Archive for Announcements

Pilgrim Tours, in conjunction with Shepherd University in West Virginia, is offering a tour of Costa Rica from July 26-August 9 that will include the International Reading Association’s 22nd World Congress on Reading, which will be held July 28-31 just outside San Jose, Costa Rica. The tour leaders are longtime IRA member Larry Kenney and Virginia Hicks.

Up to three credit hours of undergraduate or graduate credit may be earned at a cost of $35 per credit hour. Only five openings remain on the tour.

For further information about the tour, visit the Pilgrim Tours website and contact Tim Nyce at tnyce@pilgrimtours.com.

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) has announced the recipients of the third annual RIF Program Excellence Honors 2008, sponsored by MetLife Foundation. The 25 honored programs and their volunteers will be recognized by RIF during a celebration in Washington, D.C., June 16–18, for successfully partnering with outside organizations to advance children’s literacy in their communities.

“RIF commends these programs and their community partners for helping children and their families discover the joy of reading,” said Carol H. Rasco, RIF president and CEO. The 25 outstanding programs were selected from a pool of approximately 3,500 RIF programs nationwide including public schools, Indian reservations, sororities, fraternities, libraries, television stations, corporations, and law firms. Children in these programs benefit from having reading role models that included NBA players, teen tutors, and grandparents. For more, including a list of winners, visit the RIF website.

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report “Findings from the Pilot Teacher Compensation Survey: School Year 2005-06 (NCES 2008-440).” This publication contains summary data from the research and development effort to collect individual salary and demographic data on public school teachers. Seven states participated in this effort: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Data from full-time public school teachers who teach at only one school were included in the analysis. Median salaries and counts for different groupings by experience, age, race, and gender are presented. To view, download and print the report, visit The National Center for Education Statistics website.

The Boston Digital Bridge Foundation’s Technology Goes Home @ School Program at the Lilla G. Frederick Middle School in Boston, Massachusetts, has been selected as the national winner of the Second Annual Verizon Tech Savvy Awards. The program will receive a $25,000 award to continue and expand.

Through the Technology Goes Home program, Boston public school teachers provide computer and technology training to students and their parents after school or on weekends. Since it began in 1999, more than 3,500 families in Boston have completed the 25 hours of training. The Frederick Middle School, in collaboration with the Digital Bridge Foundation will have trained over 200 families this year. In addition to the national winner, four other programs were recognized as regional winners and each will receive a $5,000 grant.

Learning Beyond the Classroom, the ReadWriteThink.org site designed to help children and teens build their literacy learning outside of school, is growing!
The site now offers even more activities for children ages 4 to 18 and includes booklists, reading logs, book review podcasts, and best practice videos to help caregivers and tutors make the most of summer reading and writing opportunities.

To see all of these features and more, please visit www.readwritethink.org/beyondtheclassroom/summer. Spread the word about this great resource!!!

ReadWriteThink.org is a nonprofit website maintained by the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English, with support from the Verizon Foundation and in association with the Thinkfinity.org program.

World Book Day 2008 in the United Kingdom and Ireland will take place Thursday, March 6. The origins of the day of celebration in these countries come from Catalonia, where roses and books were given as gifts to loved ones on St. George’s Day—a tradition that started more than 80 years ago.

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. On this day a free book token is given to all school children in the UK and Ireland. The book tokens are for £1.00 in the UK and €1.50 in Ireland. They can be used to buy one of the books that are released especially for the day and cost the value of the token, or be put toward purchasing any other book or audiobook. In other countries World Book Day takes place at a different time of year, usually in April. For further information, visit the World Book Day website.

Under the Eurasia/South Asia Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), the U.S. Department of State and IREX (the International Research & Exchanges Board) announce a competition for middle and high school teachers from the United States to participate in a two-week professional exchange program in one of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, or Ukraine.

Eligible applicants must be: 1) secondary-level (middle or high school), teaching professionals with five or more years of classroom experience in disciplines including English as a Foreign Language, English Language or Literature, and social sciences (including social studies, civics, and history); 2) U.S. citizens, and 3) able to travel April 3-17, 2009.

The program is fully funded and provides visa support, round-trip domestic airfare, lodging and meals to attend the TEA U.S. Conference, round-trip airfare from the United States to the assigned country in Eurasia or South Asia, emergency medical evacuation plan, recommended vaccinations, and lodging and a daily stipend in the host country. The application deadline is April 29, 2008.

For further information, download the application form. You also can contact Anne Millazzo of IREX by phone at 202-628-8188, ext 197, or by e-mail at tea@irex.org.

The Eurasia/South Asia Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), a bilateral exchange program that provides professional development for secondary school teachers from the United States, Eurasia, and South Asia, is seeking applicants for a two-week international exchange program. In spring 2009, 15 U.S. teachers will visit Eurasian and South Asian countries for two weeks to work with international secondary school teachers.

Prior to the U.S. teachers’ visit, 60 international teachers will travel to the United States in fall 2008 to take part in six-week professional development programs at U.S. colleges or universities. The selected U.S. teachers will participate in the TEA U.S. Conference together with the international teachers in early November, 2008, and travel for a two-week visit to one of the TEA eligible countries to be hosted by one or two TEA international teachers and their schools. For more information or to apply, visit the International Research & Exchanges Boardwebsite.

