Blog Posts

Adolescents need strong reading skills in order to fully access content-area curricula and prepare for success after high school. Yet 30% of students in upper grades read below basic. In part one of a conversation with Pivot Learning, Linda Diamond — author of the Teaching Reading Sourcebook — shares some of the reasons why reading […]

As a young child, Keyon Anderson knew that his brain didn’t work like other people’s. His peers were learning to read and he wasn’t. His teachers told him to try harder. His mother was told he would grow out of his reading difficulties. Keyon was diagnosed with a processing disorder and held back in the […]

Evidence-based practices that work easily in the classroom can be a challenge when teaching remotely. Pivot Learning’s Dr. Monica Ng and CORE’s Dr. Carrie Thomas Beck had a conversation over Zoom with Dr. Anita Archer — author and beloved teacher of teachers — about how to adapt explicit instruction for distance learning. In this four-part […]

by Linda Diamond, President, CORE and author of Teaching Reading Sourcebook and Assessing Reading: Multiple Measures “Once you learn to read you will be forever free.” Frederick Douglass As I get ready to retire from CORE in late December, I have been looking back at all of those who guided us along the way. CORE started inside an […]

Like many educators, teacher/consultant David Hedges has been teaching his 7th graders using a hybrid model this school year. Each day, Mr. Hedges has students sitting at socially distanced desks in his classroom as well as students joining by Zoom. Watch the 30-minute conversation with CORE’s Director of Mathematics, Dean Ballard, to learn Mr. Hedge’s […]

Explicit instruction is an important component of effective reading instruction, especially when teaching students with word reading difficulties. But many explicit instruction techniques are more difficult to implement when teaching remotely. Pivot Learning’s Dr. Monica Ng and CORE’s Dr. Carrie Thomas Beck had a conversation over Zoom with Dr. Anita Archer — author and beloved […]

Pajaro Valley Unified School District (CA) students whose teachers participated in training and instructional coaching provided by CORE achieved greater growth in their reading skills. Many factors contribute to student achievement but research conducted by SEG Measurement, an education research, evaluation, and assessment firm, has found that professional development provided by CORE moves the needle […]

Welcome to the Fall 2020 edition of the CORE Academic Quarterly newsletter! In this edition of the Academic Quarterly, the Reading Expert shares recommendations and resources to help you better support students with dyslexia when they are participating in remote learning. The Marvelous Mathematician shares many techniques to help students with dyslexia overcome their challenges […]

This is the third video in a series of free on-demand professional learning videos from CORE and Pivot Learning* that feature expert advice about supporting students with word reading difficulties. Racial, ethnic and socio-economic inequality in education unfortunately has a long and persistent history in the United States. These inequities are especially profound when it […]

This is the second video in a series of free on-demand professional learning videos from CORE and Pivot Learning* that feature expert advice about supporting students with word reading difficulties. Many educators are building their skills to be effective in remote learning environments and want to know how to meet the needs of all their […]

During the 2018–19 school year CORE provided training to primary grade teachers and administrators in Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) in the science of reading and how use the Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Sight words (SIPPS) reading foundational skills program. This professional learning was followed by modified lesson studies that provided […]

A must-read blog by Barbara Crook, an ELA editor at Victory Productions, that clearly articulates the flaws in balanced literacy. An uneasy peace has settled over the land regarding phonics instruction and its critical contribution to reading competency. Since the heyday of whole language, phonics has returned to classrooms as part of a “balanced literacy” […]

By Dean Ballard, Director of Mathematics, CORE Remote instruction has moved to the top of almost everyone’s list of concerns. We are asking ourselves how to do it, will students be there, what will actually be learned, and what will this mean when we return to face-to-face instruction? I cannot tackle all of this in […]

by Linda Diamond, founder & former president, CORE and author of Teaching Reading Sourcebook and Assessing Reading: Multiple Measures I just finished listening to Emily Hanford’s last podcast on APM, What the Words Say. My husband wanted to know why I was crying.  I answered, “because I am so angry and so frustrated.” We have known for […]

Under the Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act (READ Act), passed by the Colorado legislature in 2012, all kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers must complete evidence-based training in teaching reading by the 2021-22 school year. The Colorado Department of Education recently approved CORE’s in-person and Online Elementary Reading Academies along with the Language Conventions […]