Closing the Literacy Gap

Thomas G. Gunning

Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2006 - Education - 228 pages

At a time when so many pivotal education issues are closely tied to literacy and education policy, such as No Child Left Behind legislation, Tom Gunning provides critical insight into the key elements needed to close the literacy gap in America's schools, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Closing the Literacy Gap addresses the demands of the No Child Left Behind legislation and provides a wide range of recommendations and a great number of practical suggestions for closing the literacy gap. This much-awaited text builds from an early emphasis on creating a vision statement to implementing effective techniques and assessing for instruction. Unlike other texts, Gunning provides a coherent plan for program implementation that has proven to successfully close the literacy gap. The recommendations provided within the text are specific and detailed and are built on basic principles.

Contents

• The Literacy Gap: 1
• Programs That Close the Gap: 7
• The Role of Assessment in Closing the Gap: 21

About the author

Thomas G. Gunning has taught courses in methods of teaching reading and writing for more than 20 years and was director of the Reading Clinic at Southern Connecticut State University. Before that, as a secondary English teacher, a reading specialist, and an elementary school reading consultant, he worked extensively with achieving and struggling readers and writers. Dr. Gunning, who recently served as a Reading First consultant, is currently working with elementary and middle school students to help them develop higher level literacy skills, as well as serving as an adjunct professor in the Reading/Language Arts Department at Central Connecticut State University. Over the years, Dr. Gunning's research has explored reading interests, informal reading inventories, decoding strategies, readability, higher-level literacy skills, and response to intervention. As a result of this research, he has created a number of informal assessments and programs for developing decoding and comprehension skills.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Closing the Literacy Gap
• Author: Thomas G. Gunning
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2006
• Original from: the University of Virginia
• Digitized: Nov 30, 2009
• ISBN: 020545626X, 9780205456260
• Length: 228 pages
• Subjects: Education / Language Experience Approach; Education / Professional Development; Education / Schools / Levels / Elementary; Education / Teaching / Subjects / Reading & Phonics; Education / Vocational & Technical; Juvenile Nonfiction / Language Arts / General; Juvenile Nonfiction / Readers / Intermediate; Language Arts & Disciplines / Literacy; Language Arts & Disciplines / Reading Skills; Language Arts & Disciplines / Study & Teaching