Elaine McEwan has written "The Principal's Guide to Raising Achievement" with three goals in mind: 1) to convince school principals of the power that rests in them and their faculty to create a "school of readers"; 2) to introduce the most current research in reading instruction so principals and their faculty can make informed decisions; and 3) to shore the eight key components principals need to achieve their goals. The author explores some of the reasons why students can't read and suggests focusing only on those things that can be changed. Also summarized is the running debate between proponents of phonics and whole language, and reasons why reading instruction cannot be an "either-or" proposition. the book also described the eight key components that need to be in place to create a "school of readers," and sets forth the essential learnings that need to occur at each instructional level. Remedial reading and helping the at-risk and learning disabled child are also covered, as well as thirty-plus things you can do tomorrow to raise reading achievement in schools. There are many useful appendixes with practical information for immediate use. This book is for elementary school prinicpals, as well as anyone concerned with successfully teaching all children to read.
This text examines the many purposes of assessment in early literacy development. Issues in early literacy assessment, assessment material, the purposes of literacy assessment, government policy, practice in schools, baseline assessment of literacy, and the need for new research measures of early literacy are all recurrent themes in the book. The author reviews and discusses three decades of policy and practice in assessing literacy development in the years three to five - from recognizing in the late 1960s that literacy in these years exists, to proposals in 1997 for official assessment of literacy at five years. "Recognising Early Literacy Development" reviews and evaluates a large number of existing texts and assessment instruments, and some LEA baseline assessment documents. The author considers the theoretical, political and educational purposes of literacy assessment, and discusses assessment practices as found in an original survey of assessment practice in one LEA. She explores the need for a new approach to measurement for research, which is more attuned to assessment for teaching, and the importance of appropriate approaches to finding out what young children know about literacy. The book includes the Sheffield Early Literacy Development Profile.
Systems for the Observation of Teaching & Learning
The best way to pinpoint what works and doesn't work in reading instruction is classroom observation - and this text aims to help educational stakeholders choose from available observation systems or design their own system. Each of the nine field-tested systems discussed has a different focus, such as assessing the effectiveness of early reading ......
Formerly a SkyLight publication. 25 Simple Things to Do for Literacy is culled from the book More than 100 Tools for Literacy in Today's Classroom. In addition to simple tasks to stimulate students' thinking and to help them become better readers and writers, each activity includes background information and instructions for conducting the activity. This ready-to-use guide is packed with strategies for improving comprehension of fictional and non-fictional texts.
"Literacy is a right and not a privilege: a right that has been denied to an extraordinary number of citizens." Guided by this belief, the authors of the twenty-nine essays in The Right to Literacy discuss what literacy is, what keeps people from attaining it, and how we can help them attain it. The essays in this volume were originally presented ......
