The AL program focuses on meeting the needs of all students in the elementary classroom by creating balanced literacy instruction. It assists teachers in understanding and implementing balanced instruction, including accurate grouping of students to enhance reading skills. The program uses thematic instruction to connect content areas to improve students' critical thinking. It also provides a framework for: organizing the classroom and curriculum to support both the teacher and students, mastering balanced instruction assessment techniques, and using materials appropriately at every grade level. With a network of trainers, coaches, and teachers who are specially instructed in the practical application of the theories and strategies of balanced instruction. AL provides the effective, consistent base teachers need to understanding reading and writing instruction in the elementary classroom.

   The Accelerating Literacy program began with a training group of twenty teachers in 1990 and now supports organized efforts to implement balanced instruction in more than seven-hundred schools and fifty-five districts in nine states.

Teacher Survey on Accelerating Literacy

In a survey conducted by Cajon Valley Union School District, three questions about AL were asked. These questions and the responses of a cross-section of 190 teachers yielded the following results:

1. Since attending AL training, 88 percent strongly agreed or agreed that they had made significant changes in their language arts programs.
2. Since they implemented AL strategies, 87 percent strongly agreed or agreed that the reading and writing achievement of their students had significantly increased.
3. The most significant changes the teachers implemented since attending the AL training were the following:

"I had been doing whole language for six years when I took the AL training. I feel I found the missing piece - guided process reading."

Doris W., AL Teacher