Promising Practices for Urban Reading Instruction

Preface
Pamela A. Mason, Jeanne Shay Schumm   FREE!

Contributors

International Reading Association Urban Diversity Initiatives Commission

Right 1
Children have a right to appropriate early reading instruction based on their individual needs.

Introduction
Dolores B. Malcolm

Good Reading Instruction Is More Important Than Who Provides the Instruction or Where It Takes Place
Wanda B. Hedrick, Alice M. Pearish

Talking the Walk: Reading Urban Environmental Print
Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, Arcelia Hernández

Early Literacy for Inner-City Children: The Effects of Reading and Writing Interventions in English and Spanish During the Preschool Years
David B. Yaden, Jr., Anamarie Tam, Patricia Madrigal, Danny Brassell, Joan Massa, L.S. Altamirano, Jorge Armendariz

Right 2
Children have a right to reading instruction that builds both the skill and the desire to read increasingly complex material.

Introduction
Patricia Ruggiano Schmidt

A Comparison of Innercity Children's Interpretations of Reading and Writing Instruction in the Early Grades in Skills-Based and Whole Language Classrooms
Karin L. Dahl, Penny A. Freppon

Breaking Down Barriers That Disenfranchise African American Adolescent Readers in Low-Level Tracks
Alfred W. Tatum

Right 3
Children have a right to well-prepared teachers who keep their skills up to date through effective professional development.

Introduction
Bill Hammond

Cultural Attitudes Toward Reading: Implications for Teachers of ESL/Bilingual Readers
Mary Lee Field, Jo Ann Aebersold

Know Thyself and Understand Others
Patricia Ruggiano Schmidt

Right 4
Children have a right to access a wide variety of books and other reading material in classroom, school, and community libraries.

Introduction
Barbara J. Diamond

3.6 Minutes per Day: The Scarcity of Informational Text in First Grade
Nell K. Duke

African American Children's Literature That Helps Students Find Themselves: Selection Guidelines for Grades K–3
Bena R. Hefflin, Mary Alice Barksdale-Ladd

Right 5
Children have a right to reading assessment that identifies their strengths as well as their needs and involves them in making decisions about their own learning.

Introduction
Janette K. Klingner

The Evils of the Use of IQ Tests to Define Learning Disabilities in First- and Second-Language Learners
Lee Gunderson, Linda S. Siegel

Three Paradigms of Assessment: Measurement, Procedure, and Inquiry
Frank Serafini

Right 6
Children who are struggling with reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach reading.

Introduction
David Hernandez III

The Role of the Reading Specialist: A Review of Research
Diana J. Quatroche, Rita M. Bean, Rebecca L. Hamilton

Finding the Keys to Educational Progress in Urban Youth: Three Case Studies
Susan Babbitt, Maureen Byrne

Right 7
Children have a right to reading instruction that involves parents and communities in their academic lives.

Introduction
Patricia A. Edwards

Making Kids Winners: New Perspectives About Literacy From Urban Elementary School Principals
Jennifer C. Dandridge, Patricia A. Edwards, Heather M. Pleasants

Stopping the Silence: Hearing Parents' Voices in an Urban First-Grade Family Literacy Program
Robert J. Nistler, Angela Maiers

Right 8
Children have a right to reading instruction that makes meaningful use of their first language skills.

Reading as Situated Language: A Sociocognitive Perspective
James Paul Gee

Voices of the Teenage Diasporas
Lee Gunderson

Positioning in a Middle School Culture: Gender, Race, Social Class, and Power
Donna Mahar

Right 9
Children have the right to equal access to technology used for the improvement of reading instruction.

Introduction
Paola Pilonieta, William E. Blanton

The Effects of Concurrent Classroom and Home Instructional Video-Game Use on Student Achievement: A Preliminary Study
Jay Blanchard, John Behrens, Gary Anderson

Internet Workshop: Making Time for Literacy
Donald J. Leu, Jr.

The Miss Rumphius Effect: Envisionments for Literacy and Learning That Transform the Internet
Donald J. Leu, Jr., Rachel A. Karchmer, Deborah Diadiun Leu

Right 10
Children have the right to classrooms that optimize learning opportunities.

Introduction
Jeanne R. Paratore

“If You Can Pass Momma's Tests, Then She Knows You're Getting Your Education”: A Case Study of Support for Literacy Learning Within an African American Family
James F. Baumann, Deborah Thomas

Family and Community Involvment: The Bedrock of Reading Success
Robert B. Cooter, Jr., Earlene Mills-House, Peggy Marrin, Barbara A. Mathews, Sylvia Campbell, Tina Baker

Reaching Out to a Diversity of Learners: Innovative Educators Need Substantial Support
Joseph Sanacore

Afterword
Jennifer D. Turner, Youb Kim

Appendix A
The International Reading Association's Commitment to Urban Education
Carmelita Kimber Williams, Richard Long

Appendix B
Annotated Bibliography of IRA Resources Related to Urban Literacy
Lina Lopez Chiappone, Richard Long

Appendix C
Selected Urban Education Websites
Bill Hammond, Richard Long