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##  Highlights of Reading Research in the Labs and Centers of the U.S.              Department of Education. ERIC Digest.                                        

The mission of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of                     Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) is to provide "national             leadership for educational research and statistics." This mission               includes promoting excellence and equity in education by conducting             research and demonstration projects, collecting statistics,                     disseminating information, and providing technical assistance to                those working to improve                                                        education 
(http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/about.html). 
As part              of this effort, OERI supports two major research and development                programs: the National Research & Development Centers and the                   Regional Educational Laboratories.  The twelve university-based                 Centers address specific topics such as early childhood development             and learning, student learning and achievement, and cultural and                linguistic diversity. The ten Laboratories, serving geographic                  regions across the country, work to ensure access to the best                   available information from research and practice for those involved             in education improvement. Since improving reading skills in American            children is a top priority for the U.S. Department of Education and             the nation, this Digest will review a sampling of recent                        reading-related research and development initiatives being conducted            by the Labs and Centers. CELA: IMPROVING ENGLISH AND LITERACY                 ACHIEVEMENTThe National Research Center on English Learning &               Achievement (CELA) has recently studied how the various components              of curriculum can work together to support higher literacy levels in            elementary and secondary school students. The research included                 exemplary elementary language arts instruction, exemplary                       instruction in middle and secondary schools, the role of school                 subjects, home, and community in lifetime literacy, the role of                 technology in literacy achievement, and teacher education and                   professional development (http://cela.albany.edu). 
Some of CELA's             studies reveal the importance of balance in effective curriculum,               instruction, and assessment.  These studies suggest that rather than            using a single approach, effective programs find a balance in which             basic skills and meaningful activity support and enrich one another.            Detailed descriptions of these findings are available on the CELA               web site. 
CELA has published two booklets which synthesize the                research and practical classroom strategies that work: Guidelines               for Teaching Middle and High School Students to Read and Write Well             and Improving Literacy Under-standing through Classroom                         Conversation. Research embodied in the latter booklet is also                   reflected in a national public television series entitled                       Envisioning Literature, to begin airing in January 2002 on the                  Annenberg/CPB channel. 
New work underway by CELA will build on                previous research and will involve design, implementation, and                  professional development studies to design programs for schools and             districts that are seeking to improve student learning and                      achievement in English. Currently, CELA is focusing on the                      Partnerships for Improving Literacy Learning. Additional information            on this program can be found on the CELA web site. 
CIERA:                     EXAMINING EMERGING READERS
A number of research initiatives are                underway at the Center for theImprovement of Early Reading                      Achievement (CIERA). In a 2001 presentationentitled "A New-comer's              View of Current Research at CIERA," the center'sco-director, Joanne             Carlisle, offered a synopsis of the most recent studies(Carlisle,               2001). They included:
* A comparison of the effects of three                   phonics programs on decoding and theability to read connected                   text.
* A comparison of 3-4 year olds already reading connected                text andnon-precocious readers from middle and low-income                       households.
* A study of the role of informational texts in first              grade, and the impactof text diversity on reading comprehension.
*             A study of computer programs specifically designed to improve                   literacy inAfrican American children.
* A four-year study examining            the effectiveness of a preschool literacyprogram for                            Spanish-speaking children.
* Research on how watching "TV stories"             can prepare non-reading preschoolersfor later studies, as well as               information on recent CIERA presentations and a training kit and                information on the CIERA School Change Classroom Observation                    Scheme. NCREL: STRATEGIC TEACHINGOne of the signature programs            at the North Central Regional Laboratory (NCREL) is a long-term                 professional development program known as STRP. An acronym                      for "Strategic Teaching and Reading Project," STRP seeks to improve             reading at all grade levels by helping teachers take a strategic                approach to reading and teaching.  At the core of the STRP                      curriculum are five compre-hension strategies. Mary Foertsch,                   coordinator of NCREL's Center for Teaching, Learning, and                       Curriculum, describes them in an interview with Kroeger &                       Blaser (1999) as: (a) activating prior knowledge before, during, and            after reading; (b) inferencing, which is the use of reasoning skills            to formulate conclusions from something that is known or assumed to             be true; (c) using metacognitive strategies, which, broadly defined,            means taking charge of your own learning and thinking about how you             learn; (d) understanding word meaning; and (e) knowing about text               structure" (p. 1). 
