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Louise Rosenblatt
Rosenblatt believed all readers interpret text differently based on their own experiences, emotions, and background. She claims there are two main types of reading. Aesthetic reading: the personal response to reading, and efferent reading: extracting information for the text being read. Her concepts for reading changed how literature was taught in school, students' interpretations and analyzes of books were to take priority over traditional interpretations. -
Sociocultural Theory
The Sociocultural Theory created by Vygotsky highlighted the role of those social interactions and cultural relevance played on cognitive development and literacy learning. One of the concepts within the Sociocultural Theory is called the Zone of Proximal Development. ZPD is commonly portrayed as a circle and defines what a child can do independently, can do with guidance, and can't do at all. -
Kathryn Au
Kathryn Au believed teachers have the biggest impacts on students and cultural knowledge and experiences should be used in classrooms. She recommended teachers help children make connections between their home and school language. Au focused on incorporating diverse perspectives in curriculum, actively engaging students from different backgrounds, and fostering a classroom environment that values students' cultural identities and experiences. -
Head Start Program
In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson established the Head Start Program during the War on Poverty in an effort to bring early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement to low-income families. This program helped improve inclusivity of education when education prior to first grade was not required. -
Simple View of Reading
The framework that proposes that reading comprehension is comprised of decoding (D) and language comprehension (LC). Decoding is the ability to accurately read words and language comprehension is the ability to understand spoken language. You must have both D and LC for skilled reading, if one or both of the two components is weak then overall reading comprehension will be a struggle for the reader. -
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
NCLB was signed into effect by President Bush in an effort to improve schools by holding them accountable for students' performance. NCLB implemented standardized testing for reading and math in all public schools in an effort to raise scores to "proficient". Teachers were also held to a higher standard and required more certifications to teach. In 2015, NCLB was rewritten under Obama and enacted into law as the Every Student Succeeds Act.