# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teach Like a Champion Technique 30 - Tight Transitions

# data[].attributes.headline
Accessibility for ALL Students: Educator, Related Service Provider and School Personnel Network (2024-2025)

# data[].attributes.subject
Accessibility for ALL Students: Educator, Related Service Provider and School Personnel Network (2024-2025)

# data[].attributes.body
Olivia Siegfried

•2d

Accessibility for ALL Students: Educator, Related Service Provider and School Personnel Network (2024-2025)

# data[].attributes.headline
Explicit Instruction Anita Archer summary

# data[].attributes.subject
Explicit Instruction Anita Archer summary

# data[].attributes.headline
Literacy Access for All Students - The Teaching Diverse Learners Center @ OCALI

# data[].attributes.subject
Literacy Access for All Students - The Teaching Diverse Learners Center @ OCALI

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Trunk Work: Strong Systems, Structures, and Supports

As a collective state-wide group of education professionals, we are all responsible when it comes to meeting the needs of diverse and complex learners. Integrating supports that represent ALL learners, across all levels of the state-system, is a daunting task. This means we will have to work collaboratively across licensure areas, offices, and other silos of practice to ensure that ALL learners receive the expertise we each individually bring to the field. As a collaborative group, we will need to rely on strong guidelines and processes to planfully connect supports and implement to improve learner outcomes. Some examples of these structures within our system include academic learning standards, the assess, plan, teach cycle - Ohio Improvement Process (OIP), Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS), etc.

Some examples of content targeting this "trunk work" can be found in:

Chapter 2: Designing Rich Tier I Instruction and Assessment: Overview

Chapter 2: Sorting and Clustering Standards for Instruction: Integrated Units

Chapter 4: Language and Communication Access: ALL In!

Chapter 10: Curriculum Screening, Audit, Selection, and Deselection

# data[].attributes.headline
The Right to Read Film (free on Youtube) 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Right to Read Film (free on Youtube) 

# data[].attributes.body
This is a must see featuring Kareem Weaver

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this special Reading Rockets video series, reading expert Linda Farrell works one-on-one with students in grades K-3 to help ensure that they master the skills they need to become proficient readers.

# data[].attributes.body
Teaching Diverse Learner's Center @ OCALI

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How-To Tips and Strategies Videos | Literacy Access for All

# data[].attributes.headline
Our Dyslexic Children Film - Parents for Reading Justice

# data[].attributes.subject
Our Dyslexic Children Film - Parents for Reading Justice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Our Dyslexic Children - 2020 - Full Film

# data[].attributes.headline
National Center on Intensive Intervention

# data[].attributes.subject
National Center on Intensive Intervention

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
NCII provides a series of reading lessons to support special education instructors, reading interventionists, and others working with students who struggle with reading. These lessons, adapted with permission from the Florida Center for Reading Research and Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, address key reading and prereading skills and incorporate research-based instructional principles that can help intensify and individualize reading instruction. The reading lessons are examples of brief instructional routines that may be used to supplement reading interventions, programs, or curricula that are currently in place. These lessons are designed to illustrate concepts and supplement, not supplant, reading instruction and interventions for struggling readers. They do not represent an exhaustive reading curriculum. It is expected that teachers would customize these lessons to meet the needs of their target students.

The NCII reading lessons are organized around the five components of reading identified by the National Reading Panel (2000): phonemic awareness, alphabetic principal or phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Intervention programs for struggling readers may focus on just one or a few of these components, or may include all five components.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reading & Literacy Lessons: Instructional Strategies | NCII

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A series of reading lessons to support special education instructors, reading interventionists, and others working with students who struggle with reading.

# data[].attributes.headline
Changing Emphasis of Big Ideas in teaching reading

# data[].attributes.subject
Changing Emphasis of Big Ideas in teaching reading

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Though Balanced Literacy was wrong about some important things, it has practices worth saving. And understanding the good in that approach to teaching literacy can help us transition to more effective instruction.

Seeing the Good

Balanced Literacy taught us the...

