This succinct, engaging book explains how busy elementary school principals can support effective literacy instruction in their schools. Chapters outline the fundamental components of a successful literacy program and describe specific practices that can instill a culture of literacy in a school. Strategies are provided for initiating a professional development program, understanding and using appropriate assessments with students, involving parents in literacy education, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of teachers’ instructional methods. Drawing from the authors' extensive experience as principals and teachers, the book’s numerous examples demonstrate what strong literacy leadership looks like in action. Helpful reproducibles are included.

What are the principles that every elementary teacher must learn in order to plan and adapt successful literacy instruction? This concise course text and practitioner resource brings together leading experts to explain the guiding ideas that underlie effective instructional practice. Each chapter reviews one or more key principles and highlights ways to apply them flexibly in diverse classrooms and across grade levels and content areas. Chapters cover core instructional topics (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension); high-quality learning environments; major issues such as assessment, differentiation, explicit instruction, equity, and culturally relevant pedagogy; and the importance of teachers’ reflective practice and lifelong learning.

Practical and rich in resources, this book provides a roadmap to monitoring, evaluating, and implementing effective literacy instruction in grades PK-12. Designed for district and school leaders as well as literacy coaches and consultants, this book contains all the strategies, guidance, and tools you’ll need to monitor the effectiveness of literacy instruction in your school or system. Top literacy experts Angela Peery and Tracey Shiel share concise, well-researched information about how to identify enriched literacy environments, what constitutes well-designed literacy lessons, and the components of effective literacy programs at each grade level. Chapters cover reading, writing, speaking and listening, as well as collaboration, technology, and more, and offer adaptable strategies for different environments. Tools such as checklists and conversation frames are included to help busy leaders and administrators effectively monitor literacy instruction and provide constructive, thorough feedback to teachers. Each chapter features: Check-Up Tools to review documents and observe instruction Check-In Tools to guide your conversations and feedback given to teachers Reflective Questions for system and school leaders and instructional coaches.

Classroom teachers discuss connections made between teaching and children's use of reading and writing in learning.

Make formative assessment work for you—and your math students! Finally, formative assessment that adds up! Bringing Math Students Into the Formative Assessment Equation is the ultimate resource for helping teachers implement formative assessment in the middle school mathematics classroom. And it’s much more than that. With this research-based, teacher-tested guide, you won’t just learn effective teaching strategies—you’ll turn your students into self-regulated learners. They’ll monitor and assess their own progress—and communicate to you about it! Features include: A clear and manageable six-aspect instructional model Detailed strategies for helping students own their successes Real-life examples from middle school mathematics teachers Useful resources and a companion website to help you implement formative assessment in your classroom Formative assessment isn’t just for teachers anymore. With the help of this essential resource, you’ll work together with your students toward a common goal of math success. "This book is outstanding. I would recommend it to any math educator. The depth of research integrated into practice is extensive and, as a result, it is the most practical book I have come across related to formative assessment and mathematics The self-regulation aspects, as well as the ownership and involvement emphasized in the book, went beyond the traditional cognitive strategies endorsed in most books." Marc Simmons, Principal Ilwaco Middle School, Ocean Beach School District, Long Beach, WA "The ideas in this book are brought to life with examples of teachers and students in the classroom. The teacher voices, comments, and quotes lend credibility and are a big component of the book’s strengths as well as the visuals and graphics." Rita Tellez, Math Coordinator Ysleta Independent School District, El Paso, TX

Accessible and teacher friendly, this book provides a blueprint for planning, delivering, and evaluating small-group interventions for struggling readers in PreK-2. It describes how to set up an efficient response-to-intervention (RTI) system that enhances any reading program already in place in a classroom, and that is fully compatible with the Common Core State Standards. Presented are dozens of easy-to-implement Tier 2 intervention activities in the areas of letter learning, decoding, and fluency, complete with reproducible goal-setting sheets and fidelity checklists. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

"The second edition of Elaine McEwan′s book is a user-friendly guide that integrates research into practice. It carefully explains the research behind reading development and provides truly clear, no-nonsense steps to implement the best practices of instruction. McEwan does not sugar-coat how difficult teaching reading can be, but she provides powerful methods for achieving it." —Jennifer Sandberg, Curriculum/Reading Coordinator Sutherland Public School, NE Provide effective reading instruction for every student in your classroom and schoolwide! To successfully teach reading, teachers have to first believe that all children can learn to read—and then they have to turn that belief into a reality. In this thoroughly updated and revised version of her best-selling book, Elaine K. McEwan guides educators through the challenging but crucial work of teaching every child how to read. Written for all teachers as well as administrators, this resource covers strategies for nine essential components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, fluency, developing a reading culture, providing opportunities to read, writing, word knowledge, and comprehension. This second edition features: The most up-to-date research in reading instruction Effective instructional practices and strategies Brief vignettes and graphic organizers that illustrate and summarize key concepts A comprehensive case study of one district′s remarkable success This resource reveals precisely how educators in successful schools are teaching students to read—and how all educators can achieve the same results in their schools!