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October 15, 2002

Supporting the Reading First Classroom: Issues and Challenges (cont'd)

Tips for Administrators: Helping Teachers Meet the Challenge of Reading First

The director of research and policy for the International Reading Association shares her suggestions for how administrators can help teachers with reading instruction.

By Cathy M. Roller, Ph.D.

1. Make sure teachers are spending an appropriate amount of time on reading instruction. Many programs and professionals recommend at least a 90-minute block of time each day in the primary grades.
2. Make sure that teachers aren't spending a lot of time teaching children things they already know how to do. This means taking advantage of informal classroom assessments to learn which children know what.
• Make sure that the professional development offered for teachers includes
• input from outside experts,
• input from a building-level reading specialist,
• time to meet with other teachers and a reading specialist to discuss teaching concerns and children's progress,
• sufficient time for learning to use informal classroom assessment efficiently, and
• time for a reading specialist to work in each teacher's classroom, modeling, observing, and coaching.
3. Make sure that classroom organizational structures allow teachers to meet the needs of individual children. Teachers should spend some time working with the whole classroom; significant time working with children in small, flexible groups that are arranged based on needs revealed through classroom assessment; and some time to work independently with children who need help.
4. Make sure that all professionals and paraprofessionals who are working in a classroom or with children from a classroom are working together using methods and materials that are compatible with each other.
5. Get professional development that helps you recognize good reading instruction when you observe it.

Cathy Roller, who has authored several books on reading, has been director of research and policy at the International Reading Association since 1998.

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