The Gradual Release of Responsibility in Literacy Research and Practice: (10 Literacy Research, Practice and Evaluation)

Educators are always in search of approaches that promote student development and academic achievement. Engaging learners in purposeful instruction in skills and strategies is a cornerstone in every classroom. The gradual release of responsibility (GRR) model requires the responsibility of learning to shift from being teacher-centric towards students gradually assuming responsibility as independent learners.  In the last 35 years, the gradual release of responsibility model of instruction has become synonymous with some of the most effective approaches to teach both skills and content to students of all ages. Evidence-based practices have been documented across the globe not only in literacy but also in most disciplines across the curriculum. While the GRR model is a well-established theory, its implementations have not been researched. This edited volume discusses how the GRR model evolved and has been applied, how it benefits learners and teachers, and how it can be utilised for years to come.   By looking not only at the gradual release of responsibility model from a theoretical standpoint but also the research and practice of this approach, this book will prove invaluable for educational leaders and researchers alike.

Table of Contents:
1. In the Beginning: The Historical and Conceptual Genesis of the Gradual Release of Responsibility; P. David Pearson, Mary B. McVee, Lynn E. Shanahan  2. We Must Know What They Know (and So Do They) for Children to Sustain Learning and Independence; Janet S. Gaffney, Rebecca Jesson  3. Releasing Responsibility for What? Developing Learning Environments for Text-Based Inquiry in the Disciplines in Secondary Schools; Cynthia Greenleaf, Mira-Lisa Katz   4. The Ebb and Flow of Scaffolding: Thinking Flexibly about the Gradual Release of Responsibility during Explicit Strategy Instruction; Lynn E. Shanahan, Andrea L. Tochelli-Ward, Tyler W. Rinker   5. Sustainable School Improvement: The Gradual Release of Responsibility in School Change; Kathryn H. Au, Taffy E. Raphael  6. Leading Learning through a Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework; Kimberly Elliot, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher  7. Gradually Releasing Responsibility in Justice-Centered Teaching: Educators Reflecting on a Social Justice Literacy Workshop on Police Brutality; Tiffany M. Nyachae, Mary B. McVee, Fenice B. Boyd  8. Gradual Release in the Early Literacy Classroom: Taking Languaging into Account with Emergent Bilingual Students; Joseph C. Rumenapp, P. Zitlali Morales  9. Employing the Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework to Improve the Literacy Instruction of Emergent Bilingual Students in the Elementary Grades; Georgia Earnest García, Christina Passos DeNicolo  10. Scaffolding Development of Self-Regulated and Strategic Literacy Skills in Deaf or Hard of Hearing Students: A Review of the Literature through the Lens of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model; Maryam Salehomoum  11. Literacy Coaching for Agentive and Sustainable Teacher Reflection: Joint Action within a Gradual Release of Responsibility as Apprenticeship; Jennifer Sharples Reichenberg   12. "See, You Can Make Connections With the Things You Learned Before!" Using the Gradual Release of Responsibility to Scaffold Language and Concept Learning in Science; H. Emily Hayden   13. Passing the Pen - A Gradual Release Model of the Recursive Writing Process; Evan Ortlieb, Susan Schatz 14. Think Aloud, Think Along, Think Alone: Gradually Releasing Students to Use Comprehension Strategies in Elementary Classrooms; Molly K. Ness  15. Sustaining Culture, Expanding Literacies: Culturally Relevant Literacy Pedagogy and Gradual Release of Responsibility; Jennifer D. Turner and Chrystine Mitchell  16. Epilogue: Reflections on the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model: Where We've Been and Where We're Going; Janice A. Dole, Gerald G. Duffy, P. David Pearson

About the Author :
Mary B. McVee is Professor of Literacy Education and Director of the Center for Literacy and Reading Instruction at the University of Buffalo, SUNY, USA.  Evan Ortlieb is Professor and Director of the Manhattan Campus at St. John’s University, USA.   Jennifer Reichenberg is Assistant Professor and Program Director for Literacy Education at Medaille College in Buffalo, USA.   P. David Pearson is an emeritus faculty member in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, USA.

Review :
This volume compiles 16 chapters by researchers from the US and New Zealand, who examine the gradual release of responsibility model and its use in literacy research and practice. They describe the historical and conceptual origins of the model; how children expand independence within instructional interactions with teachers and how scaffolding is understood and applied; how to develop inquiry-based learning environments in subject area classrooms to support students' capacities for deep and intellectually engaged reading; the importance of thinking flexibly about the gradual release of responsibility during the implementation of an explicit strategy instruction model; the relationship between school leadership and quality core instruction, as defined by a gradual release of responsibility framework; gradually releasing responsibility and youth participation in a social justice literacy workshop; and researcher-led follow-up activities during an early childhood reading lesson aligned with a gradual release of responsibility model with emergent bilingual students. Others discuss how the model can support bilingual teachers' implementation of dialogic reading comprehension instruction in small groups and linguistically responsive literacy instruction with emergent bilingual students; how the model has been used in research and educational practices related to deaf or hard of hearing children; agentive and sustainable teacher development as part of literacy coaching using a reflective framework and video within a gradual release of responsibility as apprenticeship stance; the use of the gradual release of responsibility to develop students' knowledge and use of science language and conceptual knowledge; the use of the model in writing instruction; its application to the reading comprehension of students in elementary classrooms; its use as an instructional framework for culturally relevant literacy pedagogy; and the historical context of the model and its continuing evolution.