Teaching a word through explicit vocabulary instruction involves multiple steps to ensure deeper student understanding of essential words and increased reading comprehension.

Explicit vocabulary instruction should involve thoughtful selection of which words will be taught to ensure word learning is targeted and effective.

Small-group, skills-based literacy instruction is at the forefront of goal setting, feedback given to teachers, professional development, and measuring of success for the Sioux City Community School District as described in our second of a two-part blog post series.

The addition of quality teaching materials and support from the Iowa Reading Research Center led to common beneficial practices used by teachers across schools during implementation of small-group, skills-based literacy instruction at Sioux City Community School District.

Teaching students to identify the type of question asked about a text using the Question-Answer Relationship strategy helps them formulate answers more easily.

Positive, student-focused messaging about a literacy initiative delivered to potential audiences via various mediums can gain support for the initiative from important stakeholders.

A lack of comprehension and media literacy skills can lead a student to mistakenly use false information found on the web at school. Learn more about the problem and counteracting it with instruction and modeling.

Marketing and communications plans allow school systems to gain support needed for a successful literacy initiative. We discuss identifying potential audiences for such efforts.

When parents engage in meaningful oral conversations with children in the home, it can have a positive impact on their vocabulary skills and overall reading ability. Our tips can help foster more of these conversations.

Make summer reading fun and fulfilling for the children in your family and help them maintain their reading skills with these seasonal approaches to reading.

With what level of confidence can you say a given literacy instructional practice may work to help students in your school or district learn to read? It all depends on the available research and evidence for that practice.

Address a literacy challenge by setting a SMART goal, establishing benchmarks in the journey toward that goal, tracking the entire process using progress monitoring, and modifying instruction when progress monitoring suggests you should.

We examine the misunderstanding that over the summer, some students are losing months-worth of what they learned about reading during the school year.

Sentence expanding helps students write strong, clear, and detailed sentences. Teach students this writing technique through explicit instruction.

By conducting a root cause analysis, schools and districts can identify the fundamental reasons for a literacy challenge. Learn the three types of root causes and how to verify you have actually identified the root causes.