Delve into the theory of the Science of Reading, and the funding and technology available, that are helping to shape literacy education today. Discover the transformative potential of evidence-based reading instruction.
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While the phrase doesn’t have a universal definition, it refers broadly to research in a variety of fields that relates to how a child’s brain learns to read. Neuroscientists, for instance, have used MRIs to study the brains of struggling readers.
In practice, this science calls for schools to focus on the building blocks of words. Kindergartners might play rhyming games and clap out the individual syllables in a word to learn to manipulate sounds. Experts call this phonemic awareness.
Students later will learn explicitly how to make letter sounds and blend letters. To make sure students aren’t just guessing at words, teachers might ask them to sound out so-called nonsense words, like “nant” or “zim.”
Gone is rote memorization of word spellings. Instead, students learn the elements that make up a word. In a lesson using the word “unhappy,” students would learn how the prefix “un-” changed the meaning of the base word.
An important model in early reading research is the simple view of reading. It says that reading comprehension (RC) is the product of decoding (D) and language comprehension (LC), or RC = D x LC.
Learning to read for understanding requires sounding out and recognizing words – decoding – but it also requires making meaning of the words and sentences we hear – language comprehension.
While taking a microscope to any one aspect of reading reveals more complexity, the simple view continues to be supported as a strong core model in reading development, as it has been for decades.
Another way to look at this is through the lens of the Scarborough Reading Rope. This visualization demonstrates the many strands and skills woven into the skill of reading.
The Science of Reading also leans heavily on the five pillars of reading. These pillars are the key elements which need to be established in the learning journey for students to have the highest chance of reading success.
Ability to manipulate individual phonemes within spoken words. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word.
Ability to understand relationships between phonemes and graphemes. Graphemes are letters that represent sounds in written language.
Ability to read words aloud with accuracy, speed, and expression. Core skillset to developing reading automatically and motivation to read.
Ability to build a growing and increasingly complex lexicon. Learned incidentally through exposure to reading and direct instruction.
Ability to understand, remember, and synthesize what is read. Unlocks critical thinking skills used to make predictions, inferences, and analyses of written materials.
For a significant portion of children, explicit instruction aligned with its principles is essential for developing proficient reading abilities.
Yet, despite mounting evidence supporting its efficacy, some educational settings have been slow to embrace it. This is creating an increasingly large gap between research and practice.
For struggling readers, Read&Write provides digital reading support, using text-to-speech, dyslexia-friendly dictionaries, and grammar checkers to build fluency and confidence.
OrbitNote helps educators to make inaccessible text more accessible and collaborative. Teachers can easily convert printed text into a PDF, ensuring that students have access to the tools they need, across all class content.
The Unique Learning System (ULS) special education curriculum transforms learning for students with disabilities, from preschool through transition. With flexible lesson-planning, it provides tailored support for every learner.
uPar is a universal reading screener. It helps educators to determine how students best understand text. uPar also pinpoints which accommodations are best for each student.
News2you is a symbol-supported newspaper that helps students with unique learning needs connect to the world around them. It builds literacy and communication skills while making learning accessible.
"30 to 40 percent of kids will need the more explicit instruction that's part of the Science of Reading."
– Timothy Shanahan, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
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Legislation has also begun to reflect this shift, with every state now having passed some form of legislation acknowledging the importance of the Science of Reading.
States like Mississippi have led the way with comprehensive curriculum overhauls and teacher training initiatives, yielding promising results in reading proficiency.
Some Colorado districts, for instance, have ditched instructional materials that didn’t pass muster under a state law that requires schools to use scientifically based reading programs. Everway customer, New York City Schools, whose mayor often talks about his personal struggle with dyslexia, is making changes in its schools as well, without waiting for state laws to be passed.
Our literacy tools support Science of Reading and help students succeed in learning to read. Book a chat with our education specialists to find more.