President George W. Bush has nominated six individuals to serve on the National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board. The board provides leadership on literacy issues, including the improvement of reading instruction for children, youth and adults. Timothy Shanahan of Illinois, former president of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association (2006-2007), is one of the six. He will serve until November 25, 2010. All of the nominees require Senate confirmation.

The others named are:
•Perri Klass, of New York, for the remainder of a three-year term ending November 25, 2009
•Katherine Mitchell, of Alabama, for the remainder of a three-year term ending November 25, 2010
•Eduardo J. Padron, of Florida, for the remainder of a three-year term ending 11/25/09
•Alexa E. Posny, of Kansas, for the remainder of a three-year term ending 11/25/08
•Richard Kenneth Wagner, of Florida, for the remainder of a three-year term ending 11/25/09

The National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board is authorized under the No Child Left Behind act to help children, youth and adults learn to read by supporting and disseminating scientifically-based reading research. In consultation with the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, the institute serves as a national resource on current, comprehensive literacy research, practice, and policy.

See the news release on the United States Department of Education website.

The year 2008 has been proclaimed International Year of Languages by the United Nations General Assembly. As language issues are central to UNESCO's mandate in education, science, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information, the organization has been named the lead agency for this event.

To celebrate the International Year of Languages, UNESCO invites governments, United Nations organizations, civil society organizations, educational institutions, professional associations and all other stakeholders to increase their own activities to promote and protect all languages, particularly endangered languages, in all individual and collective contexts. Read more about how you can participate in the International Year of Languages on the UNESCO website.

Education for All by 2015: Will we make it? asks the title of the 2008 edition of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, launched November 29, 2007, at the United Nations in New York. Published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and Oxford University Press, the sixth edition of the annual Report is a mid-term review of progress towards the six EFA goals established in 2000. Consult the full report, summary report, regional overviews, statistical search tool, background papers, and video interviews at the UNESCO website.

On Wednesday, November 28, 2007, the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) will release the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2006: Highlights of Ontario Results. PIRLS is a worldwide reading literacy assessment of fourth-grade students undertaken every five years and sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. It was administered in Ontario by EQAO on behalf of the provincial government. A total of 45 countries and provinces participated in the 2006 administration of PIRLS. Ontario took part in the study along with four other Canadian provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Quebec. Highlights of the provincial results and a complete PIRLS 2006 Ontario Report in English, including a breakdown of English- and French-language student results, will be available on EQAO’s website, www.eqao.com, as of 10:00 a.m.

The Verizon Foundation will provide $1.2 million in grants to educational organizations in 17 states to raise awareness of the free educational resources available on Thinkfinity.org and to train teachers to use the comprehensive, Web-based program. Thinkfinity.org is the Verizon Foundation’s free online portal to 55,000 educational resources, including standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans, and other student interactive tools and materials for students provided in partnership with 11 of the nation’s leading educational and literacy organizations, including the International Reading Association.

Everyone wants to be an American Idol or have a few minutes of fame on America’s Got Talent. Now there’s a way schools can become “Stars,” too.

In their latest joint venture, the International Reading Association (IRA) and Rotary International (RI) have developed “Every School a Star,” a Web-based resource designed to help Rotary clubs and IRA reading councils cooperate on literacy projects.

Asociación Peruana de Lectura (APELEC), a not-for-profit association located in Peru and an affiliate of the International Reading Association, is building a mobile library that can be deployed in communities destroyed by recent earthquakes in Peru.

Organizers of the project, titled “Happiness Is Reading and Writing: A bibliotherapy project for children and families in Peru,” are seeking assistance in obtaining school supplies and other materials.

Interested individuals and councils should contact APELEC representative Gloria Vilchezz (e-mail: gloriavilchezz@yahoo.com) for more information.

 The 2008 Government Relations Workshop hosted by the International Reading Association on February 21–22, 2008 in Washington, D.C., will help you strengthen your advocacy efforts and actively impact legislation such as the reauthorization of NCLB. You will learn about federal and state legislative issues and have the opportunity to communicate directly with your congressional leaders or their staffs.

This is a no-cost workshop for IRA members hosted by IRA’s Washington Office and the Government Relations Committee. There is a fully refundable $50.00 registration fee. This fee is refunded upon notification of cancellation or when attending the conference. This policy is to provide an accurate meal count to IRA. We will provide a breakfast and working lunch on Friday. All other related expenses (transportation, lodging, food, and entertainment) are the responsibility of the workshop attendees. Many participants receive funding from their state councils to help pay for costs.

Feel free to call the IRA Washington office with questions regarding the workshop at 202-624-8800 or contact us via e-mail. Updates for the Workshop will be posted on the IRA website, www.reading.org. We look forward to seeing you in February 2008.

October 15-21 has been designated as Give Kids Good Schools Week. This project of the Public Education Network is designed to boost public involvement in and support of public education. For further information, visit the project website.