Importance of a print-rich classroom

Love of reading aloud to children

Value of students seeing us write

Pride in having an extensive classroom library

Power of a mini-lesson

Utility of great anchor charts

Procedures to teach students how to behave as readers and writers

Events that bring joy and accountability (author's chair, publishing parties, partner shares, etc.)

Ways to set up centers so that we can teach in small groups

Methods for introducing and organizing reading and writing materials

Routines to reinforce skills (Morning Message, Shared Reading, Interactive Writing, etc.)

Impact of school leadership when it focuses on literacy

Benefits of participating in a warm and responsive professional learning community

And so many other lessons worth remembering

And as we strategically abandon problematic practice (such as the MSV analysis of reading records), we'll want to thoughtfully retain some components (like listening to children read aloud).

Moving towards evidence-based instruction does not mean leaving behind the things that work; it means learning more about which practices work for whom, and why. It means intentionally excising the parts that stymie student growth ( like leveled books) even if we've used them for years. And it means learning new methods to shrink the achievement gap so we ensure that all students become skilled readers and writers.

Hesitating

I once worried that transitioning away from Balanced Literacy would fundamentally change me as a teacher. I couldn't envision how I'd deliver direct instruction while maintaining a warm tone and inviting classroom environment.

A shift in pedagogy was scary. I'd spent a decade of my career refining a constructivist approach to teaching; would my classroom lose its vibrancy?

Would it begin to look like this:

Moving On

I worried that changing my role would impact the relationships I formed with students. I was afraid that by teaching more content explicitly, I'd stifle their love of learning. That didn't happen. In fact, a student summed things up beautifully during our weekly appreciations:

"I want to congratulate [my teachers] for teaching me all the things to know because it will make me smart and do good in life." -2nd grader

I asked, "Do you think teachers teach you everything there is to know?"

And he replied, "No. But you teach the stuff that's important and how to ask questions so that we could learn the other stuff."

As the class nodded in agreement, I realized I had been wrong to fear dictating the texts they read, deciding how they practiced their skills, or selecting the topics we studied. My students (and their families) wanted me to ensure they were well-prepared for future learning, and they needed me to teach. In Balanced Literacy, I had often allowed children to determine the rigor of their education, and what a missed opportunity that had been!

Since I've shifted away from Balanced Literacy, many of its selling points (like student choice) have lost their allure because I can see how they exacerbate the achievement gap. Despite its promises and prevalence, Balanced Literacy is, according to reading experts:

"... unlikely to lead to literacy success for all of America's public schoolchildren, given the research... Children who arrive at school already reading or primed to read, researchers agreed, may integrate seamlessly into the routines of the Units of Study model and maintain a successful reading trajectory. However, children who need additional practice opportunities in a specific area of reading or language development likely would not." Comparing Reading Research to Program Design: An Examination of Teachers College Units of Study

Looking Forward

Balanced Literacy has disseminated images of joyous classrooms and happy, nurturing educators for so long that it can be hard for teachers to visualize an appealing alternative. I might have made the shift away from Balanced Literacy sooner and with less trepidation, if I had been able to visualize how beautiful my classroom would become.

I wish I had known that instruction that's aligned with reading research...

Is NOT
dreadfully boring whole-class phonics lessons
It IS
highly-engaging, differentiated foundational skills instruction

Is NOT
students sitting in rows while reading from a basal
It IS
students cuddled up on beanbags enjoying a good book together because they have been to read

sucking the joy out of reading
Is NOT
Reader's Chair where students encourage each other to sound out words
It IS

teaching topics that students don't care about
Is NOT
using and learning language to discover more about the world around us
It IS

students completing workbook pages
Is NOT
students making anchor charts to share their learning about science and social studies
It IS

hours of boring instruction
Is NOT
kids learning about and making art because their reading instruction is efficient
It IS

teachers losing their love of teaching
Is NOT
teachers seeing evidence of their hard work in their students' growth
It IS

administrators with clipboards reprimanding teachers after stressful observations
Is NOT
leaders working hard to teach the curriculum they've adopted
It IS

unhappy families who say that their children don't want to come to school
Is NOT
schools where families learn that, despite a pandemic and interrupted schooling, their children are now on track for success in school
It IS

Shifting to explicit and systematic instruction increases achievement, and it frees up time. When students master skills during a more effective literacy block, we can shed supplemental materials like packets of phonics worksheets. Our students can truly make use of time for free reading because we've taught them how to read. And we can watch their love of literacy grow in parallel with their skills, rather than spending our time attempting to sell students on a love of reading.

