     
|
 About STAR
The Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) in the
U.S. Department of Education is committed to improving the quality of
reading instruction in adult education.
To this end, OVAE has launched the National STAR Training Network (NSTN). NSTN
helps state leaders, program administrators and classroom teachers deliver
evidence-based reading instruction to intermediate-level adult learners.
Reading Components
Proficient readers use skills and background
knowledge acquired over a lifetime. Adult learners may have gaps in both skills
and general knowledge, and need explicit, systematic instruction in each of
four reading components if they are to succeed.
The four components
of reading are:
-
Alphabetics (the process readers use to identify words)
-
Vocabulary (the body of words whose meanings a person knows and understands)
-
Fluency (the ability to read with efficiency and ease)
-
Comprehension (the process and product of understanding text)
Evidence-Based Reading Instruction
Evidence-based reading instruction (EBRI) integrates findings
from the best available reading research with practitioner wisdom to inform
instructional decisions.
With EBRI, teachers use diagnostic assessment procedures to gauge the strengths
and weaknesses of each learner and target reading instruction accordingly.
Teachers that use EBRI help learners improve their skills in each of the four
components of reading - alphabetics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension -
by explaining new concepts, modeling strategies, and providing feedback when
learners practice.
STAR Tool Kit and Training
STAR is a comprehensive Tool Kit and training package built upon evidence-based
reading instructional strategies. STAR helps adult education teachers and
administrators improve reading outcomes among intermediate-level learners -
those learners who read at the fourth to ninth grade levels.
STAR is not a reading curriculum. It is a reading reform initiative that
includes professional development, tools, and resources that expand
participants' knowledge of effective reading instruction and improves their
ability to build local and state systems that support reading improvement.
The STAR Tool Kit and training package was developed by Dr. Mary Beth
Curtis (lead author), a reading research expert at
Lesley University, and Laura Segal Bercovitz, manager of the
Adult Learning Resource Center in Des Plaines, Illinois. Prior to
developing the Tool Kit and training package, Dr. Curtis participated on a
national panel to identify and evaluate research-based principles for adult
reading instruction. Ms. Bercovitz has been working in the field of adult and
family literacy since 1985.
|
|
|