Catching Readers, Grade 2: Day-by-Day Small-Group Reading Interventions (Research-Informed Classroom)

“When we're true to children's developmental needs and know which books to put in their hands, good things fall into place. The key is to focus on the children and the practices we know help them to read at each grade level,” says Barbara Taylor. These foundational beliefs have been the focus of Barbara Taylor's career and inspired her to create the Early Intervention in Reading (EIR) process. After more than two decades of classroom practice and refinement, Barbara Taylor has translated her EIR process into the Catching Readers series (Grades K, 1, 2, 3, and 4–5).

Powerful Intervention Strategies for Your Classroom

• Daily, small-group interventions help struggling kindergarteners read on level by spring.
• Instruction focuses on word recognition, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension development.
• The use of trade books and leveled books reinforces and extends guided reading instruction.
• Live-from-the-classroom video clips show the lessons in action.
• Practical classroom-tested teaching tools include 100+ pages of reproducibles for teachers and students.

Empowering Professional Development for Your School

• A clear consistent framework fosters schoolwide coherence and continuity.
• A month-by-month planning guide helps organize teaching across grade levels.
• The lessons in action video clips are ideal for group analysis.
• Dynamic Internet and consulting services support professional learning communities.

Based on a Scientifically Proven Program

The Early Intervention in Reading (EIR) program, developed by Barbara Taylor of the University of Minnesota, provides an in-class alternative to traditional pull-out remedial reading programs. It consists of supplemental instruction provided by the kindergarten classroom teacher rather than by other personnel. The program has been tested in several locales and has proven that teachers can intervene to support struggling readers.

Click here to learn more about the EIR program.

Click here to review EIR’s efficacy studies, research base, and teacher evaluations.
Click here to review the U.S. Department of Education What Works Clearinghouse Report.
Click here to review EIR's “promising rating” by the Promising Practices Network.

Nell K. Duke, Ed.D., is a professor in literacy, language, and culture and also in the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan. Duke received her Bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and her Masters and Doctoral degrees from Harvard University. Duke’s work focuses on early literacy development, particularly among children living in economic poverty. Her specific areas of expertise include the development of informational reading and writing in young children, comprehension development and instruction in early schooling, and issues of equity in literacy education. She has served as Co-Principal Investigator of projects funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation, among other organizations.

Duke has been named one of the most influential education scholars in the U.S. in EdWeek. In 2014, Duke was awarded the P. David Pearson Scholarly Influence Award from the Literacy Research Association, and in 2018 she received the International Literacy Association's William S. Gray Citation of Merit for outstanding contributions to research, theory, practice, and policy. She has also received the Michigan Reading Association Advocacy Award, the American Educational Research Association Early Career Award, the Literacy Research Association Early Career Achievement Award, the International Reading Association Dina Feitelson Research Award, the National Council of Teachers of English Promising Researcher Award, and the International Reading Association Outstanding Dissertation Award. 

Duke is author and co-author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her most recent book is Inside Information: Developing Powerful Readers and Writers of Informational Text through Project-based Instruction. She is co-author of the books Reading and Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades: Research-Based Practices; Literacy and the Youngest Learner: Best Practices for Educators of Children from Birth to Five; Beyond Bedtime Stories: A Parent’s Guide to Promoting Reading, Writing, and Other Literacy Skills From Birth to 5, now in its second edition; and Reading and Writing Genre with Purpose in K–8 Classrooms. She is co-editor of the Handbook of Effective Literacy Instruction: Research-based Practice K to 8 and Literacy Research Methodologies. She is also editor of The Research-Informed Classroom book series and co-editor of the Not This, But That book series. 

Duke has taught preservice, inservice and doctoral courses in literacy education, speaks and consults widely on literacy education, and is an active member of several literacy-related organizations. Among other roles, she currently serves as advisor for the Public Broadcasting Service/Corporation for Public Broadcasting Ready to Learn initiative, an expert for NBC News Learn, and advisor to the Council of Chief State School Officers Early Literacy Networked Improvement Community. She has served as author or consultant on several educational programs, including Connect4Learning: The Pre-K Curriculum; Information in Action: Reading, Writing, and Researching with Informational Text; Engaging Families in Children’s Literacy Development: A Complete Workshop Series; Buzz About IT (Informational Text); iOpeners; National Geographic Science K-2; and the DLM Early Childhood Express. Duke also has a strong interest in improving the quality of educational research training in the U.S.

Barbara Taylor has been active in reading research and outreach to schools throughout her career as a professor at the University of Minnesota. In addition to developing the Early Intervention in Reading model, Taylor has published widely on reading comprehension, effective reading instruction, and successful school-wide reading improvement in journals, including Reading Research Quarterly, Elementary School Journal, and The Reading Teacher. In 2010 she was awarded the Oscar Causey Award for Distinguished Contributions to Reading Research from the National Reading Conference, the latest in a long line of awards.