The Reading Revolution: How States are Scaling Literacy Reform – FutureEd

by Deborah Bond-Upson | Jun 20, 2023 | Learning Issues, Science of Reading, Teachers

Lynn Olson Enthusiasm for the science of reading, a body of research pointing to the importance of understanding letter-sound relationships as the basic…
— Read on www.future-ed.org/teaching-children-to-read-one-state-at-a-time/

Science of Reading- What it is.. from Curriculum Associates

by Deborah Bond-Upson | Jun 15, 2023 | Learning Issues, Science of Reading, Teachers

Click here for a link to Curriculum Associates’ Overview of “Magnetic Reading”. Intro below:

At Curriculum Associates, we believe all students can become skilled readers, and the best way to get them there is explicit, systematic, and evidence-based literacy instruction grounded in the body of research that has proven that teaching students to read is an art and a science. These beliefs are at the core of our Magnetic Reading K–5 resources, designed to take every student from foundational skills to reading fluency.

Reading Is a Complex Process
Thousands of international, interdisciplinary, scientific, and educational studies have pinpointed what— and, crucially, how—we must teach students who are learning to read. The resulting evidence forms the foundation of reading science. Humans are not hardwired to read in the same way we are to speak. We must all be explicitly taught to decipher the “code,” beginning with these word recognition skills:
• Phonological Awareness: the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of spoken language
• Phonics: the ability to map sounds onto letters or combinations of letters (i.e., sound spellings)
• Recognition of High-Frequency Words: the ability to automatically identify and read words that occur most often in text As students move systematically from learning to read to reading to learn, these language comprehension skills are essential for students to become proficient readers:
• Literacy Knowledge (Genres and Text Features): knowledge specific to understanding the features of literary and informational text
• Background Knowledge (Content and Cultural): information stored in the brain based on prior experiences of topics and ideas
• Verbal Reasoning: the ability to draw conclusions by connecting new information to what is already known
• Language Structures: the knowledge of word meanings and how they are combined into meaningful sentences

More recent research has proven that there are additional contributors to skilled reading. These contributors form bridging processes both within and across word recognition and language comprehension (Nation, 2019):
• Literacy Knowledge (Concepts of Print): knowledge specific to understanding how print works, such as reading it from left to right and top to bottom in English
• Fluency: the ability to read with accuracy, automaticity, intonation/inflection, and proper phrasing
• Vocabulary Knowledge: the ability to understand the meanings of words and phrases The students themselves also play a key role in reading success. Skilled readers utilize active selfregulation strategies to maintain engagement with the text (Duke & Cartwright, 2021).

Active self-regulation includes:
• Motivation and Engagement: the interest and desire to read that leads to active reading
• Use of Comprehension Strategies: deliberate actions that help readers construct meaning