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Evidence-Based Assessment in the Science of Reading

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Evidence-Based Assessment in the Science of Reading

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Written by Una Malcolm, M.A., OCT
Introduction: Why Assess

Assessment for learning plays a critical role in informing and driving literacy instruction. Nearly all students are capable of learning to read; while specific numbers vary, estimates indicate that approximately 95% of students are capable of learning to read (Fletcher & Vaughn, 2009). Rigorous, systematic, and explicit instruction that addresses the essential components of literacy including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2000), is key to allowing all children to reach their full potential. This instruction often referred to as structured literacy, must go hand-in-hand with a comprehensive assessment system to allow educators to adjust instruction to meet the specific needs of students (Spear-Swerling, 2018). Assessment is critical for students with learning disabilities (LDs) in terms of both the prevention of reading difficulties and intervention to remediate skill gaps.

Formative Assessment: Answering Questions

Assessment for learning plays a key role in meeting the needs of all students through the creation of equitable learning environments. Assessment for learning, "is used in making decisions that affect teaching and learning in the short-term future" (Growing Success, 2010, p. 30). Multiple research reviews and meta-analyses have identified that systematic formative assessment has consistent strong, positive effects on student learning (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1986; Black & Wiliam, 2005; Hattie, 2009) across a variety of factors including student age, measurement frequency, and disability status. In essence, assessment for learning allows educators to identify where students are and inform plans to get students where they need to be.

Even within assessment for learning, multiple types of assessments exist. Growing Success (2010) distinguishes between formative and diagnostic assessments but emphasizes that "what matters is how the information is used" (p. 31). Assessment answers questions; different types of assessment tools answer different types of questions. In a Response to Intervention model, assessment purposes include universal screening, diagnostic assessments, and progress monitoring; all three of these purposes for assessment answer key questions about shaping instructional environments to meet students' needs.

1. Screening - Assessment for Learning

The development of skilled reading is a complex process that hinges on the development and the integration of cognitive and language skills. Many of these skills can be observed and measured well before children receive any formal reading instruction (Catts, 2015). With data indicating that reading trajectories are established early and are very stable (Juel, 1988), it is critical to identify reading difficulties early on in a student's academic career to inform support. Since reading remediation at an earlier age is more effective than later intervention (Lovett et al., 2017), screening plays an important role in preventing early reading difficulties from being exacerbated over time.

All students should be screened with universal screening measures three times per year (Good et al., 2011). These assessments are very brief, standardized measures that quickly and efficiently identify which children are at risk. Standardized assessments are tests that have specific procedures for administration and scoring, perhaps with scripted directions and specific scoring guidelines (Farrall, 2012). Students are assessed on several indicators of early literacy skills appropriate for their age and grade. For example, Kindergarten and grade one students may be screened on phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding, while older students may be screened on oral reading fluency (ORF) and retell for comprehension.

Universal screening measures are widely available and very accessible. Many of the universal screeners currently available are either low-cost or free. Often there can be a fee for training or optional computer data analysis systems, but many of the testing materials are very accessible.

These assessments are technically reliable and valid, and scores are interpreted in relation to a benchmark criterion. Benchmark cutscores are not determined arbitrarily but instead are derived from research; researchers use longitudinal studies to determine what threshold a child must reach to have a strong chance of meeting future reading goals. This means a child's score allows educators to predict future reading performance with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Students who fall at or below the cutscore are at risk and will likely need additional support to allow them to meet future goals. For example, a benchmark cutscore on Acadience Reading assessments is the score needed for a child to have an 80 - 90% probability of meeting successive reading goals (Good et al., 2011). In interpreting a child's score in comparison to a benchmark score, educators can quickly and efficiently assess the level of risk of future reading achievement or difficulty before difficulties emerge or worsen.

Screening allows educators to quickly and easily catch students who are at risk. Screening does not, however, give teachers a full understanding of what the underlying cause of a problem is. Screening is akin to a blood pressure or temperature check at a doctor's office; these are simple, efficient and cost-effective ways to find problems, but abnormalities on these screeners require additional diagnostic testing to decipher what exactly is wrong.

2. Diagnostic Assessment - Assessment for Learning

Diagnostic assessments allow educators to probe deeper into the learning profiles of students in question. For many students, universal screening three times per year provides all the assessment data necessary to ensure students are making sufficient progress. For students who are at risk, though, careful analysis of reading subskills must occur to differentiate instruction and plan intervention. These assessments allow educators to ascertain which specific skills or knowledge a student has mastered, and which skills or knowledge need to be taught.

If universal screeners are similar to a blood pressure or temperature check to identify problems in a brief and cost-effective manner, diagnostic assessments are similar to more comprehensive blood tests or diagnostic imaging to dig deeper into a problem. The information from these more investigative approaches directly informs treatment, similar to how diagnostic reading assessments allow teachers to differentiate classroom instruction or plan targeted interventions.

Diagnostic assessments are longer and more in-depth than screening assessments and are typically not standardized. While screeners are quick assessments of indicators of basic skills, diagnostic assessments can be thought of as inventories of skills that directly inform instruction. Can a child segment two, three, or four phoneme words? Can a child decode words with short vowels or consonant digraphs? Diagnostic assessments allow teachers to differentiate classroom instruction and plan intervention if necessary.

Diagnostic assessments should be selected strategically. The Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) indicates that reading comprehension, the end goal of reading, is a product of two sets of subskills, word recognition and language comprehension. When selecting diagnostic assessments, teachers can probe both areas of this model to clarify a student's specific patterns of strengths and needs. When weaknesses exist in reading comprehension, is this due to difficulties with word recognition, with language comprehension, or with both?