The National Vocabulary Championship, a nationwide academic competition that offers high school students the opportunity to win money toward college tuition is under way. In-school test taking runs from October 15 through November 2. A national online exam may be taken from November 1 through November 30, and citywide contests take place through January 17, 2008. The competition is open to eligible high school students in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. It is part of the “Win with Words” public service campaign of GSN, the Network for Games, in partnership with The Princeton Review, that aims to improve language arts skills in high schools by promoting the value of an enhanced vocabulary. Fifty finalists will compete for $40,000 towards college tuition in the finals of the contest. For information, visit www.winwithwords.com.

Throughout October, the International Reading Association is joining other leading education, literacy, and publishing organizations in marking the sixth anniversary of Children’s Magazine Month. This year’s observance involves mobilizing teachers, librarians, and school children worldwide to organize KinderHarvest magazine recycling projects to collect millions of magazines for new readers.

“The KinderHarvest program collects wonderful magazines and puts them into the hands, homes, and hearts of children and families who want to learn and love to read,” notes John Mennell, founding director of MagazineLiteracy.org and co-manager of Children’s Magazine Month. “It’s like food gleaning, where humanitarians gather crops in the field to feed the hungry. Except, this harvest gleans magazines to feed children and families hungry to read and succeed, recycling the magazines we all love to meet local literacy needs.”

Find out more in a press release issued by the supporting organizations.

 Applicants for selected IRA research grants will now be able to complete their applications electronically via our new online application system. Eligible programs include the Elva Knight Research Grant, Helen M. Robinson Grant, Jeanne S. Chall Research Fellowship, Nila Banton Smith Research Dissemination Support Grant, Reading/Literacy Research Fellowship, Steven A. Stahl Research Grant, and Teacher as Researcher Grant.

Applicants for other research awards and grants should see individual award descriptions. For more information, please send e-mail to research@reading.org.

An international consortium of groups interested in teaching English to young learners (TEYL) is organizing an international conference titled “The Way Forward: Learning From International Experience of TEYL.” The conference will be held at the Regional Institute of English, Bangalore, South India, January 3–6, 2008. It is aimed at decision makers in ministries, planners, academics, teacher trainers, and others concerned with state programs for teaching English to children. The registration deadline is November 30, 2007.

Details are available from the conference website, www.primaryeltconference.org, or from the organizers, Janet Enever (j.enever@londonmet.ac.uk) or Jaynee Moon (jayne.moon@virgin.net).

 In honor of International Literacy Day on September 8, Rotary International and the International Reading Association developed Every School a Star, a Web-based resource designed to help Rotary clubs and IRA reading councils carry out literacy projects.

A publication of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Mini-Digest of Education Statistics 2006 is a pocket-sized compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from kindergarten through graduate school. The statistical highlights are excerpts from the Digest of Education Statistics, 2006.

The digest is now available for free download at the
NCES website.

As teachers head into the classroom for the new school year, there is one more item they can add to their back–to–school list: Thinkfinity.org. It’s free, and it makes life easier for teachers. Thinkfinity.org is for teachers looking for a quick and innovative way to find compelling lesson plans and interactive learning tools to engage students. Thinkfinity.org is the Verizon Foundation’s, comprehensive program and online portal to 55,000 educational resources, including standards–based, grade–specific, K–12 lesson plans and other student interactives provided in partnership with the International Reading Association and many other leading educational and literacy organizations. And, Thinkfinity.org requires no downloadable software.

 What does the fall political landscape look like for reading education as Congress reconvenes? What is NCLB’s schedule? How much money will the programs get?

Join Richard Long, IRA Director of Government Relations, in a live audioconference on Wednesday, September 19 (note new date) , at 8:00 p.m. EDT, as he discusses the Congressional legislative agenda for the fall of 2007 and its impact on reading education. Dr. Long will brief callers for about 20 minutes and then answer questions.

This will be a free service, but registration is limited. Participants are asked to register by September 10 with btierney@reading.org to receive the call-in number and a PowerPoint set of slides.

Participants are asked to e-mail their questions in advance to btierney@reading.org. We cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered during the call. We will try to answer all questions by e-mail. Concise questions are encouraged.

Please be sure to include your name and affiliation when posting your questions.

The Writing Improvement Network (WIN) will host its Fall Writing Conference November 7–9, 2007 at the Carolina First Center in Greenville, SC. The theme for this year’s conference is “Finding Your Voice.” Speakers will include Dr. Ruth Culham and Erin Gruwell, with Bruce Littlefield, Kate Salley Palmer, Ron Morris, and Craig Melvin participating in the Writers Block Panel. For more information, visit WIN’s conference website.

The National Book Festival on Saturday, September 29, 2007, will feature more than 70 award-winning authors and attract tens of thousands of book lovers of all ages to the National Mall in Washington, DC, to celebrate the joys of reading and lifelong literacy. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is scheduled to go on rain or shine. Authors, illustrators, and poets will interact with festival–goers at seven themed pavilions where participating authors will sign books and give readings from their works. Additionally, children can meet beloved storybook and television characters throughout the festival grounds. For more details and how to participate online, visit the festival website.

