How Funds Were Used & Defined Terms

How Funds Were Used

The Local Reading Improvement (LRI) sub-grants had to include the following (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2002):

·       improving the instructional practices of teachers and instructional staff through professional development activities based on scientifically-based reading research.

·       carrying out family literacy services.

·       providing early literacy services to children experiencing reading difficulties (including kindergarten transition programs).

A key feature was that LEAs needed to base project activities on scientifically-based reading research. This feature was a major turning point in services for the most at-risk students and paved the way for other initiatives to come.

Further, LEAs needed to form partnerships with community-based organizations with demonstrated effectiveness in early childhood literacy, reading instruction, and reading achievement (such as Head Start) to carry out project activities or they needed to describe if the partnership was not feasible (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2002). Funds needed to be provided for the following activities:

·       Research-based reading instruction for grades K-3

·       Reading instruction targeted at children with reading difficulties

·       High quality professional development for teaching staff

·       Curriculum and other supportive materials

·       Tutoring and support services during non-instructional time

·       Training for tutors

·       Kindergarten transition

·       Family literacy services

·       Parent training to help children with reading

·       Promotion of reading and library programs

·       Coordination of local reading, library, and literacy programs

·       Administrative costs

Defined Terms

The REA defined reading and scientifically-based reading research. (SEC. 2252 (4) as noted by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2002, p. 3), reading was defined according to six dimensions as “a complex system of deriving meaning from print that requires all of the following:

a.     The skills and knowledge to understand how phonemes, or speech sounds, are connected to print.

b.     The ability to decode unfamiliar words.

c.      The ability to read fluently.

d.     Sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension.

e.     The development of appropriate active strategies to construct meaning from print.

f.      The development and maintenance of a motivation to read.”

The REA defined the term scientifically-based reading research (SEC. 2252 (5) as noted by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2002, pp. 3-4).:

a.     “Means the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain valid knowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruction, and reading difficulties.

b.     Shall include research that:

                           i.     Employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment;

                          ii.     Involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn;

                        iii.     Relies on measurements or observational methods that provide valid data across evaluators and observers, and across multiple measurements and observations; and

                        iv.     Has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparatively rigorous, objective, and scientific review.”

Scientifically-based reading research did not require the selection of a specific program or model of reading. Instead, the reading research was to be assessed to identify specific content and instructional strategies for implementation in Grades K-3, again with supporting family literacy activities targeted for preschool and early elementary grades (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2002).