Coaching to Improve OST Literacy Programming

Philadelphia Practitioner Perspectives

By Maggie Gilbert, Julie Dennehy, Diane Gruber, & Georgia Hall

Research overwhelmingly reveals that the early elementary years are critical for developing foundational literacy skills, yet grade-level literacy proficiency r emains o ut o f r each f or many children in the United States. By the end of third grade, most children are expected to transition from learning how to decode to using reading skills to understand content (Chall et al., 1990; Chall & Jacobs, 2003).