Improving Reading and Literacy in Grades 1-5: A Resource Guide to Research-Based Programs That Work

"The analysis of programs presented is extremely thorough and complete. The comparisons are easy to follow due to the use of the same logical framework for each program."
Karen L. Tichy, Associate Superintendent for Instruction
Archdiocese of St. Louis

Early reading and literacy have become the focus of policymakers, with a renewed emphasis on the early grades. In this essential new resource, authors and educational specialists Edward P. St. John, Siri Ann Loescher, and Jeffrey S. Bardzell provide a unique guide to today's most important and most effective research-based reading programs. The book's in-depth coverage analyzes and compares features, frameworks, tools, methods, outcomes, and reform components for 17 major reading programs:

• Early Intervention in Reading
• Early Steps
• Reading Recovery
• First Steps
• Four Blocks
• Literacy Collaborative
• Waterford Early Reading Program
• Readers' and Writers' Workshops
• Teacher Inquiry
• Accelerated Schools Project
• ATLAS Communities
• Modern Red Schoolhouse
• Yale School Development Program
• America's Choice
• Different Ways of Knowing
• Lightspan Achieve Now
• Success for All

Improving Reading and Literacy in Grades 1-5 offers a balanced approach by the authors and can be used by elementary school principals, district curriculum directors, and all reading specialists charged with aligning their reading andliteracy instruction with new federal requirements and best instructional practices.

Edward P. St. John is professor of educational leadership at Indiana University and was director of the Indiana Education Policy Center. His research focuses on policy issues in K--16 education (1998--2002). At the Policy Center, he has directed several studies of the impact of early read-ing programs and comprehensive school reform. His other collaborative books on topics related to school reform include Accelerated Schools in Action (Corwin), Families in Schools (Heinemann), and Reinterpreting Urban School Reform (SUNY Press).

Siri Ann Loescher is an educational specialist and served as a policy analyst for the Indiana Educational Policy Center, and currently works as a consultant. She has an M.A. in administration and policy analysis from Stanford University where she completed advanced course work. She has worked as an alternative educator in an urban school district, and an instructor and teacher program coordinator with a Washington, DC, based experiential civics education pro-gram. She spent four years working for the National Center for the Accelerated Schools Project as a coach and liaison for special programs in an urban school district. She currently serves as a leader on the founding board of a proposed charter school to serve at-risk youth.

Jeffrey Bardzell, founder of Allecto Media, an eLearning consulting and development company, is a Ph.D. candi-date at Indiana University, where he also works as a trainer and multimedia instructional developer. He is also an eLearning Web developer, author, and instructor. Among his technical publications are Macromedia MX eLearning: Advanced Training From the Source and Special Edition Using Fireworks MX. Jeffrey honed hislearner- centered approach through seven years of teaching literature and composition. He has also worked for three years as a policy analyst for the Indiana Education Policy Center. His education and academic publications cover such topics as early literacy instruction, school finance reform, and epic poetry.