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  • Presentation Posted 12/15/2010

    Literacy Research Association 2010

    Literacy Research Association/NRC
    A Legacy in Literacy: Practice, Policies, and Research in Early Reading

    When: Friday, December 1, 2010
    Conference location: Ft. Worth, TX
    Conference website: www.nrconline.org

    Beyond the Decodable Text and Leveled Book Paradigms: What Beginning Readers Really Need
    Heidi Anne Mesmer
    Elfrieda Hiebert
    James W. Cunningham

    Click here to download the conference handout

  • Publication Posted 11/08/2010

    Reading Research Report 10-01

    An Examination of Current Text Difficulty Indices with Early Reading Texts

    Elfrieda H. Hiebert, TextProject, Inc.
    P. David Pearson, University of California, Berkeley

    Click here to download.

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    The texts of beginning reading instruction influence children’s reading performances, which, in turn, predict subsequent success. This report describes how well two quantitative indices identified in the Common Core State Standards—Lexiles and Coh-Metrix—discriminate among different levels and types of beginning reading texts. The differences across text levels predicted by Lexiles were due to sentence length, not vocabulary. Only one of five Coh-Metrix measures—referential cohesion—predicted increased difficulty of beginning texts. Neither system gave sufficiently specific information to match beginning readers with texts. Other systems are needed to make optimal matches between beginning readers and texts.

  • Presentation Posted 10/25/2010

    The Role of Text in Developing Reading Fluency and Comprehension UPDATED VERSION

    Presentation Synopsis
    On September 22, 2010 Freddy presented an updated version of The Role of Text in Developing Reading Fluency and Comprehension. Dr. Freddy Hiebert discussed why text matters in developing reading fluency. Texts that contain too many difficult words frustrate beginning readers. This presentation examined key features in texts that support fluency and comprehension. Dr. Hiebert also closely examined the texts in core reading programs to highlight the need for texts that increase reading fluency and comprehension. This updated version of the presentation includes an explanation of how QuickReads fits in with the Common Core Standards.

    Includes Presentation Slides Accompanied by Audio of the Lecture