3. Progress Monitoring - Assessment for Learning

With screening and diagnostic data in hand, teachers can differentiate core instruction and/or provide targeted intervention through intervention supports. Progress monitoring assessments allow educators to quickly measure a student's response to instruction. Instead of waiting until the next benchmark assessment several months in the future, progress monitoring allows for more rapid adjustment of instruction. While universal screening measures students' skill level with grade-level material, progress monitoring is at an individual child's instructional level to directly measure response to instruction. A grade four child reading at a grade one level would be screened at the beginning, middle, and end of the year with grade four assessments. Progress monitoring assessment, though, would be at a grade one level in order to measure the child's response to intervention.

Many universal screeners also supply progress monitoring materials. These materials are often very similar to universal screening measures in that they are brief and standardized. When selecting an assessment for progress monitoring, it is important to consider practice effects. Progress monitoring assessments typically have multiple forms so students are not tested with the same material. Progress monitoring data are usually graphed so student growth can be compared visually to an aimline, or the line between a child's current score and the benchmark goal.

Progress monitoring assessments are purposefully brief. Depending on student age and needs, this assessment may take between one and three minutes. Struggling students need to catch up quickly; Torgesen (2004) describes the "devastating downward spiral" that occurs when students do not receive timely, evidence-based intervention. Struggling readers do not have time for a "wait and see" approach. Weekly or biweekly progress monitoring allows for enough data to quickly and clearly establish patterns. Educators can quickly judge if a child's rate of progress is strong enough to meet the goal. If not, there are several options that can be considered to intensify instruction:

Increasing frequency or length of support

Decreasing group size

Making groups more homogeneous

Increasing level of explicitness

Increasing opportunities for practice

To see an example of how the Thunder Bay Catholic DSB uses tier 1, 2 and 3 reading interventions, click here to view the LD@school video The Tiered Approach

In addition to informing instruction, progress monitoring data allow for insight into students learning profiles. Research indicates that data from a child's response to intervention can give important insight into whether a child may have a learning disability. Patterns of inadequate response to evidence-based instruction, established through progress monitoring data, are key factors to consider when evaluating for a learning disability (Miciak & Fletcher, 2020; Catts & Petscher, 2021).

4. Outcome Evaluation - Assessment of Learning

Outcome assessments measure student achievement. While progress monitoring assessments show if instruction is working, outcome assessments are assessments of learning and identify if instruction worked.

These assessments are typically comprehensive assessments that measure student mastery of provincial curriculum expectations or the specific learning goals outlined. Outcome assessments often occur at the end of a period of learning, including a unit of study, a term, or a school year, for example.
Evidence-Based Assessment in the Science of Reading: Cheat sheet - Comparing and Contrasting Assessment Purposes Click here to view and download the Evidence-Based Assessment in the Science of Reading: Cheat sheet
Assessment Data and Differentiating Tier 1 Instruction

Patterns in universal screening data can support teachers in differentiating classroom instruction. Instead of using student reading levels from a running record to group students for small group instruction, universal screening data allows educators to use reading skills to more specifically build homogeneous groups of students for instruction. A grade 2 teacher, for example, could split students into several groups based on their universal screening data:

Fluent and accurate readers needing continued content and vocabulary instruction to build comprehension

Students who read accurately but need fluency instruction

Students in need of word-level decoding and phonics instruction.

Data from screeners as well as diagnostic testing for deeper probing allows for more sophisticated and specific differentiation for intervention, instruction, or enrichment since it focuses on specific skills instead of generic reading levels.

Student vs. System Analysis to Strengthen Universal Instruction

One of the strengths of universal screening is it allows educators to analyze not only individual students' growth but also the strength of classroom core instruction. If more than 20% of students are below the benchmark on universal screening, it is a clear indication that efforts to strengthen core instruction should be made. Prioritizing intervention when a large proportion of the class is at risk misses out on a valuable opportunity to strengthen the universal tier of classroom instruction. With class-wide screening data, teachers are able to better differentiate instruction and potentially implement class-wide interventions, such as Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (McMaster & Fuchs, 2016). For example, a grade 3 teacher could implement a paired repeated reading instructional routine (Stevens et al., 2017) in response to weak fluency screening data. Instead of just problem-solving at individual student levels, teachers have the data necessary to develop action plans to strengthen core instruction for all students.

To learn more about Peer Assisted Learning, click here to access LD@school's article and video Peer-Mediated Learning Approaches.

Oral Reading Fluency and Running Records: Frequently Confused

Oral Reading Fluency assessments are commonly used in both screening and progress monitoring for developing readers. While individual assessments vary, generally Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) measures involve timed passage oral reading for one minute. Accuracy rates and words correct per minute scores are calculated and interpreted in relation to a benchmark score. ORF assessments are highly correlated with reading comprehension (Fuchs et al., 2001) and serve as a proxy for this critical outcome skill.

ORF assessments are often confused with running record assessments that are commonly used in literacy programs. While both assessments do involve the reading of connected passages, running records differ in that a text "level" is often indicated as a student's instructional or independent level based on the accuracy percentage. Fluency is typically assessed through teacher observation or rubrics. Running records do not meet desired characteristics for the selection of a screener. They do not act as brief, reliable and valid indicators of key early literacy skills, and they do not allow for interpretation of scores in relation to a benchmark criterion derived from predictive probabilities. In fact, Parker et al. (2015) found that a commonly used running record assessment had a .54 correlation with a district-provided criterion reading test. These data indicate that running records were only 54% accurate in predicting student reading performance, in comparison to the established technical validity and reliability of ORF measures.

