Instructing Students Who Have Literacy Problems

This is the definitive book for understanding the teacher's role in reading remediation. Here is balanced treatment of the two elements of reading: word recognition and comprehension. Here is balanced treatment of the two elements of remediation reading: assessment and intervention. And here is an interactive model of the remediation process based on fundamental research into how children and adults acquire literacy. The author blends theory and research with a wealth of practical suggestions for integrating reading, writing, and spelling into remedial reading programs that are practical, effective, and viable for all struggling readers, including special populations. Includes discussion of high-stakes/low-stakes testing, description of computer-administered tests, and numerous examples of current tests. Also covers the differences in various popular reading inventories. For professionals in the field of teaching.

Sandra McCormick. Before assuming a teaching position at a university, Sandra McCormick taught as a fourth- and fifth-grade classroom teacher in schools comprised primarily of at-risk youngsters, served as a Title I reading teacher for elementary and middles-school students, worked as a Reading Resource Teacher assisting teachers in inner-city schools with their classroom reading and language arts programs, and supervised a citywide reading program that served 129 elementary schools in a large Midwestern city. She also was a television reading teacher, teaching children in eight cities in Ohio via a PBS program aimed at students with reading disabilities.

After receiving her Ph.D. at The Ohio State University, Dr. McCormick joined the faculty in the College of Education at that university where she taught courses on remedial and clinical reading assessment and instruction, and on methods for instructing students with learning disabilities. She also supervised a university-based reading clinic for a number of years.

Dr. McCormick is the author or editor of several books in addition to this one, including Remedial and Clinical Reading Instruction and Cognitive and Social Perspectives for Literacy Research and Instruction (the latter with Jerry Zutell). She publishes articles frequently in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Reading, Journal of Reading Behavior, Journal of Educational Research, Exceptional Children, Journal of Learning Disabilities, and Language Arts. Dr. McCormick was coeditor of the National Reading Conference Yearbook for three years and on the editorial advisory review board for several journals. Her research interest, as might be expected, is with students having literacy problems. Though her research focus was on comprehension instruction and reading/learning disabled students for several years, currently she is investigating ways to facilitate word learning with severely delayed readers, including nonreaders.

Dr. McCormick has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association, was a distinguished finalist in 1990 for the Albert J. Harris Award presented annually for significant research on reading disabilities, and has been elected to Fellow Status in the National Conference on Research in English. Dr. McCormick is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences, and she has regularly reviewed research and development proposals for the United States Department of Education.