To connect young people with the excitement of a real page-turner, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) celebrates Teen Read Week from October 14–20, 2007. Celebrated in hundreds of libraries, Teen Read Week uses interactive gaming, poetry slams, book clubs, and library social networking events to encourage teens to read. For more information about Teen Read Week, visit the American Library Association’s Teen Read Week website. In addition, this page contains many ideas on how you can help publicize the event.

Thousands of community events will be held Nov. 1 to mark National Family Literacy Day. But this year, families won’t even have to leave the comfort of their own home to celebrate the importance of reading. The National Center for Family Literacy will unveil Raising a Reader, which provides activities for parents to support their child’s literacy, language and reading skills. This free magazine will be especially helpful to low-income families, whose children hear 30 million fewer words by age 3 than their counterparts who live in households led by professionals. Read more about the magazine’s launch in this article from Newswise.com. Learn more about National Family Literacy Day from the National Center for Family Literacy.

In the spirit of celebration of February as Black History Month, the International Reading Association has endorsed the Nineteenth National African American Read-In Chain, sponsored by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English. This endorsement asks the state and/or local councils of IRA to join the NCTE in serving as hosts to create a chain of readers on Sunday, February 3, 2008, or Monday, February 4, 2008. The chain involves reading works authored by African American writers at community sites on Sunday and in school buildings on Monday. Read the press release and invitation.

The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has announced its 2008
national grant competition. The foundation’s grantmaking program seeks to develop or expand projects that are designed to support the development of literacy skills for adult primary care givers and their children. A total of approximately $650,000 will be awarded; no grant request should exceed $65,000.

The Reading Assocation of the Philippines will hold its Midyear Demofest with the theme “Comprehension: Beyond the World of Words” on October 19 and 20, 2007, in Bacolod City. There will be more than fifteen panel presentations and demonstration teaching of the best practices in the country for teaching comprehension and related issues. For more information, please e-mail the association at rap.org@gmail.com.

August 9, International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, is an opportunity to celebrate the more than 370 million indigenous men, women, and children worldwide, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). There are more than 5,000 different groups living in more than 70 countries. The cultures of many indigenous peoples are in danger of dying out and many live on the fringes of society. UNESCO’s education sector works to alleviate the plight of indigenous people through the promotion of rights and values in education. For more, visit the UNESCO website.

Rumors to the contrary notwithstanding, the 5th Pan-African Reading for All conference will be held as scheduled, August 6–10, 2007, at the University of Ghana, Legon Campus, Accra, Ghana. The theme of the conference is “Literacy for Human Liberation.”

The registration fee for conferees from non–African countries is US$200.00. Registration for conferees from African countries is US$150.00. All registration fees should be paid on arrival at the conference centre, the Institute of Adult Education on the Legon Campus. A detailed conference program will be available on site.

For more information, including a list of nearby hotels, download the conference information sheet, or contact Professor Kate Adoo-Adeku at kadeku2006@yahoo.com.

Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, located outside of Wilmington, Delaware, is hosting several events relating to literacy in the coming months. “K is for Kids,” a family-friendly exhibition that explores intriguing objects in the Winterthur collection and studies early methods of reading education, opens on September 15. In addition, “K is for Kids: A Family Day,” will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on September 29, while “Family Literacy Day” takes place on October 12. For more information, visit Winterthur’s family programs website.

The Academy for Educational Development (AED) is recruiting for an English Literacy Technical Advisor for an upcoming three-year program in Northern Nigeria (Sokoto State). The Advisor would be responsible for building capacity of the in-service teacher education system for primary schools (both government and Koranic) to better support teachers to teach English literacy in three states in Northern Nigeria. Essential: experience in working on similar programs in Africa. Preferred: doctorate (or master’s with experience); experience with USAID or similar donor-funded projects. AED is interested in U.S. and non-U.S. citizens from all developing regions. Please send a cover letter and resume to NigeriaCM@aed.org. Please respond by August 3, 2007. We thank all respondents; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. AA/EOE/M/F/D/V

The UNESCO IRA Literacy Prize for 2007 goes to the Community Education Administration Centre, Longsheng Ethnic Minority Autonomous County, People’s Republic of China. The Centre was established in a remote, rural, and mountainous area in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and serves a large ethnic population that has a high illiteracy rate, especially among women. For more than 10 years, the Centre has conducted, in addition to a literacy program for women, a program for the eradication of poverty through education, and a comprehensive system for rural education. The award, sponsored annually by the International Reading Association, carries a monetary prize of US$20,000, and will be presented by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in September as part of the celebration of International Literacy Day

James Edward Flood, noted educator, literacy researcher and advocate, and former International Reading Association board member, died Sunday, July 15, 2007, after a three-year battle with myelodysplasia syndrome.

Flood chaired and co-chaired many committees of the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council of Researchers in Education, and the National Reading Conference. His numerous educational awards include recognition as the outstanding teacher educator in the Department of Teacher Education at San Diego State University (SDSU), the distinguished research lecturer in the Graduate Division of Research at SDSU, and a member of the California and international reading halls of fame. Flood also was president of the National Reading Conference, and served six years as a co-editor of California’s literacy journal, The California Reader.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, 357 Clermont Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11238, or to Health Sciences High and Middle College (HSHMC), 8888 Balboa Ave., #150, San Diego, CA 92123. HSHMC will create the James Flood Reading Room for students. All donations in his name will be used to purchase books. His family may be contacted c/o The Flood Family, 6545 Norman Lane, San Diego, CA 92113.