Currently, NCREL is developing an online                   professional development course based on the STRP principles. The               course will provide educators with current research on reading                  strategy instruction, as well as examples and suggestions. SEDL: A            COGNITIVE FRAMEWORKThe Southwest Educational Development                    Laboratory (SEDL) recently completed a four-year Reading Coherence              Initiative. The study involved 44 kindergarten, first grade, and                second grade teachers in 8 different schools, all of which had                  significant numbers of struggling readers. Researchers examined the             cognitive elements necessary to reading acquisition and how those               elements fit together, ultimately forming a framework for early                 reading. The framework, published under the title The Cognitive                 Foundations of Learning to Read, was designed to help educators                 better assess individual students' reading progress and implement               student-centered, individualized instructional strategies. (SEDL web            site: http://www.sedl.org/work/historical/rci.html). LAB AT BROWN:            BEST PRACTICES FOR LITERACY SUPPORTAt least two                             literacy-centered initiatives are in progress at the Northeast and              Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University. 
*                Adolescent Literacy in the Content Areas: Through researching and               collecting best practices, the Lab has developed four key components            of the adolescent support network. They include social and emotional            motivation; instructional strategies; a cross-curricular approach;              and organizational support structures 
* Regional Early Literacy               Practices: In four separate studies of high-performing schools in               Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, researchers have                identified explicit practices and characteristics that are not                  present to the same degree in low-performing schools. The                       characteristics identified include a belief in the potential of all             students, substantive professional development in literacy, time set            aside specifically for literacy instruction, use of student data to             improve instruction, strong school-family partnerships, and a shared            vision and mutual respect among school staff (Lab at Brown, The                 Knowledge Loom: http://knowledgeloom.org/elne/index.shtml). 
Other             reading-related programs are similarly under way at the Northwest               Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), the Pacific Resources for              Education and Learning Laboratory (PREL), and the Mid-continent                 Research for Education and Learning Laboratory (McREL). Access to               information on these and other ongoing reading initiatives being                conducted by the Labs and Centers, respectively, is possible through            the following                                                                   sites: 
http://www.ed.gov/prog_info/Labs                                       
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ResCtr.html                                    REFERENCESCarlislie, J. (2001). A newcomer's view of current              research at CIERA. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the                 California Reading Conference, Ontario, CA. 
Center for Improvement            of Early Reading Achievement. Retrieved October 10, 2001, from                  http://www.ciera.org 
Kroeger, M., & Blaser, S. (1999). How reading            engages children. NCREL's Learning Point, 1(2). Spr/Sum. [ED 438                529] 
National Research Center on English Learning & Achievement.              Retrieved December 14, 2001, from http://cela.albany.edu 
North                Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Retrieved October 10, 2001,            from http://www.ncrel.org 
Northeast and Islands Regional                      Educational Laboratory at Brown University. Retrieved October 10,               2001, from http://lab.brown.edu/public/index.shtml & November 16,               2001, from http://knowledgeloom.org 
Southwest Educational                     Development Laboratory. Retrieved October 10, 2001 from                         http://www.sedl.org 
U.S. Department of Education Office of                    Educational Research and Improvement. Retrieved November 17, 2001,              from http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI 
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Digest #167 is                    EDO-CS-01-08 and was published in December 2001 by the ERIC                     Clearinghouse on Reading, English & Communication, 2805 E 10th St.,             Bloomington, IN 47408-2698, Telephone (812) 855-5847 or (800)                   759-4723. ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely               reproduced. Additional copies may be ordered by contacting the ERIC             Document Reproduction Service at (800) 443-3742. 
This project is              funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U S Department              of Education under contract number ED-99-CO-0028. The content of                this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies             of the US Department of Education nor does mention of trade names,              commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the US               Government.                                                                  **Title:** Highlights of Reading Research in the Labs and Centers of the U.S.              Department of Education. ERIC Digest.                                        **Note:** ERIC/REC Digest number D167.                                                 **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Indiana              University, 2805 E. 10th Street, Suite 140, Bloomington, IN                     47408-2698. Tel: 800-759-4723; Web site: http://eric.indiana.edu.            **Descriptors:**  Educational Development,  Educational Improvement, Educational                 Objectives, Elementary Secondary Education, Preschool Education,                 Reading Research                                                            **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  National Research and Development Centers, Office of             Educational Research and Improvement,  Regional Educational                     Laboratories                                                                 
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