Literacy Now

Teachers looking for a way to motivate basketball-loving students to read need look no further than the latest program from the International Reading Association (IRA) and the American Basketball Association (ABA).

IRA and ABA have teamed up to create Fast Break for Reading, a national campaign to promote more reading by students. ABA, an organization with 90 professional basketball teams, offers incentives to young people by offering incentives to students who commit to do a minimum of 10 minutes of reading every night during the campaign. The effort began on Monday, November 12, and runs through the end of the ABA season on March 10, 2013. The declared goal is to generate a million minutes of reading.

Joe Newman

“IRA is very pleased to be partnering with the ABA,” explained Stephen Sye, the Association’s Senior Marketing Manager. “Like us, the ABA is concerned about literacy in the US and is joining with us to make a significant difference in the reading habits of young people.” Joe Newman, the league’s CEO, agrees. “We can think of nothing more important for young people than to acquire good reading skills,” he said, “as this can be a life changer.”

Incentives for Students

Teachers interested in having their students participate in the program will find an official program reading log, a certificate of participation, and other materials on the Fast Break for Reading webpage on the IRA website. Students maintain and turn in their logs each month to their teachers who in turn tally the total and enter them on the campaign website; the website takes care of tracking totals.

Students who participate in Fast Break for Reading receive a certificate of participation, a ticket to an ABA game of choice, and eligibility for a grand prize at the conclusion of the program. The student who reads the most total minutes and is taught by the teacher whose students accumulate the most total minutes for the program will receive a grand prize of tickets to an ABA finals game, including air fare and a one-night hotel stay. The top reader at each school will also receive an outstanding achievement award from the ABA and IRA.

Teacher Liaison Opportunities

The ABA currently fields teams in 90 unique markets, including the San Antonio FUEL who play in the city where the IRA Annual Convention will be held on April 19-22, 2013. The league is looking for teacher volunteers to facilitate relationships between individual teams and local school districts and schools.

Among other options, these teacher liaisons can coordinate ABA visits to local schools for reading and basketball clinics, as well as student outings to ABA games. Interested teachers should determine the ABA team nearest their school by accessing the ABA website at www.abalive.com and then submitting their liaison application at /fastbreak. Liaisons will receive team jerseys, access to any ABA designated team game, and a free Common Core implementation guide.

As the program proceeds, teachers can also catch the latest Fast Break developments and updates via social media by “liking” the Fast Break for Reading page on Facebook. They can post comments and upload pictures of their classes reading or attending a campaign-related ABA game.

Buckets & Books Program

The final component of Fast Break involves the ABA’s Buckets & Books program. Fans who drop off books at ABA games will receive 50% off the cost of general admission and the books collected will be donated to local school programs.

For more information on any of these opportunities, teachers are encouraged to visit the Fast Break for Reading webpage at /fastbreak.

by Elizabeth Bleacher

The International Reading Association (IRA) William S. Gray Citation of Merit is awarded to a nationally or internationally known person who has made significant contributions to the field of reading at various academic levels. The application deadline is November 15.

To be considered an eligible recipient, there are a number of criteria that must be met. The nominee should have made outstanding contributions to a leadership role in the field of reading and original contributions in the field of reading theory or methods. The original ideas must have been developed past the point of suggestion and implemented with successful results.

The candidate is also expected to have designed and implemented various reading courses for students and outstanding lectures for other professionals. These courses and lectures should have had a substantial impact on their recipients and the field of reading. 

Selfless dedication and tireless efforts in furthering the field of reading are also required from the nominee. Their unassuming devotion is expected to be visible at a number of different levels including teacher, scholar, researcher, linguist, and so on.

The application should include a detailed rationale for recommending the nominee including a description of the candidate’s contributions to reading theory, reading practice, publications, service to the profession, and service to IRA. The candidate’s professional vita should also be submitted with the application.

Dr. Brian Cambourne, the 2012 recipient, started teaching in 1956 at the age of 19. After completing his doctoral studies in 1972, Brian began researching literacy learning. In 1998, Brian became the second Australian to become inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame. Most recently, Brian, along with Dr. Gary Kilarr and Dr. Ann Alexander, have been presenting Lifting Evidentiary Standards For the Twenty First Century: What Reading Education Can Learn From Forensic Science at national and international conferences.