 Find out about IRA’s plans for co-conventions in 2009: the 54th Annual Convention West, to be held in Phoenix, February 21–25, 2009, and the 54th Annual Convention North Central, in Minneapolis, May 3–7, 2009. Begin with the list of Frequently Asked Questions, and watch for additional details to be posted as they become available.

The inaugural issue of the Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, a peer-reviewed, electronic journal for articles focused on research, practice, and related issues relevant to teaching and learning in the preK–12 environment, now is available. The inaugural issue, Literacy: Best Practices in an Age of High-Stakes Assessment, features guest editor Terry S. Atkinson.

In the spirit of celebration of September as Hispanic Heritage Month, IRA is launching the eighth National Hispanic American Read-In Chain. IRA asks all councils to join in serving as hosts to create a chain of readers during September 15–18, 2007. The chain involves reading works authored by Hispanic American writers at community sites or in school building on one of these days. Get details.

 Visitors to the IRA website will soon see a change in the look and feel of the site’s main page, www.reading.org.

The new design marks the first phase of a project initiated by the Association’s Board of Directors to make it easier for site visitors — especially first-time visitors — to access the information they’re seeking.

An expanded menu bar in the left column is intended to display more site content than the current design, arranged in categories that better reflect the kinds of information available from IRA. More room for headlines and breaking news and a variety of new graphic elements also characterize the page, giving site visitors a wider range of content options from which to choose.

An enhanced search engine and expanded Site Index provide additional navigation options for users in a hurry.

Frequent users of the site will find the inside pages little changed, so bookmarks and direct links will yield the same valuable content as before.

Planning for the next phase of the redesign will begin immediately.

“Making Every Moment Count: Maximizing Quality Instructional Time,” a collection of short papers by nine educational organizations, is now available. The free publication, in part, responds to the narrowing of curriculum that has occurred under No Child Left Behind.

“One predicted consequence of high-stakes testing is a recalculation of the school day so there is more time for test preparation, including a greater concentration on test material,” said Richard Long, director of government relations for the International Reading Association.

Suggestions for ways to enhance instructional time are offered by the American Association of School Librarians, the International Reading Association, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Council for Geographic Education, the National Council for Social Studies, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Education Association, the National Geographic Education Foundation, and the National Science Teachers Association.

The organizations are committed to a comprehensive, balanced curriculum that honors the integrity of content disciplines and aligns teaching with standards. The group also urges that there be more training for teachers and more time for school personnel to collaborate, and recommends further research in this critical area.

For further information, contact Barbara Tierney in IRA’s Washington office at 202-624-8800, btierney@reading.org. To download “Making Every Moment Count,” visit this IRA web page.

Launch Pad: Where Young Authors and Illustrators Take Off! is a new magazine devoted to publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, and artwork by children ages 6–12. The magazine is currently accepting submissions for its debut issue, scheduled for January/February 2008. The publisher is looking for creative works about animals, the ocean, fairy tales and fantasy, heroes, mysteries, and sports. For more information and submission guidelines, visit the Launch Pad website.

To gain more time for test preparation, reading, and mathematics, many schools have borrowed instructional time from other curriculum areas. Concerned about the impact this has on individual learning, daily classroom activities, and overall student achievement, several educational groups have developed “Making Every Moment Count,” a collection of perspectives representing their fields.

Please join the International Reading Association along with the American Association of School Librarians, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Council for the Social Studies, National Council for Geographic Education, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Geographic Education Foundation, the National Science Teachers Association, and the National Education Association at the release of a collaborative set of papers that will discuss research, practice, and policies to restore quality instructional time.

This event will take place June 21 from 10:00–11:00 am at 444 N. Capitol St. NW, Room 285. Space is limited so please RSVP to btierney@reading.org as soon as possible.

  Join Richard Long, IRA Director of Government Relations, in a live audioconference on Monday, June 18, at 8:00 pm EDT as he discusses federal spending on education programs and the status of the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.

This is a free service, but registration is limited. Participants are asked to register by June 14 with btierney@reading.org to receive the call-in number and a Power Point set of slides.

Dr. Long will brief callers for about 20 minutes and then answer questions. Participants are asked to e-mail their questions in advance to btierney@reading.org. We cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered during the call. We will try to answer all questions by e-mail. Concise questions are encouraged. Please be sure to include your name and affiliation when posting your questions.

Check the LAT blog www.latadvisory.blogspot.com for breaking news on developments in Washington, DC that may affect reading instruction and the literacy community.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. Approximately 200 organizations in communities of varying sizes across the country will be selected through this selection cycle to participate in The Big Read from January through June 2008. Deadline for submission for the Intent to Apply is June 29. For more information, visit the NEA website.

