Tools for Quality Practice: 
Reading

Background: 

Teachers and library media specialists share responsibility for reading and literacy instruction and collaboratively plan activities, which offer an integrated approach to learning, based on the needs of the student. Teachers, students, and the school community as a whole must also have access to the print and electronic resources of a professionally staffed school library media center.

“…I will offer candidates for the… (other) five pillars of effective and evidence-based reading instruction. My five have been influenced by what I’ve observed as common limitations in many instructional plans I’ve observed in the past year, especially in schools mandating the principles of scientific reading instruction”:

• Classroom organization

• Matching pupils and texts

• Access to interesting texts, choice, and collaboration

• Writing and reading

• Expert tutoring

(From the article “The Other Five “Pillars” of Reading Instruction” by Richard Allington (Reading Today, June/July, 2005). The complete article can be found at http://www.reading.org/publications/reading_today/samples/RTY-0506-pillars.html )

Kansas Learning First Alliance (KLFA) is committed to the improvement of student achievement in reading. To this end, it is critical that teachers of reading are well versed in a variety of instructional methods and continue to build their repertoire so that they are able to modify methods when needed for individual students.

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