More information about the application process can be found at the International Reading Association’s website.

Elizabeth Bleacher is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.

by Elizabeth Bleacher

The International Reading Association (IRA)/ Weekly Reader Eleanor M. Johnson Award is given to an elementary classroom teacher who exhibits outstanding dedication to reading and language arts. It is given in memory of Eleanor M. Johnson, the founder and editor of Weekly Reader. The award is a US$1,000 grant supported by Weekly Reader Corporation.

The deadline to submit an application for the award is November 15.

To be eligible for the award, nominees must be current IRA members, have taught at least five years in the classroom, and be nominated by at least four people. These four nomination letters must come from each of the following: a supervisor/evaluator, one other administrator, a fellow teacher, and one from another teacher, the parent of a student, or a student. Specific content guidelines for the letters can be found on the award’s online application form.

Along with the application and nomination letters, nominees are expected to include a personal statement regarding their beliefs about education. While the application will include factual data and specific examples, IRA asks that no pictures or scrapbooks be included. Instead, nominees will be asked to release information from their personal files to support the assertions of their applications.

A winner will be announced by March 1 and asked to attend the IRA Annual Convention to receive recognition for their accomplishments. This year the convention will be held in San Antonio, Texas from April 19-22.

Gary Wellbrock, the 2012 recipient, teaches deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing students at a dual language elementary school in New York City. He earned his master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University.  He is also a licensed reading specialist partly as a result of his efforts with the Hello Friend/ Ennis William Cosby Foundation.

More information about the award application process can be found at the International Reading Association’s website.

Elizabeth Bleacher is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.

by Elizabeth Bleacher

The IRA Special Service Award is given for exceptional and distinguished service to the International Reading Association. Recipients go above and beyond to ensure that the IRA continues to successful. The deadline for submission is November 15.

To be eligible for the award, nominees must have shown admirable service to the IRA in a specific capacity that requires special skills, knowledge, and creative effort. The results of these services should have results that support the IRA in some discernible way. Finally, recipients have typically shown a generous and tireless contribution of their time and talent as committee members at various levels.

Nominators are asked to provide their rationale behind the nomination, the educational background of the nominee, and at least three letters of recommendation that cite the nominee’s generous contributions to the IRA.

Rita M. Bean, emeritus professor of education at the University of Pittsburgh, was the last recipient of the Special Service Award. Bean has been a member of the IRA for more than 40 years and was a member of the board of directors from 2002-2006. She was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame in 2009 and is well known for her numerous publications on teaching literacy.

More information about the application process can be found at the International Reading Association’s website.

Elizabeth Bleacher is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) recently convened two advisory committees to address the needs of English language learners (ELL) and students with disabilities. Comprised of national experts in student assessment, accommodations strategies, language acquisition, and learning disabilities, these panels provide feedback to Smarter Balanced staff, work groups, and contractors to ensure that the assessments provide valid, reliable, and fair measures of student achievement and growth toward college and career readiness.

Richard Durán


Bridget Dalton


Barbara Ehren

International Reading Association (IRA) member Richard Durán, PhD from the University of California at Santa Barbara was selected for the English Language Learners Advisory Committee.

IRA members Bridget Dalton, EdD from the University of Colorado at Boulder; Barbara Ehren, EdD from the University of Central Florida; and Martha L. Thurlow from the University of Minnesota sit on the Students with Disabilities Advisory Committee. Ehren contributed to an article in Reading Today and on Reading Today Online entitled "Marinak and Ehren Discuss Shared Responsibility for Literacy Aquisition."

A full list of committee members is available on the Smarter Balanced website.

The committees met for day-long sessions in Denver and Chicago to discuss the Consortium’s approach to item development, accommodations and accessibility review, validity, and translation. The advisory committees will continue to collaborate with Smarter Balanced through the end of 2012 supported by grant funding provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Smarter Balanced is also coordinating with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) on issues involving English language learners.

In addition to the advisory committees, a state-led Accessibility and Accommodations Work Group focuses on ensuring the assessments are designed to meet the needs of special student populations. As part of the development of accessibility and accommodations policies, Smarter Balanced commissioned two literature reviews of existing research on assessing English language learners and students with disabilities. These documents are available on a new webpage devoted to under-represented students.