Building Capacity for Effective Reading Instruction through Collaborative Inquiry

Course Description No skill is more important to student achievement than the ability to read and derive meaning from the printed page. School improvement plans in virtually every school, regardless of grade level configuration, underscore the importance of all teachers working toward helping students to learn to read and to use their reading skills to learn key information in each subject area. It is no surprise that reading skills are often the first consideration in overall student achievement and the subject of a host of initiatives in every state. State and national grants, professional development efforts, and specific school improvement plans all focus upon helping students to be effective readers who can ultimately use reading and reasoning skills independently for a variety of purposes. This is especially significant with wide ranges of reading abilities that are present in today's classroom along with the challenge of teaching students who do not speak or read English. It is