Oct 9, 2026 | Assessment, Closing the Literacy Gap, Foundational Skills, Morpheme Lessons
About one student out of every four in the upper elementary and secondary school lacks adequate decoding skills (Tortorelli, 2025). As they progress through the early grades, most students learn basic phonics. However, a significant number fail to acquire the skills...
Aug 28, 2026 | Assessment, Foundational Skills, Reading Disability/Dyslexia
Early in my teaching career, as the newly appointed chair of a junior high’s reading department, I undertook the task of assigning all the school’s seventh graders to reading classes based on their reading levels. I planned to use the results of a national...
Aug 19, 2026 | Assessment, Foundational Skills
With the 2026-2027 school year beginning in some parts of the country and soon to start in others, I thought it might be helpful to post an updated version of this previously published blog, which presents information for easy-to-administer informal foundational...
May 24, 2026 | Foundational Skills, Morpheme Lessons
To Teachers The blog is designed for grades 3-4 and up but would be appropriate for any students in the upper grades who are not familiar with the morpheme being introduced. The main purpose of the blog is to develop students’ knowledge of bases (roots), prefixes, and...
May 16, 2026 | Foundational Skills, Morpheme Lessons
To Teachers The blog is designed for grades 3-4 and up but would be appropriate for any students in the upper grades who are not familiar with the morpheme(s) being introduced. The main purpose of the blog is to develop students’ knowledge of bases (roots), prefixes,...
May 9, 2026 | Foundational Skills, Morpheme Lessons
To Teachers The blog is designed for grades 3-4 and up but would be appropriate for any students in the upper grades who are not familiar with the morpheme(s) being introduced. The main purpose of the blog is to develop students’ knowledge of bases (roots), prefixes,...
