Products and Services

The Island Alphabet Books Series
This Island Alphabet Book Series features languages and art work from the U.S. affiliated Pacific. Each book contains the complete alphabet for the language, four or five examples of each letter with child's painting and a word list with English translations. These books are available for print in color pdf!

A Focus on Professional Development Booklet
A Focus on professional Development is the fourth booklet in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series published by the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL). The purpose of this booklet is to examine what research tells us about effective professional development in early reading and its role in improving student achievement.
This document is available online only and can be accessed in pdf (902K) format.

Early Literacy and Assessment for Learning (K-3) Series
The Early Literacy and Assessment for Learning (K-3) Series is comprised of five reader-friendly booklets. The subtitles for the series include: Assessment for Learning, Print Literacy, Word Identification, Letter Knowledge, and Comprehension Through Retelling.

Two of the booklets inform the reader using the theories behind assessment for learning and the understanding of print literacy. Three booklets are for practical use and include assessments, instructional tools, and activities teachers can use in their classrooms. The booklets use a storytelling format intended to engage the teacher. What makes these little booklets distinctive is that they are written from the teacher’s point of view. This makes for purposeful reading while providing teachers the opportunity to reflect on their own teaching and learning.

These booklets are available online in PDF format.

Building High-Performing Learning Communities
The primary and direct recipients of the services provided by the Pacific Regional Educational Laboratory are the Co-Development Partner Schools and the Collaborative Partner Schools. PREL will work with and support these schools in their quest to move from low-performing schools to high-performing learning communities. This is summarized in the brochure Building Literacy-Focused, High-Performing Learning Communities online in HTML (10K) or PDF (1.28M) format.

The procedural knowledge gained through planning, designing, and implementing initiatives to improve student learning, specifically by focusing on reading and language mastery and assessment and accountability systems, will be available for dissemination in the near future. This will include research-based instructional materials and strategies, as well as information and resources on professional development and school renewal. These will be disseminated through local, regional, and national venues.

A Focus on Comprehension Booklet
A Focus on Comprehension is the third in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series published by the Regional Educational Laboratory at PREL, written by Jean Osborn and Fran Lehr. This practical and informative booklet highlights the importance of reading comprehension. In this easy-to-read resource, the authors not only examine the factors that affect reading comprehension, but also explore components of effective comprehension instruction. This document is available online only and can be accessed in Color PDF (544K) format.

A Focus on Comprehension Forum
The Focus on Comprehension Forum held September 29-30, 2004, explored the multi-dimensional nature of reading comprehension. At the forum, 200 participants from the regional laboratories, comprehensive assistance centers, state departments of education, and institutes of higher education explored the many dimensions of reading comprehension, successful instructional strategies for developing comprehension, and assessment of reading comprehension.

Presenters included Dr. Isabel Beck, University of Pittsburgh; Dr. David Dickinson, Boston College; Dr. Nell Duke, Michigan State University; Dr. Jana Echevarria, California State University, Long Beach; Dr. John Guthrie, University of Maryland; Dr. David Francis, University of Houston; Dr. Edward Kameenui, University of Oregon; Dr. Michael Kamil, Stanford University; Dr. P. David Pearson, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Robert Rueda, University of Southern California. Moderators were Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert, University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Kay Fukuda, PREL.

A Focus on Vocabulary Booklet
A Focus on Vocabulary explores vocabulary development as a component of reading comprehension by describing what research says about how students acquire vocabulary and about instruction that helps students develop the kind of vocabulary knowledge that will contribute to their reading success. It begins with a definition of vocabulary and continues with discussion of why vocabulary is important in reading comprehension, what “knowing” a word means, key instructional strategies, and issues related to vocabulary development for English Language Learners (ELLs). A Focus on Vocabulary is the second in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series published by the Regional Educational Laboratory at PREL. The document is available online only and can be accessed in HTML (116K), Color PDF (5.5M) or Black & White PDF (2.5M) format. Users are asked to complete a survey to access this free, online document.

A Focus on Vocabulary Forum
Researchers and practitioners explored vocabulary knowledge as a cause and a consequence of reading achievement at PREL's Focus on Vocabulary Forum held on October 1-2, 2003.

