A Road Map Towards Greater Equality in Reading Instruction: Concluding Discussion

• In Event: The Role of Pre-Service Education in Producing and Perpetuating (In)Equalities: The Case of Early Grade Reading Part TWO

Proposal

After a maximum of 40 minutes of discussion in each case study group, the entire audience will reconvene to report-out on the major recommendations and findings from each of the case studies. Similarities in challenges and solutions will be identified. Then, together, the groups will consider and respond to these “capstone” questions intended to summarize the learning from both parts one and two of the panel:

1. What pre-requisites need to be in place, if any, for effective work to take place on integrating training in reading into pre-service teacher education institutions?
2. What strategies seem most effective in surpassing barriers to adapting pre-service coursework so that a focus on evidence-based reading instruction can become a standard element in pre-service teacher education?
3. What lessons learned today about approaches, pacing, modalities, and scale-up could be applicable to the majority of programs seeking to integrate training on early grade reading into pre-service training curricula and institutions?
4. What further research, evidence-sharing, or community discussion are needed to facilitate greater success in integrating early grade reading as a topic of study into the pre-service curricula of the countries where we work?

By working together to propose answers to these questions, participants will have an opportunity to generate principles and transformative practices that all members of the education community can use in the future to help create sustainable, evidence-based pre-service training options in early grade reading that help combat the gross inequalities created by the worldwide reading crisis.

Author

• Sylvia Linan-Thompson, University of Oregon