The Learning Communities Guide to Improving Reading Instruction

The Learning Communities Guide To Improving Reading Instruction, book, with its rich collection of tools to assess and improve practice, identify and apply new approaches, improve and add to the instructional repertoire, will measurably help both teachers and instructional leaders and ultimately benefit students. The authors bring deep background in reading instruction, professional development and school leadership. They give teachers a framework for understanding the strategies to promote all aspects of reading instruction in support of the ultimate goal of student comprehension. They give teachers and instructional leaders a set of "look-fors" to identify strengths and weaknesses and target areas for support. They provide models for developing self assessments, goals and action steps and benchmarks for improvement. A professional development model for reading helps insure that this support will be effective and lasting.

Table of Contents:
Index Dedication Acknowledgments Preface Considering How to Lead Schoolwide Improvement in Reading Personalizing Reading Instruction Managing Environments for Literacy Ensuring Student Engagement Emphazing Active Teaching Targeting Comprehension Creating Professional Learning Communities for Literacy References Index

About the Author :
Valerie Hastings Gregory has devoted much of her professional life to shaping professional learning communities in schools. She has promoted effective professional develop-ment as a school building, central office, and Virginia Department of Education administrator for elementary education and gifted education. Valerie is an educational consul-tant for assessment, curriculum, instruction, and leadership at Fogarty and Associates, Pearson Professional Development,  QLD Learning, and the School Leadership Institute for the College of William and Mary. Valerie received her doctorate in Educational Policy Planning and Leadership from the College of William and Mary, where she extensively studied conditions for transfer of professional development to classroom practice. While a doctoral student, Valerie received the Outstanding Doctoral Student Award from the National Association for Education of the Gifted. In addition to this book, Valerie is the author of two other books, Conditions That Support Transfer for Change and Problem-Based Learning in Social Studies In her position as Director of the William and Mary School Leadership Institute, Jan Rozzelle Nikas directs multiple school reform partnerships with Virginia public school dis-tricts. One partnership with five rural school districts has focused on improving leading and learning in 15 schools for the past 4 years, particularly in the area of literacy. Prior to her position at the university, Jan served a large suburban school district as reading coordinator of professional development, curriculum, and instruction for 52 schools. Her research interests focus on what works in improving literacy teaching and learning, and leadership development of principals and teachers. Jan is a past president of the Virginia State Reading Association (VSRA) and recipient of the Reading Teacher of the Year Award from VSRA. Jan also received the Collaborative Leadership Award and was awarded the Frances B. & Robert O. Nelson Memorial Scholarship for Character, Commitment, and Achievement

Review :
The themes of attending to individual needs, providing assessment-driven instruction, and creating long-term, focused professional development plans are solid and consistent throughout the book. This book does a wonderful job of bridging the chasm that often exists between the separate worlds of higher education and K-12 educators. It applies powerful research findings and nontechnical, jargon-free advice for classroom teachers.