Assessment for Learning: A Case Study
The following case study provides an example of how reading assessment can be used in the classroom to identify at-risk students, pinpoint the skills these students struggle with, and determine the appropriate intervention to get students back on track.
Maya is in grade two. As a part of the beginning-of-year screening process, her teacher administers a brief screening assessment that yields this data about Maya's reading:
Nonsense Word Fluency: Oral Reading Fluency:

Accuracy (passage reading accuracy): Below Benchmark

Words Correct (passage reading fluency): Well Below Benchmark

Maya's teacher, Ms. Kaur, recognizes that Maya is struggling and is not on track to meet future reading goals. Ms. Kaur realizes that Maya is having difficulty reading the ORF passage accurately and smoothly since she is not an accurate and fluent word reader. Based on these screening data, she decides to dig deeper with some diagnostic assessments to help her differentiate instruction. She decides to give Maya a decoding assessment to understand which specific phonics patterns she has mastered, and which patterns she needs to be taught. She learns that Maya hasn't yet mastered short vowel sounds. She also uses a phonemic awareness assessment to check her blending and segmenting, which shows skill gaps as well. Ms. Kaur realizes that Maya is having difficulty with word recognition skills. To check on her oral language skills, Ms. Kaur reads a story to Maya and asks her oral comprehension questions. Maya is easily able to answer questions about what she hears, indicating to Ms. Kaur that Maya's reading difficulties appear to be stemming from decoding and word recognition difficulties and not language comprehension difficulties.

Armed with this information, Ms. Kaur builds her small reading groups. Instead of using reading levels to group students, Ms. Kaur uses reading skills. She groups Maya with other students needing phonemic awareness and short vowel instruction.

As Ms. Kaur uses this screening and diagnostic data to plan her groups and instruction, she also continues to monitor Maya's progress using weekly Nonsense Word Fluency assessments. Since these progress monitoring assessments are one minute each, Ms. Kaur knows that this is a quick and efficient way to make sure Maya is responding to her instruction without having to wait until the mid-year screening time. If Maya is not making sufficient progress toward the benchmark score, she may need instruction to be intensified to allow her to reach the benchmark goal. Ms. Kaur graphs Maya's progress monitoring data, as well as the aimline which shows the path between Maya's current score and the benchmark. Ms. Kaur and her grade-level team can quickly and easily judge if Maya is progressing at a fast enough rate to close the gap.

About the author:

Una Malcolm is a doctoral student in Reading Science and also has a Master's degree in Child Study and Education. She is a member of the Ontario College of Teachers. Una has trained extensively in several evidence-based teaching methods, such as Direct Instruction, Phono-Graphix and Lindamood-Bell. She is an Acadience Reading K-6 (formerly DIBELS Next) Mentor.

References

Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7 - 74. doi: 10.1080/0969595980050102

Catts, H.W., Nielsen, D. C., Bridges, M. S., Liu, Y. S., & Bontempo, D. E. (2015). Early identification of reading disabilities within an RTI framework. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48(3), 281-297.

Catts, H.W., Petscher, Y. (2021). A cumulative risk and resilience model of dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, doi.org/10.1177/00222194211037062

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, DHHS. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read: Reports of the Subgroups. U.S. Government Printing Office.

Farrall, M. L. (2012). Reading assessment: Linking language, literacy, and cognition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118092668

Fuchs, L.S. & Fuchs, D. (1986). Effects of systematic formative evaluation: A meta-analysis. Exceptional Children, 53(3), 199 - 208.

Fuchs, L., Fuchs, D., Hosp, M. & Jenkins, J. (2001). Oral reading fluency as an indicator of reading competence. Scientific Studies of Reading, 5(3), 239 - 256.

Fletcher, J.M. & Vaughn, S. (2009). Response to intervention: Preventing and remediating academic difficulties. Child Development Perspectives, 3(1), 30 - 37. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2008.00072.x

Good, R.H., Kaminski, R.A., Cummings, K.D., Dufour-Martel, C., Petersen, K., Powell-Smith, K.A., Stollar, S. & Wallin, J. (2011). Acadience Reading K-6 Assessment Manual. Acadience Learning Inc.

Gough, P.B. & Tunmer, W.E. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7(1), 6 - 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/074193258600700104

Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning. Routledge.

Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal study of 54 children from first through fourth grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(4), 437 - 447. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.80.4.437

Lovett, M., Frijters, J.C., Wolf, M., Steinback, K.A., Sevcik, R.A., Morris, R.D. (2017). Early intervention for children at risk for reading disabilties: The impact of grade at intervention and individual differences on intervention outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(7), 889 - 914. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000181

McMaster, K. L., & Fuchs, D. (2016). Classwide intervention using peer-assisted learning strategies. In S. R. Jimerson, M. K. Burns, & A. M. VanDerHeyden (Eds.), Handbook of response to intervention: The science and practice of multi-tiered systems of support (pp. 253-268). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7568-3_15

Miciak, J. & Fletcher, J.M. (2020). The critical role of instructional response for identifying dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 53(5), 343 - 353. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219420906801

Ontario Ministry of Education. ​​(2010). Growing Success: Assessment, evaluation and reporting in Ontario's schools: Covering grades 1 to 12. Ministry of Education.

Parker, D.C., Zaslofsky, A.F., Burns, M.K., Kanive, R., Hodgson, J., Scholin, S.E. & Klingbeil, D.A. (2015) A brief report of the diagnostic accuracy of oral reading fluency and reading inventory levels for reading failure risk among second and third grade students. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 31(1), 56 - 67. doi: 10.1080/10573569.2013.857970

Spear-Swerling, L. (2018). Structured literacy and typical literacy practices: Understanding differences to create instructional opportunities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 51(3), 201-211.

Stevens, E. A., Walker, M. A., & Vaughn, S. (2017). The effects of reading fluency interventions on the reading fluency and reading comprehension performance of elementary students with Learning Disabilities: A synthesis of the research from 2001 to 2014. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 50(5), 576-590. doi: 10.1177/0022219416638028

Torgesen, J.K. (2004). Avoiding the devastating downward spiral: The evidence that early intervention prevents reading failure. American Educator, 28, 6-19.

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Evidence-Based Assessment in the Science of Reading

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Written by Una Malcolm, M.A., OCT Introduction: Why Assess Assessment for learning plays a critical role in informing and driving literacy instruction. Nearly all students are capable of learning to read; while specific numbers vary, estimates indicate that approximately 95% of students are capable of learning to read (Fletcher & Vaughn, 2009).