Among the nationally recognized researchers who shared their current work were Dr. Diane August (August Associates), Dr. Isabel Beck (University of Pittsburgh), Dr. Andrew Biemiller (University of Toronto), Dr. Margarita Calderon (Johns Hopkins University), Dr. Maria Carlo (University of Miami), Dr. Anne Cunningham (University of California, Berkeley), Dr. Barbara Foorman (University of Texas, Houston) Dr. David Francis (University of Houston), Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert (University of California, Berkeley), Dr. Michael Kamil (Stanford University), Dr. William Nagy (Seattle Pacific University), Dr. Judith Scott (University of California, Berkeley), and Dr. Steven Stahl (University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana).

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Assessing Reading Fluency Booklet
Assessing Reading Fluency by Dr. Timothy V. Rasinski discusses research on assessments for monitoring students’ fluency development in terms of the following components of fluency:

• Accuracy, or accurate decoding of words in text;
• Automaticity, or decoding words with minimal use of attentional resources; and
• Prosody, or the appropriate use of phrasing and expression to convey meaning. Examples are provided.

The printed document can be ordered from orderinfo@prel.org or accessed online in HTML (80K) or PDF (1.77M) format. Charges will apply for multiple copies.

A Focus on Fluency Booklet
Intended for practitioners, A Focus on Fluency is the first booklet in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series published by the Regional Educational Laboratory at PREL. The 31-page report summarizes research on fluency and fluency instruction and describes strategies for fluency instruction. It also explains various ways of conducting repeated oral reading, the use of independent silent reading, an integrated fluency instruction approach, the role of texts, and fluency assessment. The publication is available online only in HTML (92K) or PDF (1.85M) format.

A Focus on Fluency Forum
PREL’s successful Focus on Fluency Forum, held November 6-7, 2002, in San Francisco, examined the issue of developing reading fluency from the researcher and practitioner points of view. The forum brought together more than 120 participants from the Regional Educational Laboratories, Comprehensive Centers, state and district departments of education, and institutes of higher education, as well as researchers in the area of fluency, to learn and share current knowledge. Presentations on current research included definitions, strategies, interventions, assessments, and conditions that promote fluency.

Among the nationally recognized reading researchers who shared their current work were Dr. Marilyn Jager Adams (Harvard University), Dr. Barbara Foorman (University of Texas - Houston), Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert (University of Michigan - Ann Arbor), Dr. Michael Kamil (Stanford University), Dr. Timothy Shanahan (University of Illinois - Chicago), Dr. Steven Stahl (University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana), and Dr. Joseph Torgesen (Florida State University). Researchers also shared PowerPoint slides of their presentations.

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Assessing Pre-Reader Comprehension
An interest in language and literacy development during the pre-school age and its implications for later reading ability has led to the design of a tool that assesses pre-reader comprehension in non-print events. Making Episodes, Making Connections, A Reading Comprehension Assessment Tool HTML (110K) PDF (6.2M) is currently being piloted at Co-Development Partner school sites in the Pacific region.

Encouraging Student Participation
Talk story is a strategy currently being used in the REL's Pacific Communities with High-performance In Literacy Development (CHILD) project. It is an informal method that teachers can use to introduce or review a concept and find out about students' prior knowledge or their personal experiences. The Pacific Educator article “Let's Talk Story” HTML (16K) PDF (2.4M) describes two different contexts for using the talk story method.

Promoting Professional Development
Let's Talk Story: Professional Development in the Pacific HTML (53K) PDF (1.5M) is directed toward professional development (PD) providers working in the Pacific region or anywhere outside their own cultures. This booklet includes research and actual field examples.

Accessing Research-Based Information on Early Reading
The earlyreading.info website provides efficient access to resources on teaching reading to young children. Weblinks connect to resources categorized by age level (from pre-kindergarten through grade 3); by reading component (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension); and by information type (Research/Knowledge, Materials/Resources, Assessment, Policy/Standards, and Family/Community). Detailed information on the new website is included in the Pacific Educator article “earlyreading.info.”

Profiling Student Reading Levels: Data Helps Teachers Identify Instructional Needs
This article in the Pacific Educator describes how the use of a database and simple graphing software help classroom teachers identify reading needs of students. Technology acts as a bridge making data available to staff to help evaluate instructional strategies and programs.

Contributing to REL Network Website News
Pacific REL staff contribute articles to the REL Network website headline stories [www.relnetwork.org/index.html]. The site features current monthly news from the 10 Regional Educational Laboratories and includes a lab stories archive [www.relnetwork.org/news.html] of each Laboratory's articles.

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Last updated June 6, 2005