Letting Go of the label "Balanced Literacy"

Instead of seeing Balanced Literacy as our primary method of teaching reading, we can view it as a collection of tools (some were effective, others weren't), which we've acquired over the years. We can intentionally retain some practices and acquire better replacements for others so that we reach the students who struggled with Balanced Literacy. But as we refine our craft, we don't need to worry that we'll lose our love of teaching or that our students won't enjoy learning.

Balanced Literacy does not have a monopoly on joy.

Balanced Literacy instructional change professional development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Seeing the Good in Balanced Literacy... and Moving On

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Though Balanced Literacy was wrong about some important things, it has practices worth saving. And understanding the good in that approach to teaching literacy can help us transition to more effective instruction. Balanced Literacy taught us the...

# data[].attributes.body
1. Is the student able to read text at their current grade level using automatic word recognition and adequate expression? (The only way to get to automaticity and fluency is to begin with decoding instruction.)

2. Is the student able to comprehend the language of the text?

3. Does the student have adequate knowledge of the purpose of reading?

4. Does the student have strategies to achieve those purposes?

# data[].attributes.headline
IES Practice Guide - Intervention in the Primary Grades

# data[].attributes.subject
IES Practice Guide - Intervention in the Primary Grades

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Brady, S. (2011). Efficacy of phonics teaching for reading outcomes: Implications from Post-NRP research. In S. Brady, D. Braze, & C. Fowler (Eds.), Explaining individual differences in reading (pp. 69-96), London: Psychology Press.

Denton, C. A., Fletcher, J. M., Taylor, W. P., Barth, A. E., & Vaughn, S. (2014). An experimental evaluation of Guided Reading and explicit interventions for primary-grade students at-risk for reading difficulties. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 7(3), 268-293.

Ehri, L., Nunes, R. S., Stahl, S., & Willows, D. (2001). Systematic phonics instruction helps students learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71, 393-447.

Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Furgeson, J., Hayes, L., Henke, J., Justice, L., Keating, B., Lewis, W., Sattar, S., Streke, A., Wagner, R., & Wissel, S. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: http://whatworks.ed.gov

Kilpatrick, D. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

McCardle, P., & Chhabra, V. (Eds.). (2004). The voice of evidence in reading research. Baltimore, MD, Paul H. Brookes.

National Early Literacy Panel (NELP). (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Bethesda, MD: National Institute of Child and Human Development.

Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the speed of sight: How we read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it. New York: Basic Books.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Structured Literacy Instruction: The Basics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Structured Literacy prepares students to decode words in an explicit and systematic manner. This approach not only helps students with dyslexia, but there is substantial evidence that it is effective for all readers. Get the basics on the six elements of Structured Literacy and how each element is taught.

# data[].attributes.headline
IES Practice Guide for Interventions Grades 4-9

# data[].attributes.subject
IES Practice Guide for Interventions Grades 4-9

# data[].attributes.headline
The Simple View of Writing Webinar with Lyn Stone

# data[].attributes.subject
The Simple View of Writing Webinar with Lyn Stone

# data[].attributes.body
Book Study (no longer live, videos linked)

https://sites.google.com/pattan.net/pattan-literacy/pattan-literacy-expert-series-and-book-studies/structured-literacy-interventions-book-study

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6 (The Guilford Series on Intensive Instruction)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6 (The Guilford Series on Intensive Instruction) [Spear-Swerling, Louise] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6 (The Guilford Series on Intensive Instruction)

# data[].attributes.headline
Reading Rockets - Helping Students Who Struggle to Write

# data[].attributes.subject
Reading Rockets - Helping Students Who Struggle to Write

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Helping Students Who Struggle to Write: Classroom Compensations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are many reasons students hate to write, the primary of which is that writing is a slow and laborious process. The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions to help students, with emphasis on compensations

# data[].attributes.headline
IES Practice Guide - Foundational Skills K-3

# data[].attributes.subject
IES Practice Guide - Foundational Skills K-3

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Differentiated instruction, also called differentiation, is a process through which teachers enhance learning by matching student characteristics to instruction and assessment. Writing instruction can be differentiated to allow students varying amounts of time to complete assignments, to give students different writing product options, and to teach skills related to the writing process.