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Dyslexia: What Every Teacher Needs to Know, Literacy Talks podcast

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Too often, parents, classroom teachers, administrators, and even pediatricians have difficulty identifying the signs of dyslexia. Students are sometimes adept at hiding their reading struggles...and not every student who has difficulty learning to read has dyslexia. In this episode, our Literacy Talks trio will share their experiences identifying students who may need evaluation and support services and tips for talking to families about helping their children.

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Too often, parents, classroom teachers, administrators, and even pediatricians have difficulty identifying the signs of dyslexia. Students are sometimes adept at hiding their reading struggles...and not every student who has difficulty learning to read has dyslexia.

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Embracing the Complexity of Learning to Read with Reid Lyon, Part 1 

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Meet our guest(s):

Dr. Reid Lyon is a neuroscientist and specialist in learning disorders. In 1980, he joined the faculty of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern, where he also directed the neuropsychology laboratory. He later joined the Stern Center for Language and Learning as the director of research, and the University of Vermont Medical School as a clinical associate professor of neurology. From 1992 to 2005, he served as a research neuropsychologist and chief of the Child Development and Behavior branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health.

After leaving the NIH, Lyon held distinguished scientist and professorships at the University of Texas (neuroscience) and Southern Methodist University (educational leadership). Dr. Lyon is the author or co-author of over 130 peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters addressing developmental neuroscience, learning and reading disorders/dyslexia, and the translation of science into practice and policy. He also co-authored the definition of dyslexia used at the NIH and worldwide, and was a two-time recipient of the NIH Director's Award.

Meet our host, Susan Lambert

Susan Lambert is the Chief Academic Officer of Elementary Humanities at Amplify, and the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Her career has been focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Susan is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.

As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. As a former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, Susan is dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.

Transcripts and additional resources

"Phonics-that is, looking at letters, letter patterns, learning how to bring sound to associate to those letters-is absolutely essential, non-negotiable. It has to be learned. But it in no way is sufficient to be able to comprehend, which is the goal of reading." -Dr. Reid Lyon

"Reading is a complex behavior subserved by multiple systems in the brain that integrate and inform each other." -Dr. Reid Lyon

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Season 7 Interlude Episode 2 (Part 1): Embracing the complexity of learning to read, with Reid Lyon

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Tune in to hear Reid Lyon discuss today's literacy landscape and the Science of Reading movement for learning to read.

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4 min.

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The Reading Brain | How We Learn To Read

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OSPI + Glean | Expert Webinar Series Featuring Georgette Dickman | November 10, 2022

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Implementing Structured Literacy Slide deck

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Implementing Structured Literacy Slide deck

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OSPI + Glean Georgette Dickman November 2022

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Literacy Foundations for English Learners

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Literacy Foundations for English Learners

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Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction / Edition 1|Paperback

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More than 5 million English learners attend U.S. public schools—and yet fewer than 3% of teachers are certified to work with them. Fill that gap in teacher education with this practical and comprehensive textbook, an evidence-based guide to providing English learners in Pre&…

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7 Mighty Moves: The Science of Reading in Practice

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7 Mighty Moves: The Science of Reading in Practice

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By breaking these sentence components down with students, we are able to help them visually build sentences.

3 - Applied Instruction

Sentence-Level Writing Should be Applied to Paragraphs or Stories!

When students practice writing sentences, it is important that they are able to see how that sentence could then be applied to stories or paragraphs. Essentially, we need to take students' abilities from the word and sentence level structure up to the higher-level structures discussed above.

If your students are capable of writing their own paragraphs - that's a great next step! (Stay tuned for next week when we talk about paragraph writing in more detail!) If your students are not ready for a paragraph yet, you don't have to skip this instruction!

A great way to expose your students to sentence expansion is to make it into a game. Have your student write their sentence. Then, you write a sentence that follows theirs, creating a story. Then, ask students to create their own sentence that continues the story (they can write or dictate this with you acting as a scribe). As you go, talk through the process of writing these sentences (who/what are you talking about? What "did whats" would make sense?) and how you can tie them all together.

4 - Research Behind Sentence Syntax Instruction

Research supports explicit teaching of sentence structure to build higher levels of writing ability.

Interestingly, there has been far less research devoted to effectively teaching writing, specifically at the word and structure level. In much the same way that "reading wars" exist, so do "grammar wars." Depending on your education, you may or may not have been subjected to painful diagramming of sentences. Research studies and meta-analyses of these studies have been conducted in order to determine whether this high-level analysis and formal grammar instruction helps support students writing ability.

"The results show that there is little evidence to indicate that the teaching of formal grammar is effective; and that teaching sentence-combining has a more positive effect." - Andrews, R., Torgerson, C., Beverton, S., Freeman, A., Locke, T., Low, G., Robinson, A. and Zhu, D. (2006), The effect of grammar teaching on writing development. British Educational Research Journal, 32: 39-55.

Essentially, best practices indicate that we need to start with the process in which we work up from the word level to the sentence level but that we don't need to get into the nitty-gritty weeds and details in order to help our students become effective writers.

So, why is sentence combining so effective?

Based on a study conducted by Saddler, B. & Graham, S. (2005), The Effects of Peer-Assisted Sentence-Combining Instruction on the Writing Performance of More and Less Skilled Young Writers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97: 33-54., the reason sentence combining is so effective is due to three underlying principles:

1. They have an opportunity to see what an effective sentence looks like (this is why sentence dictation is also a critical component of effective instruction); they can understand what choices are available to create a grammatically correct sentence.

2. Once the process of sentence formation and then reformation (e.g., "The car was red." "The car was fast." becomes "The red car was fast." or "The car was red and fast.") becomes automatic, fewer cognitive resources need to be used at the sentence structure level allowing more cognitive resources to be allocated toward higher-level composition.

3. Gains in syntactical (structural) fluency lead to better writing (which is why sentence building in which content not for the sentence is not provided is a critical component in effective instruction).

