Position Statements

As an advocate of excellence in teaching, IRA participates actively in shaping sound public policy in education. Find out where we stand on the most critical issues in literacy education today.

The links below lead to summaries of each position statement; in most cases, the full text is available for downloading.

• Adolescent Literacy
• Children’s Rights
• Civil Dialogue
• Classroom and School Libraries
• Commercial Reading Programs
• Developmentally Appropriate Practices Instruction
• Evidence-Based Instruction 
• Excellent Reading Teachers
• Family-School Partnerships
• High-Stakes Assessments
• Minority Representation in Special Education
• Multiple Methods Instruction
• New Literacies and 21st-Century Technologies
• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Preschool Literacy
• The Reading Coach
• Reading First
• The Reading Specialist
• Second-Language Instruction
• Young Adolescents’ Learning
• Teacher Preparation