Center Ideas: Leveraging the Institute of Education Science’s What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guides to Support Reading

A newly appointed Literacy Council in West Virginia met for their first meeting in Charleston to improve reading literacy for West Virginia youngsters. The 30-member group, which includes education professionals and others from private business and nonprofit organizations, is an outgrowth of the "Ready, Read, Write West Virginia" campaign, launched in December.

Efforts to improve literacy rates across West Virginia should be informed by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) What Works Clearinghouse  (WWC) practice guides that present recommendations for educators to address challenges in their classrooms and schools. IES publishes practice guides to share rigorous evidence and expert guidance on addressing education-related challenges not solved with a single program, policy, or practice. The authors of each practice guide combine their expertise with the findings from rigorous research, and rate the strength of research evidence that supports each of their recommendations. The goal of the practice guides is to offer educators specific, evidence-based recommendations based on the best available evidence.

Select practice guides that address reading are:

• Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (July 2016): This practice guide provides four recommendations for teaching foundational reading skills to students in kindergarten through 3rd grade. Each recommendation includes implementation steps and solutions for common obstacles. The recommendations also summarize and rate supporting evidence. This guide is geared towards teachers, administrators, and other educators who want to improve their students’ foundational reading skills, and is a companion to the practice guide, Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade. WWC | Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (ed.gov)
• Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade: Students who read with understanding at an early age gain access to a broader range of texts, knowledge, and educational opportunities, making early reading comprehension instruction particularly critical. This guide recommends five specific steps that teachers, reading coaches, and principals can take to successfully improve reading comprehension for young readers. WWC | Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (ed.gov)
• Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9: This practice guide provides four evidence-based recommendations that teachers can use to deliver reading interventions to meet the needs of their students. WWC | Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9 (ed.gov)
• Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades: This guide offers five specific recommendations to help educators identify struggling readers and implement evidence-based strategies to promote their reading achievement. Teachers and reading specialists can utilize these strategies to implement RtI and multi-tier intervention methods and frameworks at the classroom or school level. Recommendations cover how to screen students for reading problems, design a multi-tier intervention program, adjust instruction to help struggling readers, and monitor student progress. WWC | Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades (ed.gov)
• Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices: This guide presents strategies that classroom teachers and specialists can use to increase the reading ability of adolescent students. The recommendations aim to help students gain more from their reading tasks, improve their motivation for and engagement in the learning process, and assist struggling readers who may need intensive and individualized attention. WWC | Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices (ed.gov)

There are ten practice guides that address literacy. All IES practice guides are available at WWC | Find What Works! (ed.gov)