Resource Library

A major goal of education reform is to incorporate the findings from clear, consistent, and convincing scientific research into the day-to-day operations of schools to help create a culture of evidence-based practices to promote high-quality instruction and, as a result, improved student outcomes. From 20 meta-analyses or qualitative research syntheses, a list of 36 writing instruction and assessment practices organized into 10 different essential component categories emerged and are described in this guide.

This comprehensive study identified interventions that improved students’ performance in six language and literacy domains— language, phonological awareness, print knowledge, decoding, early writing, and general literacy. 

This tool was developed to assist school leaders in observing specific research-based practices during literacy instruction in grade 4–12 classrooms and students’ independent use or application of those practices. The tool aims to help school leaders conduct brief and frequent walkthroughs throughout the school year.

First Book in collaboration Dr. Susan Neuman, an early childhood literacy expert and researcher, surveyed more than 1,000 educators, most of whom work in Title I classrooms. Survey results were used in developing metrics to define literacy rich environment in order to answer the question: What does a literacy rich environment look like? The resulting tool, the Literacy Rich Classroom Library Checklist, is designed to guide the development and evaluation of classroom libraries, identifying strengths and areas for improvement.

“Learning to read can, at times, seem almost magical,” Blevins begins this brief on phonics instruction. “But it’s not magical.” In this brief, the author provides a clear description of what phonics is and why it matters. Although phonics can be taught in different ways, research supports instruction that is explicit and systematic. In addition to being explicit and systematic, strong phonics instruction has the following seven key characteristics: readiness skills, scope and sequence, blending, dictation, word awareness, high-frequency words, and reading connected text.

Research has shown that students can be taught to comprehend the material better while they are reading. Successful instruction of this type has usually focused on the teaching of comprehension strategies — that is, intentional actions students can use during reading to guide their thinking. Such strategies improve both understanding and memory. Some strategies that have been successfully taught include summarization, questioning, story maps, comprehension monitoring, and graphic organizers; however, the teaching of the combined use of multiple strategies has been most effective in improving reading. Strategy teaching is most effective when it takes a gradual release-of-responsibility approach in which the teacher models the strategy use (“I do it”), guides students to use it successfully within reading (“We do it”), and then assigns independent practice with the strategy (“You do it”). Reading comprehension instruction needs to take place in both narrative and expository text.

This tool kit can help U.S. educators and others who work directly with immigrant students — including asylees and refugees — and their families. It is designed to help elementary and secondary teachers, principals, and other school staff strengthen opportunities for cultural and linguistic integration and education; understand the basics about their legal obligations to newcomers; provide welcoming schools and classrooms for students and their families; provide the academic support to attain English language proficiency and to meet college- and career-readiness standards; and support newcomers’ social-emotional skills.

This toolkit includes background information on reaching out to Hispanic parents, four sample workshops, videos in Spanish and English, booklists, and bilingual handouts. Additions to the toolkit include a new parent workshop on helping children become successful readers and 200 children’s book titles geared towards Latino families.