|
|
Developed by Dr. Barbara Taylor, EIR® is distributed by the Early Intervention in Reading® program. Address: EIR® Professional Development Program, c/o Ceil Critchley, 11293 Hastings Street NE, Blaine, MN 55449. Email: ccritchley@comcast.net. Web: www.earlyinterventioninreading.com. Telephone: (763) 785-0701.
EIR® was developed in 1989–90. Information is not available on the number or demographics of students, schools, or districts using the program.
Instruction involves 15–20 minutes of daily supplemental instruction to the whole class or to groups of five to seven struggling readers. In kindergarten, activities include listening to stories, creative dramatics, and literacy development (concepts of print, rhyme, phonemic segmentation and blending, and letter and sound recognition). In first and second grades, the lessons include repeated reading of familiar stories, coached reading of a new story, phonemic awareness training and systematic phonics instruction, as well as guided sentence writing, vocabulary, and comprehension instruction. The third and fourth grade programs use narrative and informational picture books and focus on attacking multisyllabic words and fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies. The study reviewed here focused on first grade students. EIR® has a number of teacher training modules. Modules cover how to use the program, the research and background of the program, routines for the various grade levels, and use of assessments. Other topics include involving parents, training one-on-one coaches, taking running records, and evaluating EIR® implementation. The training program lasts nine months and consists of two-hour Internet sessions conducted once a month, along with telephone support from an EIR® trainer. Typically, 45 minutes are spent in a large group session, during which an onsite facilitator leads the group through the Internet program. Then 45 minutes are spent in small groups with teachers sharing videos of their own practices. For the last half hour of the session, an EIR® trainer meets with the cohort via a conference call to answer questions and highlight appropriate concepts and procedures. Trainers also speak with the teachers by phone between meetings. Onsite technical assistance can be requested by program developers.
Currently, the EIR® Internet training program costs $500 per teacher. One or more site visits by the EIR® trainer can be arranged at an additional cost. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more teachers.
|Institute of Education Sciences
