CORI Overview

• Watch an online video
• Teachers
  Read quotes and vignettes from CORI teachers.
• Students
  See actual work and read quotes and vignettes from CORI students.
• Program Goals
  Read about specific goals of CORI program, which include reading, motivation, science, and reading-science integration.

This collaborative project between the University of Maryland and the Frederick County Public Schools focuses on the challenge of implementing integrated reading instruction in the elementary school curriculum. Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) is a program designed by John Guthrie and Allan Wigfield to incorporate reading strategy instruction and inquiry science in interesting and unique ways for students. The goals of CORI are to increase students' reading comprehension, reading motivation, and science knowledge. The CORI program equips participating teachers with the skills to accomplish these classroom goals through interactive professional development workshops and established CORI guidelines.

Engaged Reading

Imagine a classroom in the later elementary grades. At one table, children are working on an extended project. The students have selected a topic, perhaps life in colonial times or threats to the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Students find books within the classroom and school media center relevant to their topics. They treat books with care and learn new content with delight. Notebooks are brimming with organized clusters of information gleaned from multiple sources, including Web sites and reference materials. Embracing the challenge of figuring out the complexities of their topic, such as how the water cycle in the region influences changes in the Chesapeake Bay, students share resources and help each other piece together an understanding. Read More