ABSTRACT
All educators want the best schools possible for children, schools that help them acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they will need to pursue whatever dreams and paths they wish. Yet the reality is that many children are not reading well enough to keep up with the demands of school (Campbell, Donahue, Reese, & Phillip, 1996; Donahue, Voelkl, Campbell, & Mazzeo, 1999), let alone the demands of society or their personal dreams. In the recent national report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, a National Academy of Science Committee concluded that “quality classroom instruction in kindergarten and the primary grades is the single best weapon against reading failure” (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). The committee recommended that the number one priority for educational research be to improve classroom reading instruction in kindergarten and the primary grades.
