ABSTRACT

This chapter describes some components, each of which is supported by quantitative research published in refereed journals as well as much professional expertise and common sense. It suggests that "morning work" be replaced with self-selected reading. The concept of reading instructional level itself was often problematized, if not denied, probably because acknowledging it could be seen as support for grouping by level. Reaction was also directed against teaching specific reading skills. There had always been a strand of reading instruction during the classic era given to teaching sight words, analytic phonics, and comprehension skills. With respect to the teaching of reading, advocates for fundamentally different language arts instruction voiced a number of critiques. Reading instruction had long been the main area where political conservatives criticized public education. The instruction provided by Reading First also tended to follow a stage model wherein one of their some major components received the most emphasis at a time until it was mastered.