# data[].attributes.headline
IES Practice Guide Improving Adolescent Literacy (Grades 4-12)

# data[].attributes.subject
IES Practice Guide Improving Adolescent Literacy (Grades 4-12)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bradley, L.G., & Donovan, C.A. (2010). Information book read-alouds as models for second-grade authors. The Reading Teacher, 64(4), 246-260.

Christie, F., & Derewianka, B. (2008). School discourse: Learning to write across the years of schooling. New York: Continuum.

Donovan, C.A. (2001). Children's development and control of written story and informational genres: Insights from one elementary school. Research in the Teaching of English, 35(3), 394-447.

Donovan, C.A., & Smolkin, L.B. (2002a). Considering genre, content, and visual features in the selection of trade books for science instruction. The Reading Teacher, 55(6), 502-520.

Donovan, C.A., & Smolkin, L.B. (2002b). Students' genre knowledge: An examination of K-5 students' performance on multiple tasks providing differing levels of scaffolding. Reading Research Quarterly, 37(4), 428-465. doi:10.1598/RRQ.37.4.5

Donovan, C.A., & Smolkin, L.B. (2006). Children's understanding of genre and writing development. In C.A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 131-143). New York: Guilford.

Dorfman, L.R., & Cappelli, R. (2009). Nonfiction mentor texts: Teaching informational writing through children's literature, K-8. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Dreher, M.J. (2003). Motivating struggling readers by tapping the potential of information books. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 19(1), 25-38. doi:10.1080/10573560308206

Duke, N.K., & Bennett-Armistead, V.S. (2003). Reading and writing informational text in the primary grades: Research-based practices. New York: Scholastic.

Fang, Z. (2006). The language demands of science reading in middle school. International Journal of Science Education, 28(5), 491-520. doi:10.1080/09500690500339092

Gill, S. (2009). What teachers need to know about the "new" nonfiction. The Reading Teacher, 63(4), 260-267. doi:10.1598/RT.63.4.1

Jones, D., & Christensen, C.A. (1999). Relationship between automaticity in handwriting and students' ability to generate written text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(1), 44-49. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.91.1.44

Kamberelis, G. (1998). Relations between children's literacy diets and genre development: You write what you read. Literacy Teaching and Learning, 3(1), 7-53.

Kletzien, S.B., & Dreher, M.J. (2004). Informational text in K-3 classrooms: Helping children read and write. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Moss, B. (2004). Teaching expository text structures through information trade book retellings. The Reading Teacher, 57(8), 710-718.

Pappas, C.C. (1993). Is narrative "primary"? Some insights from kindergarteners' pretend readings of stories and information books. Journal of Reading Behavior, 25(1), 97-129.

Pappas, C.C. (2006). The information book genre: Its role in integrated science literacy research and practice. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(2), 226-250. doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.2.4

Saul, E.W., & Dieckman, D. (2005). Choosing and using information trade books. Reading Research Quarterly, 40(4), 502-513. doi:10.1598/RRQ.40.4.6

Smolkin, L.B., & Donovan, C.A. (2001).The contexts of comprehension: The information book read aloud, comprehension acquisition, and comprehension instruction in a first-grade classroom. The Elementary School Journal, 102(2), 97-122. doi:10.1086/499695

Torrance, M., & Galbraith, D. (2006). The processing demands of writing. In C.A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 67-80). New York: Guilford.

Tower, C. (2002). "It's a snake, you guys!": The power of text characteristics on children's responses to information books. Research in the Teaching of English, 37(1), 55-88.
Literature Cited
Berger, M., & Berger, G. (2002). Ants. New York: Scholastic.

