Developing Early Literacy Skills

This rejoinder provides responses to the conceptual concerns expressed in the nine critiques published in this issue of Educational Researcher of the 2008 National Early Literacy Panel report. It explains the necessity of adhering to clearly established study selection parameters in conducting trustworthy meta-analyses and the need to be cautious in claims made on the basis of empirical evidence. The rejoinder summarizes the report’s extensive analyses of language development data and highlights substantial empirical evidence that contradicts the critics’ claims about alphabetic code-related skills. Also included are pointed discussions of the critics’ conceptual arguments concerning shared reading activities, parent/home literacy programs, English-language learners, and early childhood education.