Page 3 - In Focus Newsletter_April 2019

Improving Reading Outcomes for Students with

Special Needs

To support public school districts in improving reading
outcomes of its students with special needs, this
month's Hanover Research brief reviews strategies
and professional development delivery models to
support student literacy learning.

The first section on strategies to improve literacy
achievement for special needs students discusses the
identification, assessment, and progress monitoring of

students struggling in reading, as well as strategies to support these students. Hanover identifies
strategies for primary and secondary students with reading disabilities, and for students with
broader intellectual disabilities.

The second section, professional development delivery, first provides an overview of the focus of
professional development in supporting high-needs students for general and special education
teachers. Hanover then identifies the characteristics of effective professional development,
discusses collaborative delivery models, and highlights two research-supported literacy-focused
professional development delivery models.

C l i c k h e r e t o d o w n l o a d t h e b r i e f

Assessing The Atlantic’s Views of Literacy,

Knowledge and Culture

In a widely-circulated article, The Atlantic’s Natalie
Wexler claims that “Schools are Failing to Teach
Students to Read.” Citing data from the NAEP, she
claims that literacy has not progressed in 20 years.
Wexler argues the legitimate point that students

would be well served by a broader curriculum that
cultivates background knowledge from multiple
subjects. Her argument, however, relies on a
narrow, ethnocentric conception of what
constitutes academic knowledge, rendering
invisible the “funds of knowledge” nurtured in the
diverse communities of today’s student
population.
C l i c k h e r e t o r e a d t h e o p / e d