5 - Targeted Instruction

You target specific sentence-level writing skills by understanding where your students' abilities are and differentiating accordingly.

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A Syntax-focused Kindergarten Lesson, Literacy How

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A Syntax-focused Kindergarten Lesson, Literacy How

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An important strategy to help students build their vocabulary is use of context - i.e., using the clues or hints provided in the text that surround an unfamiliar word to help guess the meaning without depending on a dictionary. This can include words, phrases, or sentences that appear before, after, or close to the word. It can also include visuals or headings embedded in the text - basically anything that helps a reader understand the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Expository, non-fiction text tends to offer more context clues than narrative text.

The main goal for developing students' ability to use context is to aid comprehension, not to teach words in-depth. When students encounter and "stumble" over unfamiliar words that are essential to making meaning of a passage, their comprehension suffers. If the context provides clues to the meanings of these words, comprehension is aided.

Use of context does not come naturally to many students. It takes time to become proficient with this strategy - students benefit from explicit instruction and guided practice. Studies have shown that when students are taught to use context clues they become better at figuring out the definitions of words compared to students who are not directly taught this skill (Kuhn & Stahl, 1998). The first step is helping students recognize when they don't know the meaning of a word and the need to make reasonable judgements about how to address that lack of knowledge.
Types of Context Clues
There are categories of types of clues that are useful for teachers to know, described below with examples from classroom texts. Knowledge of these types of clues benefits the teacher in terms of finding examples in text to use for explicit instruction and practice. However, it is not helpful to expect students to identify the type of clue provided in text. Shanahan (2022) points out that the research synthesis noted above by Kuhn and Stahl determined persuasively that students benefit from instruction for use of context, but it was not category training that helped, only the actual practice in figuring out word meanings from context.

Synonym Clue: A word that is similar to he word is provided.

Example: Water soaks into the ground pores, or spaces, among the fragments of soil.

Example: It was a triptych, or three-paneled, painting.

Contrast Clue: The word is contrasted with another word, usually an antonym.

Example: Unlike a compound, an element cannot be broken down into simpler materials.

Example: Volunteering to join the army offers the choice that a draftee does not have.

Instruction Using Classroom Text Examples
Rather than using contrived examples on worksheets to practice use of context, instruction works best when explicit instruction and guided practice is provided on a regular basis using examples from text that is already being used in the classroom. Teachers should review text and be on the lookout for examples where context clues are provided prior to assigning text for student reading.

Graves (2006, p. 99) suggests teaching students the following four-step strategy for inferring words from context:

1. Read carefully and ask yourself, "Does this make sense?"

2. Notice when you don't know the meaning of a word and slow down. Read that sentence at least once more, looking for clues.

3. If necessary, go back and reread the sentences before and after, looking for clues that help you figure out what the word might mean.

4. When you figure out what the word might mean, substitute your guess for the difficult word and see if it makes sense. If it does, keep on reading. If it doesn't, try again.

Context Doesn't Always Provide Clues
It is important to emphasize with students that use of context doesn't always work! Research shows that sometimes when readers attempt to derive the meanings of words in context they may get them wrong (Pressley et al., 2007). This may be because the student does not have enough prior knowledge to make sense of the clues in the text, or it may be that the clues are misleading. Contexts vary in how much information they provide a reader. Sometimes the context provides a direct explanation of the meaning of a word as shown in the examples of types of clues above, and in this example where the meaning of photosynthesis is directly stated in the previous sentence:

Up to this point we have been referring to the process in which light energy is used to make food simply as the food-making process. But this important process has its own special name: photosynthesis.

Sometimes the context provides some information about an unfamiliar word, but not enough for the student to be aware of its full meaning, as shown in the example below where the student may guess that a vaccination has something to do with preventing disease, but there is not enough information to discern just what a vaccination is.

In order to gain active immunity to a disease, one of two things must occur - either you come down with the disease, or you receive a vaccination.

Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2002) identified some text as "misdirective" (i.e., leading to a misunderstanding). Here is an example of a misdirective from their book Bringing Words to Life where the students might wrongfully assume that Ginny admired Sandra's dancing:

Sandra had won the dance contest, and the audience's cheers brought her to the stage for an encore. "Every step she takes is so perfect and graceful," Ginny said grudgingly as she watched Sandra dance." (p. 4)

Shanahan (2022) suggests including examples sometimes from real text where words can't successfully be figured out from context, rather than using contrived examples to avoid what he calls "over consistency". He points out that this is being realistic with students about how use of context really works in most reading situations.
Using Word Parts
Another strategy for determining the meaning of an unfamiliar word is to use knowledge of meaningful word parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes), which is the subject of a blog post I wrote in 2018 titled Using Morphology to Teach Vocabulary. Carlisle (2007) maintains that incidental word learning through contextual clues and morphological analysis is the primary means through which students acquire new vocabulary. Frey and Fisher (2011) suggest teaching students to "Look inside the word and outside the word to see what you know." When used in tandem, use of word parts (inside the word) and use of context (outside the word) can be very helpful.
Additional Resources References

Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.

Carlisle, J.F. (2007). Fostering morphological processing, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension. In R.K. Wagner, A.E. Muse, & K.R. Tannenbaum (Eds.). Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension. New York: The Guilford Press.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Word wise and content rich: Five essential steps to teaching academic vocabulary. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Graves, M.F. (2006). The vocabulary book. New York: Teachers College Press.

Kuhn, M.R., & Stahl, S. A. (1998). Teaching children to learn word meanings from context: A synthesis and some questions. Journal of Literacy Research, 30, 119-138.

Pressley, M., Disney, L., & Anderson, K. (2007). Landmark vocabulary instructional research and the vocabulary instructional research that makes sense now. In Richard K. Rosenshine, B., & Stevens, R. (1984). Classroom instruction in reading. In P.D. Pearson, R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, and P.B. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, 745-799. New York: Longman.

