Frankly Freddy Blog

TextProject president and CEO Elfrieda H. (Freddy) Hiebert blogs about important issues in reading research and practice.

Frankly Freddy entries (published from 2005 to 2014) have been sorted into five topics of literacy learning and instruction. Click here to download the ebook!

What Should Goals Be For Increasing Students’ Oral Reading Rates?

May 26, 2018

Elfrieda H. Hiebert

The question of how much growth to set as goals for oral reading fluency depends on the grade level and where students are in relation to grade-level patterns. But before I give my recommendations, I would like to review several critical points about oRead More »What Should Goals Be For Increasing Students’ Oral Reading Rates?

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The Stories of Words: TextProject’s Newest Texts and Vocabulary Product

January 9, 2017

Elfrieda H.Hiebert

The texts in the Stories of Words series provide a great opportunity for students to expand their vocabularies, increase their background knowledge, and develop facility with the core vocabulary of written English.

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Interpreting Intervention Outcomes: Lexile-Based Assessments and Norm-Referenced Assessments

April 8, 2016

Elfrieda H. Hiebert

Are the results from Lexile-based assessments and Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE) comparable? For educators, how do the results from Lexile-based and norm-referenced assessments relate to the results of summative, end-of-the-year, state-mandated assessments?heere

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Multi-Level Text Sets: Leveling the Playing Field or Sidelining Struggling Readers?

February 18, 2016

It’s a compelling idea—a set of texts on the same topic but with different text complexity levels. With a range of texts on the same topic—easy, moderate, and hard—all students should be able to engage in the same follow-up discussion after reading. NoRead More »Multi-Level Text Sets: Leveling the Playing Field or Sidelining Struggling Readers?

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Join the “Read-an-Article-a-Day” Initiative

January 21, 2016

Elfrieda H. Hiebert

What is the “Read-an-Article-a-Day” Initiative and why is it important?

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The Reach of Literacy Research

November 5, 2015

Freddy Hiebert

The age old debate: Quality versus quantity in the field of reading research

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Claims about Text Complexity within the Common Core State Standards: Examining the Evidence

March 3, 2014

Elfrieda H. Hiebert

Standard 10 of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) evaluates students’ ability to read increasingly more complex texts across the grades to ensure proficiency with texts of college and careers by high school graduation. The content of Standard 10 isRead More »Claims about Text Complexity within the Common Core State Standards: Examining the Evidence

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Summary of Kenji Hakuta on English Language Learners and the Common Core State Standards

October 31, 2013

Elfrieda H. Hiebert

Highlights of Hakuta’s presentation in Virtual Institute on Assessment and the CCSS on TextProject’s YouTube channel.

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Reading Rules for Becoming Proficient with Complex Texts

August 30, 2013

Elfrieda (Freddy) H. Hiebert

Freddy’s reading rules: Read more. Mostly silent. Focus on knowledge.

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Why Becoming a Nation of Readers Is Still Relevant

August 23, 2013

Elfrieda H. Hiebert

Freddy introduces the first eBook in TextProject’s Reading Essentials Reprint Series.

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