There is reason for concern that standardized testing may be diminishing the development of reading comprehension. In this segment we discuss the specific risks to reading comprehension and outline specific strategies for developing strong reading comprehension skills.

The gap in reading skills between various ethnic, racial and economic groups persists. In fact large numbers of American children have serious literacy problems. In this segment we take an up close look at the latest data on the causes of the literacy gap and current thinking on how to close it.

Phonics has been a controversial practice in the educational field for decades and opinion about the appropriate role of phonics has evolved. So here in the 21st century, what should educators be thinking about in terms of what constitutes effective and appropriate phonics instruction? Tune in and get up to date on the latest thinking on the subject of phonics.

Response to intervention (RTI) is a strategy to help educators identify students with learning disabilities as early as possible and intervene appropriately. It is drawing increased attention these days. This segment explores how RTI compares with more traditional approaches and explains the role classroom teachers and reading specialist play in the RTI approach.

Three years of effort has produced IRA's revised Standards for Reading Professionals. The first update since 2003, the document integrates the most applicable new research on reading instruction and reading assessment. In this segment we discuss why this document is so important to the IRA and to the profession at large and offer recommendations on how to make the best use of this material in your own practice.

Dolly Parton's Literacy initiative is called the Imagination Library project. The program gives a book a month to over 600,000 children from zero until their fifth birthday. Beginning in Tennessee, the program now reaches over 1200 communities in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Tune in and discover how this program is promoting literacy in the 21st century.

Our guest shares insights on the process of getting young children to embrace reading as part of a life time strategy for achieving their life goals. Ellery shares a some field-tested techniques.

There is overwhelming evidence of a gender gap between boys and girls in reading. This is an accelerating international phenomenon. Our guest suggests that male role models and current notions of masculinity may be contributing factors. What are the implications long term? How do we close the gap? Brozo shares some field tested strategies.

It's a new world out there requiring some new skills as well as many of the tried and tested fundamentals for developing literacy. In this segment Patricia Edwards shares with us some of the "next practices" in preparing children for literacy.

Peter Johnston makes a compelling case for the notion that the world has so fundamentally changed that the meaning of literacy has to be redefined. Peter discusses a new initiative to rethink what literacy means today along with new standards for measuring it.

Dr. JoAnne Deshon's creative application of basic and new literacy skills won her a Presidential award. In this segment Dr. Deshon underscores the link between literacy and excellence in science and shares her strategies for using reading, writing, email and podcasting to effectively engage children.

Increasingly, teachers today are working with children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Classrooms that do not acknowledge cultural differences contribute to the literacy achievement gap. This segment presents specific strategies and techniques to help teachers provide more culturally responsive instruction.