Shanahan, T. (2022). Blog post: Teaching Students to Use Context

Joan Sedita

Joan Sedita is the founder of Keys to Literacy and author of the Keys to Literacy professional development programs. She is an experienced educator, nationally recognized speaker and teacher trainer. She has worked for over 35 years in the literacy education field and has presented to thousands of teachers and related professionals at schools, colleges, clinics, and professional conferences.

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Vocabulary Strategy: Use of Context - Keys to Literacy

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An important strategy to help students build their vocabulary is use of context - i.e., using the clues or hints provided in the text that surround an unfamiliar word to help guess the meaning without depending on a dictionary. This can include words, phrases, or sentences that appear before, after, or close to the word.

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Phinder - word lists for specific spelling/phonic/letter patterns

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Phinder - word lists for specific spelling/phonic/letter patterns

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Here's the link to the directions for the site:
PHINDER Help | Devin Kearns, Ph.D.

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Phinder | A Resource for Phonics Lessons

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This is a free website that allows teachers and researchers to find words that match certain letter-sound patterns. Teachers can create word lists for phonics lessons, and researchers can find words for word recognition research.

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Natalie Wexler, education journalist and author of "The Knowledge Gap," hosts the inaugural series of our new podcast, Reading Comprehension Revisited.

In six short (~30-minute) episodes, Natalie tackles crucial questions such as, why do students from low-income backgrounds typically score lower on reading tests? Why do improvements in the early grades fade out as students advance to higher levels? And most significantly, why haven't substantial investments in education reform delivered expected results?

The answer lies in a longstanding misunderstanding about reading comprehension itself, and how students learn to make meaning from texts. Over six episodes, you'll learn what research tells us about how children really learn to read, and you'll hear from educators from around the country as they share their experiences of embedding knowledge-building into their literacy instruction, and the powerful effects this change has had on their students.
Episode 1: "Kids were bored to death"
June 28, 2023 - Despite substantial investments in education reform, the US remains in the grip of a decades-long reading crisis. But why? With the help of teachers and researchers, host Natalie Wexler introduces the urgent need to revisit our approach to reading comprehension.
Episode 2: "A simple way of looking at a complex problem"
June 28, 2023 - Thanks to tireless efforts by researchers, advocates, and educators, the importance of systematically teaching decoding is finally being recognized. But, as you'll hear, there's far more to reading than decoding, and more we need to do to help our kids become truly literate.
Episode 3: "That cloud looks like an anvil"
July 5, 2023 - Abby Boruff, Deloris Fowler, and Kyair Butts teach different ages and subjects, in different parts of the country. When their schools adopted knowledge-building curricula they were skeptical, but the dramatic results they saw in their classrooms helped change their minds.
Episode 4: "Now they had something to write about"
July 12, 2023 - It's hard to read about a topic you don't have knowledge about, but it's virtually impossible to write about it. By having students write about content they're learning about, knowledge-building curricula boost both writing ability and learning in general.
Episode 5: "Everything was in silos"
July 19, 2023 - To become fully literate, many students need a curriculum that builds knowledge in a logical, coherent way across grade levels, and only a leader can put that kind of system in place. Meet Brent Conway and Dr. LaTonya Goffney, two leaders who did exactly that.
Episode 6: "Think what a better society we'll have"
July 26, 2023 - American education has a number of serious problems - and our failure to start building kids' knowledge early is a fundamental one. But there are ways to ensure that the growing trend toward knowledge-building curriculum takes root and spreads.

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Natalie Wexler, education journalist and author of "The Knowledge Gap," hosts the inaugural series of our new podcast, Reading Comprehension Revisited. In six short (~30-minute) episodes, Natalie tackles crucial questions such as, why do students from low-income backgrounds typically score lower on reading tests?

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K-2 Structured Literacy PD Series 2023/24

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K-2 Structured Literacy PD Series 2023/24

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3-5 Structured Literacy PD Series 2023/24

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3-5 Structured Literacy PD Series 2023/24

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OSPI/Glean Identifying & Teaching Students with Foundational Reading Difficulties

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OSPI/Glean Identifying & Teaching Students with Foundational Reading Difficulties

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OSPI + Glean | Expert Webinar Series with Dr. Jack Fletcher | January 19, 2023

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What Teachers Need to Know and Do to Teach Letter-Sounds, Phonemic Awareness, Word Reading, and Phonics

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What Teachers Need to Know and Do to Teach Letter-Sounds, Phonemic Awareness, Word Reading, and Phonics

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The Read Aloud Project offers lessons for K–2 read aloud books that have been adapted to meet the expectations of college- and career-ready standards. Hundreds of teachers worked collaboratively to develop these materials. Each lesson was authored, edited, and reviewed by a team of expert educators.

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Achievethecore.org :: Read Aloud Project

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These lessons can be used immediately in the classroom and for professional development. Learn how to create your own standards-aligned lessons using high quality trade books, or train educators in your district.

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Improve Reading Achievement Through These 12 Benefits of Fluency Instruction

The better students can read orally, the more deeply they understand and enjoy what they read. This is because they have bridged meaning with automatic word recognition to develop fluency, which has allowed for a far deeper text connection to occur.

Reading fluency is a critical goal for reading success. Yet the approaches for teaching fluent reading are often missing supporting text or practical application exemplars. Poetry, songs, jokes, movie scripts, television scripts, famous speeches, and other such texts beg for expressive reading. Having students perform these develops fluency and brings deeper comprehension.

The research of the past two decades demonstrates a robust correlation between automatic word recognition and expressive oral reading and silent reading comprehension. That is, students who practice reading orally with good expression are more likely to comprehend deeply when reading silently.

Students who are unable to develop fluency will likely have difficulty achieving necessary levels of comprehension when reading. Because fluency is a foundational competency, difficulties in fluency can also lead to later difficulties in content areas that rely heavily on reading.

