Implementation of a Schoolwide Reading Improvement Model: "No One Ever Told Us It Would Be This Hard!"

Abstract

Educators now have solid scientific evidence built on more than 30 years of research of the necessary fundamentals of early reading instruction and practices that produce reliable improvement. Yet efforts to translate knowledge of effective practice and pedagogy have been neither consistently effective nor fully realized for students who are most at risk of reading failure. In this article, we describe a schoolwide model for reading improvement and its stages and application in the primary grades of 2 schools. The Schoolwide Reading Improvement Model is directed by the overarching assumptions that reading improvement (a) requires a multidimensional intervention based on scientific research and the strategic integration of curriculum, instruction, and assessment and (b) must recognize and build on the conditions and contexts of the host environment. School administrators describe the process of schoolwide reading improvement for the full range of learners and offer their insights and lessons learned to bui...