The Intersection of Research and Practice.

On Friday night, I had the opportunity to speak at a fundraiser thrown by Julie O'Sullivan and Naomi Mezey, two law professors at Georgetown University Law Center. I always enjoy getting to explain Reach. Like most strong ideas, it tends to make sense when people hear the plan. Watching heads nod is always a great reminder that we're onto something good. The first statement made when I finished answering questions from those assembled was the following: "I want you to know that I came here with a number in mind, but after hearing that, I'm giving four times what I thought I would." 

As I continue to learn more and more about the available literacy research, it's been extremely encouraging to see how beautifully our model puts the pieces together. The strength of our model is  most succinctly explained through two major papers - Putting Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read (Reading First) and Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy (Reading Next). 

In Reading First, we are taught to focus on the explicit instruction of five major areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. Reading Next outlines nine instructional improvements and six infrastructure improvements necessary for improvements in literacy instruction at the secondary level.

Instructional Improvements: 

1. Direct, explicit comprehension instruction 

2. Effective instructional principles embedded in content 

3. Motivation and self-directed learning 

4. Text-based collaborative learning 

5. Strategic tutoring 

6. Diverse texts 

7. Intensive writing 

8. A technology component 

9. Ongoing formative assessment of students 

Infrastructure Improvements:

10. Extended time for literacy 

11. Professional development 

12. Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs 

13. Teacher teams 

14. Leadership 

15. A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program

The items in bold above are those directly addressed, at this time, through Reach's innovative model. Through this unique, supported tutoring relationship, we are addressing the concrete literacy needs of elementary school students while simultaneously catering to the more social learning style of adolescent learners. Reach truly is a model built from the available research about literacy instruction. The woman who was moved to increase her donation four-fold on Friday night was surely convinced!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.