Literacy and Reading

Diving In
By Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
Help students get to the bottom of close reading and complex texts.

• Achieve the Core is a non-profit organization established by the chief architects of the CCSS. Its website offers tools such as turnkey PD resources, CCSS-aligned lessons using readings featured in existing basals, and leadership tools for working with parents and faculty.
• The Fisher and Frey Channel on YouTube features many video lessons of close reading in elementary classrooms, as well as other examples of quality instruction.

When Old Becomes New
Aradhana Mudambi
Bringing vocabulary instruction back into our schools.

• BalancedReading.com discusses the Matthew Effect in more detail.
• “Choosing Which Word to Teach” provides guidance for choosing appropriate vocabulary words.
• The Marzano Research Laboratory provides a list of common Tier II and Tier III words from which principals and teachers can select.

Digital Native Does Not Equal Digital Literacy
By Ann M. Martin and Kathleen R. Roberts
By working together, principals, librarians, and teachers can transform learning environments to ensure that students achieve digital literacy.

• Visit the website for the American Association of School Librarians, which features a list of Best Apps for Teaching and Learning.
• Visit the Principal magazine archives to access “Safe Digital Citizenship,” which explores online safety, professional learning for staff, and continuing education for parents.
• The Common Sense Education website features free materials on topics such as digital citizenship and blended learning.

New Arts + Literacy Standards = Opportunity
NAESP’s Gail Connelly discusses the intersection of arts-integration, college- and career-ready standards, and pre-K-3 with NAESP President Mark White and NAEA President Dennis Inhulsen.

• Listen to this entire interview about arts and literacy standards on NAESP Radio.
• Review the National Core Arts Standards in dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts. The website provides resources by discipline and grade band.
• Review best practices from the Champion Creatively Alive Children grant program, a joint project between NAESP and Crayola. The winning schools and their projects have been featured in a special Principal supplement for the past four years. (Applications for the 2015 grant program are due June 22, 2015.)
• Download NAESP’s new standards for aligning early learning, Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities: Competencies for Effective Principal Practice.

Best Practices in Action
By H.J. Cummins
Nine principals share their successful strategies for school leadership.

• The Principal Story Learning Guide is a free, online resource featuring interactive units with activities based on each of the five key practices of effective principals.
• In Great School Leadership in Action, a series of free videos produced in 2012, principals from five different school districts reflect on techniques that have worked for them.
• The full report, The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning, is available for free.

Strategies for Aligning Pre-K-3
By Susan McLester
Education researchers, policymakers, and thought leaders provide insight into the principal’s role in aligning early childhood education.

• Download the executive summary as well as the full version of Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities.
• For additional policy perspectives, read “The Path to Lifelong Success Begins With P-3,” by Kristie Kauerz and “Spreading the Word on Early Childhood Education,” by Helen Blank and Karen Schulman, from the Principal magazine archives.
• The U.S. Department of Education’s Early Learning Web page outlines the department’s early learning plan, and features fact sheets and other resources.