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Welcome to Region 8
R-TAC
We are enthusiastic to share the tremendous effort being made in Region 8 as it applies to meeting the Key Assurances of the Reading First initiative. In so doing, this web site serves many purposes, including acting as a clearinghouse of tools and resources useful for districts implementing a quality reading program. This web site has also been designed to communicate current or updated legislation, policy and practices for the California initiative. Lastly, it is a means of increasing the networking potential between and among stakeholders in the Region 8 who have invested and continue to invest so much time, effort and innovation to make the tenets of Reading First such a positive influence on the reading achievement of students.

With that being said, we welcome your opinions and suggestions on ways we might make this website even more user friendly as well as more practical and relevant to your current work, whether in the implementation of the Reading First Assurances or in the pursuit of increasing the reading instruction and achievement of all students.

Reading First California Technical Assistance Center
(C-TAC)
The Center, under the California Reading First plan, provides statewide technical assistance to Reading First LEAs to fully meet the grant award assurances that were signed by all the sub-grant recipients. State-provided assessments, online assessment reporting, and development of professional development training materials for teachers and site administrators are coordinated through C-TAC. The Center is also responsible for oversight and assistance to the Regional Technical Assistance Centers (R-TACs). In addition, the center also serves as the lead agency with communications between the California Department of Education and Reading First LEAs.

Reading First is a federal grant program with the purpose of ensuring all children learn to read well by the end of third grade. California receives federal funding to provide multi-year sub-grants to LEAs to implement California's approved Reading First Plan. California's Reading First Plan ensures that all the necessary components to improve reading instruction are available to California's highest need K-3 classrooms.

As required by federal law and California's approved Reading First Plan, California's standard based adopted reading instructional materials that utilizes the five essential components of effective reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency, and reading comprehensive strategies). The Reading First program will allow schools serving low achieving, low income K-3 students to simultaneously have scientifically researched based instructional materials, teachers and principals trained to use those materials, scientifically researched based assessments aligned to the instructional materials and the time and expert resources (reading coaches, content experts, district and state technical assistance) to focus this instruction on the needs of individual students.

Assurance Statements of Local Education Agency (LEA) and School Site(s) for Reading First Subgrant.