Promoting Third Grade Reading Proficiency
National Governor’s Association
Policy Institute
May, 2012
Dorothy S. Strickland, Ph.D.
Professor of Education Emerita
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
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Overview
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Importance of a “good start”
in literacy education
Research evidence on -providing a “good start”
Some Issues and Concerns
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Increased recognition of --
The Importance of a Good Start
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What it means to be literate has changed.
Expectations for student performance have
increased.
Expectations for teacher performance have
changed.
Accountability for student achievement is at
the center of school reform.
The demographics of the student population
have changed,
There is increased concern for children considered to be
“at risk” for failure.
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Example: key research findings on The Home Environment
Meaningful Differences
Averages for measures of parent and child language and test scores
Families
Measures and scores
Pretest score
IQ score at age 3
Recorded vocabulary
size
Average utterances per
hour
Average different
words per hour
13 Professional
Parent Child
41
117
2,176 1,116
23 Working-class 6 Welfare____
Parent Child
Parent Child
31
14
107
79
1,498
749
974
525
487
310
301
223
176
168
382
297
251
216
167
149
(Hart & Risley, 1995)
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Example: Key research findings on The Achievement Gap
The Early Childhood Years - Impact
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“Taken together, we estimate that at
least half of the black-white gap that
exists at the end of twelfth grade can
be attributed to the gap that already
existed at the beginning of first
grade. The remainder of the gap
seems to emerge during the school
years”
from M. Phillips (2000) analyzed several achievement gap
related surveys in an attempt to describe age related
changes in the Black-White gap as children move
through the grades (NCES)
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Research Findings related to literacy achievement:
National Reading Panel (2000)
National Early Literacy Panel (2008)
National Reading Panel
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Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Vocabulary
Fluency
Comprehension
Nat. Early Literacy Panel
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Alphabet Knowledge
Phonological/
Phonemic Awareness
Concepts About Print
Oral Language
RAN (Rapid Automatic
Naming)
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Promoting Third Grade Reading Proficiency
Issues and Concerns
Issue #1.
Early Literacy Standards
The positive side - Early Literacy Standards
help to 
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establish a shared vision
provide curriculum content
establish reasonable expectations
provide clear links to accountability
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Promoting Third Grade Reading Proficiency
Issues and Concerns
Issue #1cont. Early Literacy Standards
The negative side - Early Literacy Standards may 

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be viewed as discrete and separate skills
to be addressed in isolation
inadvertently narrow the curriculum in
their implementation
be ignored or misunderstood by those
who must implement them
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Making Informed Decisions about --
Promoting Third Grade Reading Proficiency
Issues and Concerns
Issue #2 - Curriculum
 Organization and management
 Differentiated instruction
 Coordinated use of materials
 Intentional teaching of skills and
strategies within an integrated approach
 Greater focus on higher order skills:
critical thinking and problem solving
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Making Informed Decisions about --
Promoting Third Grade Reading Proficiency
Issues and Concerns
Issue # 3 - Accountability
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National and state reform initiatives are
increasingly accompanied by calls for
accountability systems that are tied to
standards for children, teachers, and
programs.
There is growing concern about the types
of assessments used to establish
accountability and about their use in
making effective decisions about policy
and practice.
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Making Informed Decisions about --
Promoting Third Grade Reading Proficiency
Issues and Concerns
Issue # 4 - Teacher Quality
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Teacher quality is highly related to
student achievement.
What effective teachers of young children
need to know and be able to do has
increased dramatically.
High quality, ongoing, and embedded
professional development is essential.
Knowledgeable administrators and
effective literacy coaches can make an
enormous difference.
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Promoting Third Grade Reading Proficiency
Providing the best we have to offer
Making effective decisions for each child
Effective Decision-Making about
Third Grade Reading Proficiency will  - be based on what is known about how
young children learn and how we best
teach them;
 - be linked to both standards and
assessment;
 - include informed administrative support,
high quality materials, and links to the
home;
 - include high quality professional
development for ALL involved.
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