Learning to Read and Write in One Elementary School

Book excerpt: This unique book presents a four-year longitudinal study of the literacy development of children attending an Austin, Texas area elementary school. The reading and writing development of this microcosm of "at-risk" children was followed as they progressed from first through fourth grade. The author poses the question, "What skills and abilities of the child, and what classroom factors, appear to foster literacy development?" Included here are the author's models of reading and writing acquisition, and application of these models to six children: three with literacy problems and three with successful literacy development. Interviews with the children are presented along with measures of their cognitive development and skills, samples of their reading and writing from and throughout the four year study, and an examination of their successes and failures in relations to the models presented in earlier chapters. Additionally, one chapter examines school-related factors that may play a role in the children's reading development. The book is intended for graduate students at all levels and literacy researchers who are interested in the process of literacy acquisition as it occurs in the school setting.