The First R yesterday and today: US elementary reading instruction practices reported by teachers and administrators

This study was a modified replication of Austin and Morrison's classic 1963 study of the status of U.S, public school elementary reading instruction, The First R: The Harvard Report on Reading in Elementary Schools. Surveys m odeled after those used in The First R were distributed to a national sampl e of elementary classroom teachers? building administrators, and district a dministrators. Results reveal some similarities between reading instruction in the 1960s and today. Teachers of today and yesterday both (a) work with self-contained, heterogeneously assigned classes; (b) dedicate significant time for reading instruction; (c) provide explicit instruction in phonic a nalysis; (d) are not overly satisfied with their preservice training in rea ding instruction; (e) administer mandated standardized tests; and (f) repor t accommodating struggling or underachieving readers as their greatest chal lenge. Important differences are also noted. Teachers today have more profe ssional training than peers of the past, and they adopt a balanced, eclecti c perspective, in contrast to a strong skills-based emphasis in the past. T he three-group reading plan has been replaced by considerable whole-class i nstruction, and programs using both basals and trade books are the norm nom compared to the exclusive reliance on basals in the 1960s. An emergent lit eracy perspective has replaced a reading readiness view, synthetic phonics has supplanted analytic phonics, and alternative reading assessments are in regular use today. School and classroom libraries in the 1990s are more pr evalent and better equipped, and changes in programs and philosophy are com mon today, unlike the static slate of reading instruction in the 1960s.