Effective fluency instruction is essential to improving the overall reading achievement of all students, as well as to boosting their achievement in other content areas. That's what The Megabook of Fluency is all about. In our book, we offer more than 50 ready-to-use strategies to develop fluency in your classroom, plus 200 supporting student pages in a format that helps you find the material quickly and easily so that all the readers in your classroom can benefit from fluency instruction.

The top 12 benefits of authentic fluency instruction and activities are:

1. Improves word recognition accuracy.
2. Improves automatic word recognition.
3. Improves oral (and silent) reading expression.
4. Improves reading comprehension and overall reading proficiency.
5. Allows reading to be a joyful act through performance of texts.
6. Provides an authentic reason for repeated reading (rehearsal).
7. Improves students' self-confidence as readers.
8. Allows even struggling readers to become reading stars.
9. Expands the variety of reading available for students.
10. Unifies all types of learners in a community experience.
11. Increases reading time at school.
12. Can become a great home-school connection.

We have created a book that promotes fluency to help you create students who use fluency for its intended purpose: to read meaningfully and with deep comprehension.

About the authors of this post:

Timothy V. Rasinski, professor of literacy education at Kent State University, began his career as a classroom teacher. He has written and edited more than 50 books and 200 articles on reading education, including the seminal The Fluent Reader.

Melissa Cheesman Smith is an author of professional books and teacher at the elementary and college level, with a Master's of Education in Curriculum and Instruction.

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Scholastic and authors Timothy V. Rasiniski and Melissa Cheesman Smith (The Megabook of Fluency) share the benefits of authentic fluency instruction.

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Engaging Families with a Family Literacy Night

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Engaging Families with a Family Literacy Night

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We recently had our first Title 1 event since COVID. I can't even begin to tell you the joy it brought me to have parents back in the building. It was kind of like the first time I had small group at a kidney table-an overwhelming sense of joy and relief. It was something I had taken for granted until I could no longer do it. Today, I want to share what we did for our Title 1 event and some considerations for literacy events moving forward.

Think About Your Goals

When we are teaching, we always think about our end goals. When you are planning an event, it is helpful to have that same mindset as well. If your end goal is to educate parents on how they can help at home, then you might want to offer an event where children are being watched in one room while parents are in another so you can teach them.

My main goal with this breakfast was to invite parents in, create a sense of community, and offer very simple tips that can be done at home. Because of this, we had parents and students together in the same room.

No matter what, think about your end goal with the event. It doesn't have to be Pinterest-worthy or expensive: it just needs to accomplish the goals you have in mind.

Our Title 1 Breakfast

We decided to host a breakfast event. Both of the reading specialists at my school have families and we wanted to preserve our time with our own families while also serving our students' families. We coordinated this event with our librarian to happen during the Scholastic Book Fair.

Breakfast details:

1. We asked our amazing cafeteria staff to cater breakfast. It was less work than having to go make or buy it ourselves, and our families got to see what an incredible job our cafeteria staff does. (If any of you are reading this, please know how much I cherish you!)

2. When parents were finished with breakfast, there were a variety of easy-to-play games left out. These are games our students have played with us in intervention, so they could easily show their parents how to play.

3. After everyone finished eating and we played games, we gave a talk about ways parents can help their students at home. We made magnets that aligned with our discussion. I spoke about what to do when a child is stuck on a word, and my fellow reading specialist discussed comprehension strategies. This was very low-key and did not take much time.

4. After the discussion, we gave every child a $5 gift card to the book fair.

This all worked really, really well. It felt great to feed our families, play games, and give them a gift for showing up.

Considerations

When you are planning an event for families, there are a few considerations.

1. Think about holding events throughout the year at multiple times. We held a breakfast event, but also plan to hold an evening event. This way is inclusive of more families.

2. Parents don't need a course on the Science of Reading. While some parents will appreciate deep dives into theory, most parents just want to know how to help their children at home. When we start throwing around complicated theory and terminology, we begin to exclude many of our parents.

3. If you have funds to feed your families, please do! Events with food always have higher turn-out rates. I know personally if you invite me to an event that is approaching meal time, I'm thinking about how I need to go home and make dinner for my family, not what you're talking about. I'm also a big believer that sharing meals together brings people together.

4. Try to give something that parents can take with them. Our handouts were a magnet we made using VistaPrint with reading tips, as well as copies of the games we made. During our summer event, we will send home Ziploc bags full of games, writing materials, and decodable texts for students to read.

Final Thoughts

Nothing I'm writing is groundbreaking or particularly original, and I'm okay with that. It is not a competition to have the flashiest, cutest, most original family night. It is about getting families into our buildings and reaching them in whatever way we can. For us, a breakfast event with a few giveaways was plenty. What about you? What have you done for family events?

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Engaging Families with a Literacy Event - Campbell Creates Readers

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We recently had our first Title 1 event since COVID. I can't even begin to tell you the joy it brought me to have parents back in the building. It

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Rethinking reading comprehension with Brent Conway- The Measured Mom

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Rethinking reading comprehension with Brent Conway- The Measured Mom

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Rethinking reading comprehension with Brent Conway

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TRT Podcast #121: Rethinking reading comprehension with Brent Conway I had quite a few misunderstandings about reading comprehension when I was a balanced literacy teacher. Today I talk with Brent Conway, a former principal

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Reading is hard: Understand the Bases of Literacy

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Reading is hard: Understand the Bases of Literacy

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Literacy Processing Triangle

The Literacy Processing Triangle is a great visual to understand the underlying neural connections required to read and write effectively. This triangle framework comes from a computational model used extensively in the study of reading (Seidenberg, 2005).

The idea is that there are three distinct processes that occur in order to understand and use written language (reading and writing). So for example, if we were thinking about the word "bat" we would have three processes involved in order to read or write the word and associate meaning.