The 15th European Conference on Reading will be held August 5-8, 2007, in Berlin, Germany at Humboldt University, in the historic heart of the city. The theme of the conference, "Checkpoint Literacy," reflects both the location of the conference, and the opportunity it provides to review progress in achieving literacy goals in an ever-changing Europe. The working language of the conference is English, but presentations may be made in any European language. Abstracts should be submitted in the language in which the presentation is to be made—and in English or German. The organizers will not provide translation. For more information, visit the Checkpoint Literacy website.

June 15, the deadline to apply for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) 2007 International Literacy Prizes worth US$20,000 each, is fast approaching. Winners will be recognized on International Literacy Day, September 8, 2007. Only governments and international nonprofits may nominate candidates. The principal prizes in 2007 are the International Reading Association Literacy Award, the two King Sejong Literacy Prizes and the two Confucius Prizes. Health is the current theme of the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) and the prizes will focus on the link between literacy and health care, nutrition, family and reproductive health and health-related community development. Read more here and here.

The University of Stavanger, Norway, announces the 1st Stavanger Reading and Writing Conference, to be held August 30 through September 1, 2007. The conference will be followed by a one-day social program on September 2, and workshops on September 3, 4, and 5. Program details and conference information are available at the conference website.

The Library of Congress announced today that it will create the post of National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Appointed for a two-year term by the Librarian of Congress, the National Ambassador will speak to the importance of fiction and nonfiction books in children’s lives and encourage the appreciation of young people’s literature throughout the United States.

2008 Charlotte Award ballots are now available, according to the program’s sponsor, the New York State Reading Association.

Named for the main character in E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, the purpose of the Charlotte Award is to encourage students to read outstanding literature and ultimately become lifelong readers. Additionally, the award recognizes the authors and illustrators of such literature. Students in New York State will read titles on the ballot and vote for their favorites. Votes will be tallied, and winners will receive their awards at the 42nd Annual NYSRA Statewide Conference in March 2009.

Additional details, including past winners, contest guidelines, and 2008 ballots, are available at the NSRA website.

SmithsonianEducation.org now aligns more than 1,200 free educational resources to standards of learning in every state. By entering the name of the state into the site’s search engine, teachers can find lesson plans, virtual exhibitions, photographs and artwork, and databases of research information that apply to their curriculum. What is more, state standards are correlated to all subjects — from language arts and social studies to mathematics and technology.

The Faculty of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney announce “Future Directions in Literacy: International Conversations 2007,” a conference and teachers’ workshop, to be held September 3–6, 2007, in Harold Park Function Centre near the University. Teachers who attend the workshop and conference and complete a series of workshops on five subsequent Wednesday evenings will be eligible for a Certificate of Primary Literacy. Credit may also be earned toward a Master of Education degree.

The editorial board of the New England Reading Association Journal (NERAJ) is soliciting manuscripts of interest to educators on a broad array of topics related to literacy and classroom practice for its fall 2007 and spring 2008 issues. Submissions are welcome in a variety of writing formats such as articles, interviews, essays, and research reports. The NERAJ is peer-reviewed and is published in fall (issue deadline: September 15) and in spring (issue deadline: February 15).

The editorial board requests that manuscripts be no longer than 20 typewritten pages. At the top of each page, please type an identifying word or phrase and the page number. Full names(s) of author(s), address, telephone, e-mail, and school affiliation should appear ONLY on the title page of the manuscript. Manuscripts should be double-spaced and reference lists and text citations should follow the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is offering its second annual Art & Writing Institute this summer, July 27–28, at the museum in Ridgefield, CT. The institute is a professional development opportunity that enables teachers to expand their understanding of the relationship between art and writing. Teachers can learn to improve their students’ written and oral comprehension by using writing to respond to works of art. Susan Marcus is the keynote speaker, talking on new literacies, and Michael Bitz is presenting about the Comic Book Project. Registration is $225, with a discount for collaborating teachers from the same school. A light breakfast and lunch is included each day. For more information or to register, visit the museum’s website or contact Laura Kaufman at (203) 438-4519 or by e-mail. Registration is due by July 6.

CREATE, The Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners, is a research center designed to address challenges in the education of English-language learners (ELLs) in the middle grades (4–8). The Center will hold its first conference October 1–2, 2007, at the Doubletree Hotel Chicago–Oak Brook, Chicago, Illinois. The conference title is “Academic Language and Content: A Focus on English Language Learners in Middle School.”

Featured speakers include Diane August, Alison Bailey, Jana Echevarria, Doug Fisher, David J. Francis, Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Michael P. Klentschy, Okhee Lee, Sylvia Linan-Thompson, Mary Schleppegrell, Deborah Short, Catherine Snow, Guadalupe Valdes, Sharon Vaughn, and Aida Walqui.

For information, visit the CREATE website.

The Southern Utah University (SUU) Student Reading Council, the Beta Alpha Chapter of Alpha Upsilon Alpha, and Southern Utah University are sponsoring the 28th Annual SUU Reading Conference, Feb. 15–16, 2008, on the SUU campus in Cedar City, UT. The conference is named Leave a Literacy Legacy: Focus on Word Study. Shane Templeton, author of Words Their Way, is the principal speaker. Contact David Lund at lundd@suu.edu for more information.

