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Abstract Title Page Not included in page count. Title: The Targeted Reading Intervention: A classroom teacher professional development program to promote effective teaching for struggling readers in kindergarten and first grade Author(s): Lynne Vernon-Feagans, Kirsten Kainz, Amy Hedrick, Marnie Ginsberg Steve Amendum 2010 SREE Conference Abstract Template Abstract Body Background/context: American schools have come under increasing scrutiny, largely because many children are not acquiring the skills they need to succeed in the larger culture (Grissmer, Flanagan, Kawata, Williamson, 2000). The National Assessment of Educational Progress has reported that two thirds of fourth graders are not able to comprehend difficult texts and only 63% of fourth graders are reading at a very minimal level of proficiency. Of those families in poverty, only 28% of their children could read at this minimum level of proficiency in fourth grade (Lyon, 2001; Vaughn, Wanzek, Linen-Thompson, Murray, 2007). These low levels of reading proficiency are especially true for rural children from low-wealth communities who come to school with lower readiness skills than other children (Lee Burkam, 2003). Rural schools’ growing school populations and limited economic resources, combined with geographic isolation, make it difficult to provide teachers with the professional development skills to meet the needs of their most at-risk students (Dewees, 2000; Lee Burkam, 2003; Roscigno Crowley, 2001; Rural Policy Matters, 2007). Rural Schools also have limited access to web based technology that might enhance professional development and student learning (Lee McIntire, 2000; Provasnik et al., 2007). These challenges by rural schools were underscored by a 2004 GAO report that sampled rural school principals (Government Accountability Office,