Inservice Education in Reading Instruction.

Currently, many states are providing inservice education for teachers so that higher student test scores result. State mandated objectives are available to teachers for study and used as benchmarks for teaching. The local reading curriculum then needs to be aligned with these objectives of instruction. The major objective of inservice education is for teachers to use and implement the state mandated objectives of reading instruction. This paper discusses types of inservice education that will help teachers provide learning opportunities in reading for students and their relation to state mandated objectives. The paper points out that an increasing number of basal reading textbook companies are providing workshops which are designed to assist teachers in using the basal series more effectively, and, in particular, to help students achieve more optimally and to become independent readers. It notes that publishers are expanding their online teacher support, tests aligned to textbook content, and other supplementary products. The paper suggests using an experience chart to provide a firm basis for inservice teacher education, but the experience chart method of reading instruction should be modeled by a teacher in a workshop involving a set of young students. It states that workshop participants must view and analyze each step of the model as it is being taught to notice what needs diagnosis and remediation. And it concludes that whichever plan of reading instruction is being followed, inservice education might well fill voids and strengthen the curriculum. (NKA)