A call for papers/abstracts/submissions has been announced for the
6th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education to be held January 5–8, 2008, in Honolulu. The conference will provide opportunities for academicians and professionals from a wide range of education-related fields to interact with members inside and outside their own particular disciplines. Cross-disciplinary submissions with other fields are welcome. For details, visit the conference website or contact education@hiceducation.org.

Submission Deadline: August 16, 2007

L’Association Internationale pour la Lecture conduit de nombreux programmes de développement en éducation dans les pays en développement, notamment en Afrique de l’ouest.

L’Association recrute des volontaires qui souhaitent apporter une assistance technique à ces programmes. Il s’agit pour le volontaire de mettre ses compétences professionnelles, son savoir-faire et ses aptitudes personnelles au service d'une mission internationale de développement en éducation. Les volontaires interviennent comme formateurs, conseillers techniques ou animateurs et travaillent en partenariat avec des éducateurs et cadres nationaux.

The Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiaitve (PAHSCI) is a three-year, $31 million instructional coaching initiative funded by the Annenberg Foundation. The Initiative places one literacy and one math coach for every 600 students in 26 high-need high schools located in 16 school districts across Pennsylvania, with a total enrollment of over 32,000 students. Read more about this initiative on the PAHSCI website.

  Join Richard Long, IRA Director of Government Relations, in a live audioconference on Tuesday, April 24, at 8:00 p.m. EST as he discusses the House and Senate Education Committees’ work on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act as well as the status of Reading First.

This will be a free service, but registration is limited. Participants are asked to register by April 20 with btierney@reading.org to receive the call-in number and a Power Point set of slides.

A new pre-doctoral fellowship program is being established by the National Academy of Education to support doctoral research focused on adolescent literacy. The goal of this program, launched with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, is to strengthen and stimulate adolescent literacy education by infusing the field with highly talented, well-trained, and motivated researchers and teacher educators. The Adolescent Literacy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Program will encourage more scholars in schools of education and related disciplines to conduct dissertation research focused on improving literacy outcomes for middle and secondary students. Fellows will each receive a stipend of $25,000, to be disbursed over a period of up to two years, to support them in finalizing their dissertation proposals, designing and conducting rigorous research, analyzing their data, and writing up their dissertation research results. Twenty fellows will be accepted for the two-year fellowships. Fellowship applications and further information will be available after June 1, 2007 on the Academy’s website, www.naeducation.org, and applications will be accepted through December 1, 2007. Information is also available by calling (202) 334-2341.

Developing and Sustaining Literacy is the theme of the Reading Association of Ireland’s Annual Conference 2007. It takes place Sept. 27–29, 2007 at the Church of Ireland College of Education, Rathmines, Dublin 6. Download the call for papers or visit the RAI website for more information.

Thinking Voices: Reflectivity, Renewal and Regeneration is the title of the 43rd International Conference of the United Kingdom Literacy Association. The conference will take place July 6–8, 2007 at Swansea University. Speakers include Robin Alexander, Neil Mercer, Daniel Morden, Ernest Morrell, Gemma Moss, Julia Strong, and William Teale. For more information, download the conference announcement or visit the UKLA website.

The House Education and Labor Committee has been investigating the implementation of the Reading First program, according to U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the committee.

On Friday, April 20 at 9:00 a.m. the committee will convene an investigative hearing into mismanagement and conflicts of interest in the Reading First program.

“The Bush administration’s implementation of the Reading First program has been marred by mismanagement and conflicts of interest, and taxpayers deserve a full accounting of what went wrong and who was responsible,” Miller said in an advisory news release.

The hearing will be in the Education and Labor Committee Hearing Room, 2175 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC. Reading First was created in 2002 as part of the No Child Left Behind Act to improve reading instruction from kindergarten through third grade. The U.S. Department of Education provides formula grants to states with approved applications; states award sub-grants competitively within the state.  

 The International Reading Association is pleased to announce the launch of its online review system for book proposals and manuscripts—the fifth and final site of IRA’s new online submission portal, Manuscript Central. In the past year, IRA journals and ReadWriteThink.org have been using ScholarOne’s Manuscript Central database, and now we are offering the ability to submit and review book proposals and manuscripts with the convenience and accessibility of an online peer-review system. We invite prospective authors to go to the IRA Books portal, create an account, and submit a proposal. For more information on submitting a book proposal to IRA, go to our Writing a Book for IRA webpage.

 The results are in from the 2007 IRA election. Kathryn H. Au, adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii, has been elected vice president. Joining IRA’s Board of Directors will be Donald J. Leu, professor of education, Neag Endowed Chair in Literacy and Technology, University of Connecticut, Taffy E. Raphael, professor of literacy education, University of Illinois at Chicago, and D. Ray Reutzel, Emma Eccles Jones Professor of Early Childhood Education, Utah State University. They will take office in May, at the 52nd Annual Convention.

