[From] Kindergarten up into the Intermediate grades…the students still love to hear their names announced over the PA system for the amount of [15-minute] Steps they read and proudly display their gold medals for every 100 Steps.
—Elementary Principal, School District of Philadelphia, PA
[100 Book Challenge] is the ONE thing that I did in my school that made a difference and CHANGED THE CULTURE of the school and community
—Middle School Principal, Atlanta Public Schools, GA
[Research Labs] are amazing.…I never want to go back to anthologies again. The anthologies are stagnant and not relevant to our times.
—Danielle Chiaro, Language Arts Teacher, Jersey City School District, NJ
Research Lab allows educators to address the individual talents and needs of our students in a flexible well thought out way.
—Danielle Chiaro, Language Arts Teacher, Jersey City School District, NJ
I have become a better teacher because of Research Labs! I feel Research Labs have given me the freedom I need to address my students’ needs and levels. I am no longer confined to the one-dimensional aspects of an anthology [when teaching Language Arts]. Students are able to develop stamina and build comprehension skills while reading the core novels…. [A]n anthology offers students a two page irrelevant story…not connected to anything they are studying, the vocabulary was also something unconnected to the weak thematic units I would try to develop.
—Danielle Chiaro, Language Arts Teacher, Jersey City School District, NJ
My students are academically achieving more than students I have had in the past. The Research Labs/100 Book Challenge combination allows my learners to read, conference, write, reflect and present on an ongoing basis. I see through relevant assessments and discussions with the students an amazing growth in not only their tremendous amount of stamina, which has helped to develop their reading comprehension and engagement, but the way they can converse on specific topics and utilize appropriate task or thematic vocabulary with ease and nonchalance!
—Danielle Chiaro, 7th Grade Language Arts Teacher, Jersey City School District, NJ
The mini-lessons helped move students from magazines to books. For example, if the focus was for students to be able to describe the main character, they needed something to read with a main character, and they found that more in books.
—Ivy Deckard, Middle School Teacher, Jackson Middle School, TX
Finding a student’s ‘just right fit’ during specific times of the school year allows teachers to realize the needs of the classroom population, and design mini-lessons, target lessons and even academic interventions that can change a classroom’s direction.
—Danielle Chiaro, Language Arts Teacher, Jersey City School District, NJ