Research

The “best practice” classroom that Janet created for her students stands on a substantial research base. These research citations are selections from the complete research bibliography available in the Teacher Guide of all levels of the program.

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Research Briefs

Teacher-Directed Instruction: The Core Text

Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs:
“Direct, explicit comprehension instruction … is instruction in the strategies and processes that proficient readers use to understand what they read, including summarizing, keeping track of one’s own understanding, and a host of other practices.”
From Reading Next—A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy: Report to the Carnegie Corporation of New York

Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Writing Instruction:
“Writing strategies … involve teaching students strategies for planning, revising, and editing their compositions.”
From Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High School: Report to the Carnegie Corporation of New York

Peer-Supported Learning: Power Strategy Groups

Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs:
“Text-based collaborative learning … involves students interacting with one another around a variety of texts.”
From Reading Next—A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy: Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York

Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs:
“Process writing … interweaves a number of writing instructional activities in a workshop environment that stresses extended writing opportunities, writing for authentic audiences, personalized instruction, and cycles of writing.”
From Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High School: Report to the Carnegie Corporation of New York

Self-Directed Learning: Independent Reading Texts

Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs
“Motivation and self-directed learning … includes building motivation to read and learn and providing students with the instruction and supports needed for independent-learning tasks they will face after graduation.”
From Reading Next—A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy: Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York

Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs:
“Specific product goals … assign students specific, reachable goals for the writing they are to complete.”
From Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High School: Report to the Carnegie Corporation of New York

Nonfiction Strategy Instruction

Allington, Richard L. 2000. What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.

Alvermann, D.E., and D.W. Moore. 1991. Secondary school reading. Handbook of Reading Research, eds. R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, P.B Mosenthal, and P.D. Pearson, 951-83, vol. II. New York: Longman.

Baker, Linda, and Ann L. Brown. 1984. Metacognitive skills and reading. Handbook of Reading Research, eds. David P. Pearson, 353-94. New York: Longman.

Beyer, B.K. 1987. Practical Strategies for the Teaching of Thinking. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

Chambers, Aidan. 1996. Tell Me: Children, Reading and Talk. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Clay, M.M. 1991. Becoming Literate: The Construction of Inner Control. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Krashen, S. 1994. An answer to the literacy crisis: Free voluntary reading. School Library Media Annual, 12, 113-22.

Lenz, B.K. 2002. The Strategic Instruction Model Approach to Improving Adolescent Literacy. Center for Research on Learning, University of Kansas.

Morrow, L.M. 2003. Motivating lifelong voluntary readers. Handbook of Research on Teaching the English Language Arts, 2nd ed., eds. J. Flood, D. Lapp, J.R. Squire, J.M. Jensen. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Nagy, William E. 1988. Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Tovani, Chris. 2000. I Read It, But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Zwiers, Jeff. 2004. Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6-12. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Content Area Reading, Writing, Literacy

Allington, R.L., and P. Cunningham. 1999. Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write, 2nd ed. New York, NY: Longman.

Alvermann, D.E., and S.F. Phelps. 1994. Content Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today’s Diverse Classrooms. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Ausuble, D. 1968. Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View. NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Horowitz, R. 1985. Text Patterns. Journal of Reading, 28: 448-454.

Krashen, Stephen. 1993. The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

Ruddell, Martha Rapp. 1997. Teaching Content Reading and Writing. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, p. 143.

Wiggins, G., and J. McTighe. 1998. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Winograd, P. 1984. Strategic difficulties in summarizing texts. Reading Research Quarterly, 19: 404-425.

Assessment

Allen, J. 2002. Test-smart language users:
Understanding the language of testing. Voices from the Middle, 10 (1): 56–57.

Clay, M.M. 1985. The Early Detection of Reading Difficulties. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Marzano, R.J. 2000. Transforming Classroom Grading. Alexandria, VA: Association Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Wiggins, G.P. 1993. Assessing Student Performance. New York: Jossey-Bass.

Writing-Reading Connections

Hillock, G., Jr. 1986. Research on Written Composition. Urbana, IL: National Conference on Research in English.

Hillocks, G., Jr. 1995. Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice. New York: Teachers College Press.

Kirby, Dan, Tom Liner, and Ruth Vinz. 1998. Inside Out: Developmental Strategies for Teaching Writing, 2nd ed. NH: Boynton Cook.

Kooy, M., and J. Wells. 1996. Reading Response Logs. Markham, Ontario: Pembroke Publishers.

Lee, M., and M. Miller. 2007. 40 Elaboration Activities That Take Writing from Bland to Brilliant. New York: Scholastic.

Sundem, G.M.M., and K. Pikiewicz. 2005. Writing in the Content Areas. Westminster: Teacher Created Resources.

Walters, J. 2006. 50 Book Report Ideas. Westminster: Teacher Created Resources, Inc.

Motivation

Alvermann, D.E. 2002. Effective literacy instruction for adolescents. Journal of Literacy Research, 34 (2), 189-208.

Apel, K., and L.K. Swank. 1999. Second chances: Improving decoding skills in the older student. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 30 (3), 231-42.

Board on Children, Youth, and Families. 2003. Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Motivation to Learn.

Guthrie, J.T., and N.M. Humenick. 2004. Motivating students to read: Evidence for classroom practices that increase reading motivation and achievement. The Voice of Evidence in Reading Research, eds. P. McCardle and V. Chhabra, 329-54.

Weiner, B. 1979. A theory of motivation for some classroom experiences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71 (1), 3-25.

Wigfield, A. 1997. Children’s reading motivations. NRRC News. College Park: University of Maryland, National Reading Research Center.