The theme of this year’s Northern Illinois Reading Council/Northern Illinois University Summer Reading Conference is “Motivating Every Student to Read”. Speakers will include Dr. Mary Bigler, author Candace Fleming, Dr. Cyndi Giorgis, Dr. Ronda Mitchell, Dr. Maria Walther, and others. The dates are June 15th and June 18th–20th at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, IL. More information can be obtained from 815-753-3005 or by e-mail at ceduexternal@niu.edu

The College of Education of the University of Wisconsin — Whitewater is planning a tour of the highlights of Germany from July 29, 2007, through August 12, 2007. An option for participants is to attend the 15th European Conference on Reading in Berlin for four days. Credit may be earned at the undergraduate or graduate level. Find more information on the University's website.

  IRA President Timothy Shanahan will be one of three participants in a webcast February 13 on how schools can meet state standards and comply with No Child Left Behind. The International Reading Association is one of several sponsors of this webcast. For more information, visit the webcast page from the Reading Rockets website.

Al Gore, Mel Levine, and Tim Russert are among the presenters to be featured at the 2nd Annual Celebration of Teaching & Learning, to be held March 23-24, 2007, in New York City. JPMorgan Chase is the founding sponsor for the conference, which is presented in partnership with BOCES of Eastern Suffolk, Western Suffolk, Nassau, Rockland, Putnam/Northern Westchester, and Southern Westchester. For further information, visit the conference website.

  Voting has begun in IRA’s 2007 election. Members are electing a new vice president and three new members to the IRA Board of Directors from a slate of two candidates for vice president and six candidates for the Board. Get more information and vote online.

A joint product of IRA and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse launched its website three months ago to provide access to research and best practices and enhance the knowledge base coaches rely on as they work within schools and districts to create excellent reading instruction in all classrooms. The site features professional standards for literacy/instructional coaches, issue briefs, a library, and a blog. LCC Director Nancy Shanklin opened the site’s online forum with a continuing discusion on building relationships between literacy coaches and principals. In addition, users have begun adding descriptions of successful literacy coaching programs on the site’s Programs page. Registration is free and required in order to take advantage of many of the site’s features.

Global Interactions, Inc., a nonprofit organization that seeks to accelerate global partnerships through education and worldwide professional exchanges, is sponsoring the 2007 China–U.S. Conference on Literacy July 23–26 in Beijing. The theme of the conference is Literacies of Hope: Making Meaning Across Boundaries. The deadline for the call for papers is January 22. For more information, visit Global Interactions’ conference website.

The Danau Buyan Taman Bacaan project aims to create the first community lending library in Sanur, Bali, Indonesia. The library will offer local Indonesian students access to reading materials in Bahasa Indonesia and English as well as access to the Internet for educational purposes.

The project has planned an international Read-a-Thon as a fundraiser in early 2007 through which K–12 students from developed countries can participate in a grass roots literacy project and see the direct results of their efforts while at the same time raising awareness of the realities of education for the majority of the world’s children. For more information, contact Curtis Beaverford, Community and Service Coordinator, Bali International School.

Under the Eurasia/South Asia Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), the U.S. Department of State and the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX ) have announced a competition for secondary-level teachers of English as a Foreign Language and Social Sciences from the United States to participate in a two-week professional exchange program. The selected teachers will travel to one of the following countries—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, or Ukraine. More information, including the program application, is available on the IREX website.

 IRA’s 2007 Government Relations Workshop, to be held February 15–17, 2007, in Washington, DC, will help you strengthen your advocacy efforts and actively impact legislation such as the reauthorization of NCLB. You will learn about federal and state legislative issues and have the opportunity to communicate directly with your congressional leaders or their staffs. Get more information and registration form.

The Reading First Teacher Education Network (RFTEN) has released a new DVD to showcase national campus models that are successfully transforming the way that teacher candidates at NCATE-accredited minority-serving institutions are taught to teach reading. The 9:30-minute video features interviews with reading experts such as Timothy Shanahan, as well as faculty, candidates, parents, presidents, and other stakeholders who are using evidence-based reading instruction to bridge the achievement gap in reading. To download a viewer’s guide, view the DVD, and learn more about the RFTEN project, visit the project website or contact Dr. Boyce C. Williams at (202) 466-7496.

In the spirit of celebration of February as Black History Month, IRA has endorsed the 18th National African American Read-In Chain, sponsored by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English. State and/or local councils of IRA are invited to serve as hosts to create a chain of readers on Sunday, February 4, 2007, or Monday, February 5, 2007. The chain will involve reading works authored by African American writers at community sites on Sunday and in school buildings on Monday. Get details.

See invitation and announcement for African American Read-In Chain 2008.

“Libraries for the future: Progress, Development and Partnerships” is the theme of the 73rd general conference and council of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. The conference will take place August 19–23, 2007, in Durban, South Africa. For more information, visit the conference page on the IFLA website.

The conference Future Directions in Literacy: International Conversations will take place September 3–8, 2007, at the University of Sydney. Its aim is to stimulate professional conversations about future developments in literacy pedagogy and practice for an international audience. The forum will provide an opportunity for teachers, post-graduate students, academics and policy makers to share concerns as well as potenital solutions to the current problems facing literacy educators. The scope of papers, workshops and presentations will cover issues pertinent to the age range K–8: infants to the middle years. Proposals are required by March 3 and must include an abstract of 250 words maximum and biographical details of 150 words maximum. For more information, visit the Events for Professional Development page on The University of Sydney website.