Reading Literacy
Enjoy the collated resources in Reading Literacy. If you have suggestions, please submit them using the form on the right.
The Iowa Department of Education provides information and resources regarding legal requirements, ESSA support, guidance, support materials, and allocations.
This matrix integrates Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) with Bloom's Cognitive Process Dimensions.
Since 1956, IRA (formerly International Reading Association and now the International Literacy Association) has been a nonprofit, global network of individuals and institutions committed to worldwide literacy. More than 56,000 members strong, the Association supports literacy professionals through a wide range of resources, advocacy efforts, volunteerism, and professional development activities. Our members promote high levels of literacy for all by:
- Improving the quality of reading instruction
- Disseminating research and information about reading
- Encouraging the lifetime reading habit
Access: International Literacy Association
The Iowa Core Literacy Standards were adopted by the Iowa State Board of Education and integrate the work of the Common Core State Standards Initiative with an additional seven standards that apply exclusively to Iowa schools. These additional state-specific standards are marked IA.1 through IA.7.
Access: Iowa Core Literacy Standards
The mission of the Iowa Reading Association, an interactive group of individuals interested in reading, is to promote literacy through leadership, educational programming, and legislative endeavors.
Access: Iowa Reading Association
The purpose of the Iowa Reading Research Center is to improve the literacy proficiency of PK-12 students. To that end, the Center will conduct research in practical settings in order to evaluate the effectiveness of literacy practices and the usefulness of assessments for guiding literacy instruction. All efforts of the Center will be conducted in collaboration with educators, parents, community representatives, and policy makers. Results will have a direct application to literacy policy and education in Iowa.
Access: Iowa Reading Research Center
The Center for Research on Learning encompasses six divisions, each with a slightly different research emphasis. The center studies problems in education and work to place solutions that make a difference into the hands of educators, learners, employers, and policy makers.
The Iowa Department of Education provides these resources.
Access: Literacy - Iowa Department of Education
Nell K. Duke, Ed.D., is a professor in literacy, language, and culture in the School of Education and also in the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan. Duke received her Bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and her Masters and Doctoral degrees from Harvard University. Duke’s work focuses on early literacy development, particularly among children living in economic poverty. Her specific areas of expertise include the development of informational reading and writing in young children, comprehension development and instruction in early schooling, and issues of equity in literacy education. She has served as Co-Principal Investigator of projects funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation, among other organizations.
Her website focuses on research, policy, and practice.
This site provides the latest news on English Language Arts and literacy.
Access: NewsELA
Excellent resource for unit plans for skills/strategies, comprehension, novel, and reading passages.
Access: ReadWorks.org
Excellent resources for the classroom and professional development, sponsored by the International Reading Association and NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English).
Access: Read Write Think
This document provides the six shifts that the Common Core requires of us if we are to be truly aligned with it in terms of curricular materials and classroom instruction.
The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) is an approach to literacy instruction for students in elementary and middle schools with two primary goals: to improve students’ reading and writing, and to help children become lifelong, confident readers and writers who display agency and independence through work with teachers, collaboration with peers, and independent work.
AIR (America Institutes of Research) completed an evaluation of this project. That information is provided at this site.
Access: Teachers College Reading and Writing Project - Evaluation by AIR
Search for reading and/or Sarah Brown Wessling to find multiple resources (e.g., videos, blogs) to support reading.
Access: The Teaching Channel
This article by Anne E Cunningham and Keith E. Stanovich explores how the volume of reading shapes the mind - and how the "rich get richer" and the "poor get poorer" when it comes to reading: increased vocabulary, knowledge differences, decoding ability, verbal skills, spelling.
Access: What Reading Does for the Mind
The What to Know about Teaching Reading in the Classroom guide offers important and up-to-date information in a number of areas, including:
- Instructional strategies for teaching reading, such as letter sounds and sight words
- The science of teaching reading
- Advice for teaching students at different reading levels
- Tips for teaching reading comprehension like using previewing, metacognition, and identifying keywords
Access: What to Know about Teaching Reading in the Classroom