The Study
This "action paper, " the product of the Learning First Alliance, which is an organization of 12 leading national education associations, calls on "educators, policy makers, and others to adopt practices that are consistent with available research on how to teach reading effectively." Hannah Distinguished Professor P. David Pearson was among the reading experts who provided assistance to the publication.

The Findings
The action plan is exactly that. It sets out an action plan for reading from early childhood through the second grade and beyond. It makes clear, among other things, that the "foundation for reading success is formed long before a child reaches first grade," and that in the first grade "all children should be taught phonetic decoding strategies, although those who acquire reading easily can quickly move through this instruction. At the second grade, "children should be able to sound out short phonetically regular words, know many Œsight¹ words, and have good reading comprehension skills. Any child who cannot perform these skills needs immediate attention." Among the things the alliance stipulates that educators and policy makers should do include: basing educational decisions on evidence not ideology, promoting adoption of texts based on the evidence of what works, improving preservice education for elementary teachers, improving the quality of ongoing professional development on instructional strategies, and promoting whole-school adoption of effective methods. Among some of the recommendations are providing additional staff for tutoring and to reduce class-size, and administering diagnostic assessments regularly to kindergartners and first-graders. The action plan then outlines research-based standards and strategies for early reading. It also discuss issues related to older readers and speakers of languages other than English.

What It Means to You
Reading instruction is clearly a contentious issue, but there are ways to teaching reading effectively. Does your district follow some of the recommendations outlined by the Learning First Alliance? Do you have additional staff for tutoring students, and is your professional development ongoing and focused on instructional strategies?

More Information
You can receive a copy of Every Child Reading by contacting the Learning First Alliance at 1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 335, Washington, D.C. 20036. The entire publication is also on the alliance¹s Web site at www.learningfirst.org/publications.html.