Canizares, S., & Chanko, P. (1998). Water (Science Emergent Reader). New York: Scholastic.

Mack, L. (2004). Weather (DK Eye Wonder). New York: DK.

Robinson, F. (1996). Designs. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Supporting Informational Writing in the Elementary Grades

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article presents a developmental framework of informational writing developed from a study of children's writing in K-5 classrooms. See examples of children's compositions at each developmental level, and learn how to use this continuum to support increasingly more mature forms of informational text.

# data[].attributes.body
https://meadowscenter.org/resource/10-key-reading-practices-for-all-elementary-schools-with-strong-evidence-of-effectiveness-from-high-quality-research/

# data[].attributes.headline
10 Ways to Improve Tier 1 Instruction - Stephanie Stollar

# data[].attributes.subject
10 Ways to Improve Tier 1 Instruction - Stephanie Stollar

# data[].attributes.body
" Willingham explained that whether or not readers

understand a text depends far more on how much background knowledge and vocabulary they have relating to the topic than on how much they’ve practiced comprehension skills"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Since 2010, when most states adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has been committed to monitoring their implementation. One of our initial reports, written in 2013 by lead author Tim Shanahan, surveyed middle and high school English language arts (ELA) teachers and found broad support for the CCSS-ELA, yet highlighted several red flags.

Five years later, the CCSS (or close facsimiles) are still in place in most states. And given that high expectations only matter when reflected in classroom practice, we owe it to teachers to continue supporting their efforts to implement these more rigorous standards.

Accordingly, we're back with another nationally representative survey of ELA teachers.

Reading and Writing Instruction in America's Schools, authored by Fordham's senior research and policy associate David Griffith and FDR Group's Ann Duffett, suggests real progress in implementing state ELA standards, but also-like the baseline 2013 report-real cause for concern. For example, middle and high school teachers are asking more text-dependent questions and report that students' ability to accurately cite evidence from the text has improved-both of which are in line with the CCSS-ELA. Yet they have also become more likely to assign texts based on students' current reading levels-as opposed to their grade levels-contrary to the intent of the standards. There are troubling signs on other fronts, too: fewer classic works of literature that teachers are assigning; a predilection for creative over evidence-based writing; and students' continued lack of content knowledge.

Based on the results, we draw four conclusions:

First, if we want teachers to assign texts based on students' grade levels-rather than their reading levels-we need to do more to help them bridge the gap between the two. Increasing the complexity of the texts that all students are exposed to is a hallmark of the CCSS-ELA, yet the survey results suggest that there has been serious backsliding in this area since our 2013 report. In our view, the most likely explanation is that teachers lack the supports they need to carry out this portion of their mission.

Second, teachers should take another look at their ELA curriculum to make sure they aren't overlooking classic works of literature. Although it's encouraging that ELA teachers are assigning more informational texts and literary nonfiction, as the CCSS expect, it's concerning that they seem to be doing so at the expense of "classic works of literature."

Third, writing instruction needs serious attention. By the time students graduate high school, they should be able to construct a coherent argument. Yet the results suggest that teachers are still prioritizing creative expression over evidence-based writing.

Finally, teachers should tackle the content-knowledge deficit. In particular, they should take the lead in adopting content-rich curricula and organizing their lessons around well-constructed "text sets" that help students build on their prior knowledge and learn new words more quickly.

In addition to the survey results, the report also features seven " Literacy Lifelines " that contain practical advice for teachers who are struggling with the challenges outlined above. May they not tire from the hard work of implementation!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reading and Writing Instruction in America's Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Since 2010, when most states adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has been committed to monitoring their implementation. One of our initial reports, written in 2013 by lead author Tim Shanahan, surveyed middle and high school English language arts (ELA) teachers and found broad support for the CCSS-ELA, yet highlighted several red flags.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
According to Julie Wash ington, the only thing more powerful than language is access to language itself.

Washington, professor and chair of the Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders at Georgia State University, gave her lecture "The Power of the Spoken Word" at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, July 24 in the Amphitheater, continuing Week Five, "The Life of the Spoken Word."

