Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate
Practices for Young Children (page 3) IRA and NAEYC believe that
achieving high standards of literacy for every child in the
United States is a shared responsibility of schools, early
childhood programs, families, and communities. But teachers of
young children, whether employed in preschools, child care
programs, or elementary schools, have a unique responsibility to
promote children's literacy development, based on the most
current professional knowledge and research. A review of
research along with the collective wisdom and experience of
members has led IRA and NAEYC to conclude that learning to read
and write is a complex, multifaceted process that requires a
wide variety of instructional approaches, a conclusion similar
to that reached by an esteemed panel of experts for the National
Academy of Sciences (Snow, Burns, & Griffin 1998). Similarly,
this review of research leads to a theoretical model of literacy
learning and development as an interactiv