As illustrated by Reading First and other reading initiatives, policymakers and educators are very interested in raising children's literacy rates and ensuring high classroom standards. Classroom observation is one effective method to monitor progress, explain outcomes, and determine best practices for reading instruction. Reading in the Classroom provides detailed discussions of the most current and representative classroom reading observation systems used throughout the United States. This book will aid researchers, policy makers, and curriculum developers in evaluating our current educational system with respect to literacy instruction. The chapters cover a broad range of tools, all of which are specific, field-tested, and reliable. These tools were developed to study a variety of research questions, such as the effectiveness of statewide reading initiatives, the increased incidence of culturally diverse students with learning disabilities, effective teaching strategies for English language learners, methods to record the writing performance of at-risk students, ethnographic classroom observations, and ecobehavioral assessment and analysis strategies.