Language is a "rule-governed and symbol system," where words are put together to make meaning and represent actions, objects and ideas. It's also an innate, human skill.

"Language is learned in speech communities the way we use it, but we come into the world wired to use language," said Washington, who specializes in understanding cultural dialect use in young African American children, with an emphasis on language assessment, literacy attainment and academic performance. "Unlike reading, which is a learned skill and something that is imposed on the brain, most children come into the world wired to use language."

Every language has dialects, or subsystems of a particular language. For example, American English has dialects such as Appalachian English, Southern English and Midwestern English.

More than anything, language is power.

"When you have the ability to communicate and use language well, it helps you to propel yourself forward - in your career, in your life, in education," Washington said. "The ability to communicate to others in a way that many people can understand is powerful."

Language is powerful, but only with access. In the case of children growing up in poverty, Washington said access is their main limitation.

"It's not about just not having any language at all, but having a language system that allows you to have access to education, to have access to jobs, to have access to a larger, more prosperous society," she said.

But what happens when the language of one's community impedes their access? Washington said this question characterizes the way language affects literacy, particularly with African American children who grow up in poverty. Washington was introduced to the concept as a faculty member at the University of Michigan, when she was asked to go into the local school district and discuss ways to close the achievement gap between minorities and their white and Asian counterparts. There she saw the overrepresentation of African Americans in special education programs.

"Many of those kids were qualified as speech and language impaired, so I knew whatever was going on, we were contributing to the problem," she said.

Washington said the biggest problem facing those "speech and language impaired" students was that their schools were failing to teach the fundamentals of reading by the time they reached third grade.

"That's how I got interested in reading and the relationship between reading and language, how language propels reading, how important reading is for language and how important language is for reading," she said.

The majority of African American fourth graders - 80% - read at a basic level or below. Only 18% are considered proficient readers, but proficient only means they can read at grade-level. Those statistics are now being considered a "high impact public health concern."

"In almost everything that you do, it requires you to be able to read and write," Washington said. "The inability to do so really hampers individuals and puts a ceiling on the success that they can have. At this point, the failure with children is less about skills and abilities or achievement, and more about access."

As a result of limited access, the problem is also being referred to as a "health disparity," "preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations." Washington said the most important word in that definition is "preventable."

"There are some things that are malleable and preventable that we can do something about, and then there are things that we can't - this is not one of those things that we can't do something about," Washington said.

In one of the poorest communities in Atlanta, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons, was built in 2018. As a way to provide employment opportunities in the area, the stadium's development team decided to hire construction workers directly from the community. One of the hiring requirements was reading at a third-grade level. What percentage of applicants were able to read at that level? Zero.

"When you think about the reading problems in this country, many of us who are well-educated are reading at high levels, but we're in a rarefied group in the United States," she said.

In Washington's research, she found that a lot of students' literacy progress halted between second and third grade, the years where students are supposed to learn to switch from learning to read, to reading to learn.

"So many students, even if they have mastered the basic, foundational components of reading, are not able to put those things together to create meaning," she said. "Unless you can extract meaning from what you read, you are not a reader."

To understand the role of language in health disparities, Washington studied African American English. In the past, the dialect was referred to as black English, Nonstandard Negro English and Ebonics. Washington mentioned the controversial "Ebonics" term to acknowledge that she is talking about the same system, just not in the same way.

"I'm not talking about all of the political and social baggage that is attached to this system," she said. "That has consequences for kids. It has real consequences."

Dialects are divided by low prestige - dialects with a negative connotation - and high prestige - dialects with a positive connotation. According to Washington, British English is the highest prestige dialect.

"When you hear somebody with a British accent, who is using British English, you think they're high class, they're related to the Queen and they're educated and smart," she said.

In the United States, Bostonian English is considered high prestige and Southern English is considered low prestige.

"Speaking a low-prestige variety has consequences," she said. "It has consequences for you in your life because you're always trying to prove yourself, or because people automatically think these negative things about you and you may not be able to prove yourself."

