A.

Student journalism strengthens literacy skills by providing explicit writing instruction, prepares students for college, and helps them become engaged citizens.

A look at characteristics of student journalism that may motivate students to write and improve literacy skills through practice and instruction.

A federal program that provides funding to help ensure high-quality education for children from low-income families also positively affects literacy instruction.

Through helping students define their possible selves, show them how becoming an expert reader can help them achieve their life goals.

Effective implementation of a literacy initiative that includes interventions calls on teachers to do so as intended, with high fidelity.

Generating higher-order questions about text benefits students reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Model this skill for students and provide practice and feedback.

Teach students to classify questions about a text as higher-order or lower-order questions before generating their own questions.

Learn how these supports of increasing intensity work for literacy education and why they are relevant to special education.

Create an improvement plan and follow it to student success when implementing a literacy initiative.