Reading Instruction That Works: The Case for Balanced Teaching

Now in a revised and expanded third edition, this widely adopted text provides a comprehensive guide to effective literacy instruction in the elementary grades. Distinguished scholar and educator Michael Pressley presents research-based, classroom-tested best practices for combining skills-based and whole-language approaches in the context of a highly motivating environment. Updated throughout with the latest data, the book explains the theoretical underpinnings of recommended strategies and techniques and shows how exemplary teachers actually put them into practice. Three all-new chapters provide state-of-the-science coverage of fluency, vocabulary, and writing.

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Pressley (Catholic education, psychology, U. of Notre Dame) presents the second edition of this text for reading educators and specialists, staff developers and in-service professionals who focus on reading, teacher educators, graduate students, policymakers and parents concerned with elementary school reading instruction. The new edition incorporates material from the wealth of literacy research completed since the publication of the first edition in 1998. The revised text includes new material on phonemic awareness, comprehension problems, decoding and comprehension, vocabulary instruction, development of word knowledge, the use of many motivational mechanisms in the classroom, and the place of Reading Recovery instructional techniques within balanced instruction. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michael Pressley, PhD, who passed away in May 2006, was University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, as well as Director of the Doctoral Program in Teacher Education and Director of the Literacy Achievement Research Center, with both roles part of his professorship in the Department of Teacher Education and the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education. He was an expert on effective elementary literacy instruction, with his research appearing in more than 300 journal articles, chapters, and books. Dr. Pressley served a 6-year term as editor of Journal of Educational Psychology. He was honored with awards from the National Reading Conference, the International Reading Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the American Psychological Association, among others. Dr. Pressley received the 2004 E. L. Thorndike Award from Division 15 of the American Psychological Association, the highest award given for career research accomplishment in educational psychology.