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Advocating for All Children
FROM THE EDITORS
The Reading Teacher Vol. 70 No. 4 pp. 393–394 doi:10.1002/trtr.1549 © 2016 International Literacy Association
G
andhi’s quote is a reminder that a quality
education is crucial for our world’s children.
We chose Advocating for All Children as the
theme for this issue because all children need an ad-
vocate, whether that is a parent, a classroom teacher,
or a professional organization that takes a stand to
support children’s literacy. The verb form of advo-
cate, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English
(Stevenson, 2015), means “to publicly recommend
or support.” Many educational professional organi-
zations as well human rights organizations advo-
cate on behalf of children. They do this through the
professional papers they publish, declarations they
make, and laws they help pass.
The International Literacy Association (ILA) is a
global advocacy and membership organization that
offers its members a wealth of resources to support
children, such as Where We Stand (www.literacy
worldwide.org/about-us/where-we-stand). This sec-
tion of ILA’s website provides child advocates with
resources for important literacy topics, such as assess-
ment best practices, Common Core standards, and
educational policy topics. One recently published item
is a position statement on the reauthorization of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the reauthorized
ESEA, formerly known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB),
is important for all Americans to know because ESSA
was signed into law in 2015 by President Obama. ILA
provides a helpful tool kit for understanding ESSA on
the Where We Stand section of its website.
Providing resources, professional development
to support teachers, and comprehensive literacy
To reach real peace in the world, we will have to begin
with the children. (Gandhi)
Jan Lacina,
Robin Griffith
programs is essential for the literate future of the
next generation. In this issue, you will read pieces
from authors who are literacy advocates; they con-
nect theory to practice and are determined to find
new and innovative ways to increase our children’s
literacy levels.
In this issue’s Inside Track, “Learning From the
Past: What ESSA Has the Chance to Get Right,”
Danielle V. Dennis takes a stand—advocating for
educators and scholars to work with other stake-
holders to understand the new ESSA. She calls for
advocates to redefine NCLB and ESSA to include best
practices for literacy education. Dennis explains that
ESSA may provide opportunities to move away from
NCLB models and toward a curriculum that supports
the development of teacher expertise and children’s
reading behaviors. Educators, and those who advo-
cate for children worldwide, need to pay attention
to this legislation. There is a lot we can learn from
past legislative challenges, and mistakes, to build on
a brighter and more literate future for our children.
There are many fascinating and timely feature
articles in this issue. The first is “E-Books and
E-Book Apps: Considerations for Beginning Readers”
by Celeste C. Bates, Adria Klein, Barbara Schubert,
Lea McGee, Nancy Anderson, Linda Dorn, Erin
McClure, and Rachael Huber Ross. In this article, the
authors provide useful considerations for teachers
as they select e-books and e-book applications for
beginning readers. The authors’ suggested frame-
work for making such selections is helpful to teach-
ers who seek to include e-books and e-book apps in
their classrooms.
Cathy A. Toll presents a critical article for all
schools and districts with literacy coaches. Her arti-
cle, “A Problem-Solving Model for Literacy Coaching
Practice,” provides details of literacy coaches’
plans for their collaborations with teachers. In this
problem-solving model, Toll notes key tasks for lit-
eracy coaches that will benefit them in assisting
their teacher partners.
Tessa Daffern offers “What Happens When a
Teacher Uses Metalanguage to Teach Spelling?” In
her case study, Daffern describes a year 4 Australian
classroom teacher and one student in the class. This
case study illustrates the importance of teacher
knowledge in spelling and linguistics as this teach-
er applied her pedagogical knowledge to encourage