To avoid the negative effects of speaking low-prestige dialects, people learn to code-switch. Washington was introduced to code-switching while working on a literacy project where students had to retell stories after hearing it read aloud. Washington read Are you My Mother? - a children's book where a baby bird goes on a journey trying to find his mother. Many times throughout the book, the bird asks "Are you my mother?" and characters reply "I am not your mother." When the little girl retold the story, she said "Is you my mama?" and "I ain't none a yo' mama." In witnessing her code-switch, Washington had an epiphany.

"I thought about how much work she had to do in order to retell that story," Washington said. "She had to listen to it in a language system that wasn't being used in her home, recode it, hang on to the sequence and the vocabulary and tell me the story again."

The ability to code-switch based on the environment one is in is a powerful skill, but unfortunately, only two-thirds of children who need to learn the skill will acquire it in school. In Washington's research, she found that if students don't learn how to code-switch by third grade, they never will.

"The ability to code-switch is actually critical, but these high-dialect users are the kids we are focused on now," she said. "This is not just that if you speak dialect, you will not be able to read; what we have learned is if you speak a lot of dialect, you're going to struggle to read because you have so much work to do to get to the Are you my Mother? text."

But if it has been proven that code-switching is critical for learning, why isn't it taught in schools? Washington said that doesn't work because teachers use contrasting oral and written languages to teach code-switching, and by the time a student is old enough to write, they are most likely "already failing at reading."

A more concrete solution is to prioritize reading in schools - if one can read, they have access to text, which facilitates code-switching.

While teaching code-switching and reading are both important, Washington thinks too much emphasis is placed on changing the children, instead of the models they learn from.

"Our failure to teach them to read has contributed to the failure to learn to code-switch," she said. "We have to be able to do both. One way to do that is to teach code-switching, the other way is to make sure teachers are actually using the language of the classroom."

Washington said people also need to start respecting students' home languages.

"The same is true for the school language; if we want kids to learn it, we have to recognize that valuing and respecting it impacts the way it is taught," she said. "What we are trying to do with (home language) is eradicate it - stop that. If we were allowing it to be something else, then we might be able to bridge what kids currently know with what we want them to know."

As she talks to more people about the problems facing low-income students, Washington said she has become increasingly frustrated with the narrow path ahead. Thus, she concluded her lecture with a call to action, hoping increased awareness will lead to a more hopeful future - a future with answers.

"We need some solutions to this; it's a long-standing issue," Washington said. "These kids have been having trouble with reading for as long as we have been measuring it. We are losing generations and generations of kids who aren't learning to read and, therefore, don't have access or a way to get out of the cycle that they're in and aspire to something higher than that."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Julie Washington Calls for Prioritization of Reading and Linguistics in Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
According to Julie Wash ington, the only thing more powerful than language is access to language itself. Washington, professor and chair of the Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders at Georgia State University, gave her lecture "The Power of the Spoken Word" at 10:45 a.m.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lesson Resources

The UFLI Foundations Toolbox contains all the lesson resources to accompany the lesson plans provided in the UFLI Foundations manual. (Don't have a manual yet? Click here to order one) Every lesson has companion resources that will help you implement the lessons efficiently, effectively, and consistently.

Some of the companion lesson resources you will find below include:

Lesson slide decks (in PowerPoint and Google Slide formats)

Decodable passages

Homework sheets

Games and activities for additional practice

We have grouped the lessons into smaller units so you can access these resources more easily. Scroll down to use the buttons below to find the resources for each lesson or groups of lessons.

Please note that we are still building out these free resources, and we will be editing this page over the next few weeks. We wanted you to be able to access some materials as soon as possible, but be sure to come back later to see the rest!
New to UFLI Foundations? Learn about its development, check out a sample lesson plan, view the scope and sequence, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The UFLI Foundations Toolbox contains all the lesson resources to accompany the lesson plans provided in the UFLI Foundations manual. (Don't have a manual yet? Click here to order one) Every lesson has companion resources that will help you implement the lessons efficiently, effectively, and consistently.

# data[].attributes.headline
Supporting Learners with Complex Needs Padlet

# data[].attributes.subject
Supporting Learners with Complex Needs Padlet