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Q: Do strong early literacy skills guarantee later reading and academic success?

A: No. While early literacy skills are important, they’re not enough to ensure later school success.

Four literacy experts lay out the evidence in this compelling book, based on the well-known Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development that inspired the landmark resourceBeginning Literacy with Language.

Following a group of children living in low-income families from preschool through high school, the authors charted the students’ outcomes using test data to reflect language and literacy skills, self-report data reflecting motivation and engagement in school, and interviews with students, teachers, and parents. Through the sobering discoveries made during this long-term study, readers will discover the critical importance of factors such as

• ongoing reading support in middle school and high school, especially in the area of comprehension
• academic and emotional support from teachers and parents
• the intermediate steps needed to achieve long-term goals
• risk factors such as attending multiple schools, family disruption, and social-emotional difficulties

Readers will also see how the specific risk factor of poverty relates to achievement, motivation, and school climate, and how elements of a special education model—more student/teacher interaction, smaller class size, and student directed learning—could enhance the quality of educational programs serving all adolescents.

With this enlightening, meticulously researched book, all education professionals will gain a better understanding of factors critical to school success—and learn how to develop programs that go beyond K–3 literacy to help adolescents reach their full potential.