1 - The phonology processor

This processor is responsible for interpreting the sound structure in our language and allows us to recognize individual sounds in our language. We start developing this ability very early on in our development. However, this ability continues to expand over time. As we get ready to read and spell we must be able to recognize differences in sounds as well as isolate individual sounds in words. For example, in order to read the word "bat" we must be able to blend the individual sounds /b/, /a/, and /t/. Alternatively, to spell the word "bat" we need to be able to isolate the individual sounds. This processor allows us to "sound out words" for reading and spelling.

2 - The semantics processor

This processor is responsible for tying meaning to our language. Once we hear a word or read a word, we must activate an understanding of the word. For example, if we hear the word "bat," we need to determine whether we are talking about a nocturnal flying creature, a wooden/metal club used in sports, or an action like "batting" your eyelashes. This is critical for the comprehension of concepts.

3 - The orthographic processor

This processor is responsible for interpreting the visual component of our language. This is a complex process and does not develop until later in our development (usually beginning around preschool). The orthographic processor allows us to recognize the lines and curves we see in "bat" as the letters b, a, and t.

When reading and writing, these three processors need to activate and connect with each other in less than half of a second in order to read or write fluently.

This is the model we ALWAYS come back to when working with students because learning to read and write requires this connection and any possible breakdown in skills is caused by a difficulty in one or more of these processors.

So then...the question becomes, how do we help students learn to activate these neural processors?

Well, great news! In 2000, the National Reading Panel (comprised of a team of experts in literacy, cognitive development, psychology, and on and on) came out with the 5-Core Components of Reading that helped us understand exactly what skills students need to learn to activate this process.

5 Core Components of Literacy

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Reading Is Hard - Understanding the Bases of Literacy | SMARTER Intervention

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Over the last few decades, there has been a lot of research done that helps us understand the brain, how we learn to read, and how we, as educators, can best teach reading. This movement is known as the Science of Reading.

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Dramatic New Evidence That Building Knowledge Can Boost Comprehension And Close Gaps

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Dramatic New Evidence That Building Knowledge Can Boost Comprehension And Close Gaps

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Building knowledge beginning in kindergarten can eliminate test-score gaps between lower- and ... [+]
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Building students' general knowledge can lead to dramatic long-term improvements in reading comprehension, a new study suggests-casting serious doubt on standard teaching approaches.

A rigorous study involving more than 2,000 students has found that children who got a content-rich, knowledge-building curriculum for at least four years, beginning in kindergarten, significantly outperformed their peers on standardized reading comprehension tests. Students from low-income families made such dramatic gains that their performance on state tests equaled that of children from higher-income families.

To understand the significance of these findings, it's important to have some background information. For at least the past 25 years, reading scores in the U.S. have been largely stagnant, with about two-thirds of students scoring below proficient on national tests. Gaps between students at the upper and lower ends of the socioeconomic spectrum have remained wide and by some estimates have grown significantly, despite massive efforts to narrow them.

In response to low scores, schools have intensified instruction in reading, which includes the ability to decipher individual words. Over the past few years there's been a push to bring that aspect of reading instruction in line with scientific evidence showing the need for systematic instruction in phonics.

Reading Comprehension Instruction Focuses on Skills

But most of the time spent on reading is devoted to reading comprehension, which is what state and national tests purport to measure. The standard approach is to focus on comprehension skills and strategies, like "finding the main idea" of a text and "making inferences." Often there is a skill of the week, which the teacher demonstrates using a book chosen not for its topic but for how well it lends itself to demonstrating the skill.

Then students practice the skill on other books-fiction, or nonfiction on random topics-that have been determined to match their individual reading levels. The goal is not for children to acquire any substantive knowledge but rather to master skills that will theoretically enable them to understand the complex texts they'll be expected to read in the future.

Elementary schools devote a reported average of two hours a day to English language arts, or reading, with much less time allocated to social studies, science, and the arts. The assumption is that students don't need to acquire much substantive knowledge until they reach higher grade levels.

This approach is so deeply entrenched that it has persisted despite its failure to produce gains in reading test scores. In the face of stubbornly low scores, the prescription has often been to double down on it.

Nevertheless, over the last several years, an increasing number of schools have shifted to elementary literacy curricula that systematically build children's knowledge and vocabulary while also providing the kind of phonics instruction backed by science. But the trend towards knowledge-building hasn't gained as much traction as the movement for systematic phonics.

One reason may be that we haven't had strong experimental evidence for knowledge-building. We do have lots of evidence showing that readers who have relevant knowledge-either of the topic they're reading about, or of general academic vocabulary-have better comprehension. That evidence supports the idea that students from higher-income families generally do better on reading tests because they're better able to pick up academic knowledge outside of school. But it's been harder to demonstrate that building knowledge leads to better comprehension.

The reason, researchers and others have suggested, is that it can take a long time for the results of knowledge-building to show up on the standardized tests used to measure reading comprehension. The passages on those tests are on random topics, and it can take years for kids to acquire the critical mass of vocabulary that will enable them to understand texts on topics they haven't actually learned about. In the meantime, the tests may be failing to measure the valuable knowledge students are in the process of acquiring.

The Colorado Study

That brings us to the long-awaited multi-year study released last week, conducted by researchers at the University of Virginia. The experiment took advantage of the fact that Colorado has long had an unusual number of elementary schools that use a knowledge-building curriculum. Researchers focused on nine such schools in the state that have more applicants than seats, requiring them to conduct lotteries for kindergarten admission. That allowed researchers to compare a "treatment group"-children who got in through the lotteries-with a "control group" consisting of children who applied but didn't get in.

The 688 children admitted through the lottery got a curriculum based on the Core Knowledge Sequence, which is similar to the Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum. (At the time the study began, in 2009, that curriculum had not yet been developed.) Rather than putting comprehension skills in the foreground, the Sequence-like CKLA-immerses children in rich content in history, geography, science, and other subjects, largely through having teachers read texts aloud and lead class discussions. (The study was done independently of the Core Knowledge Foundation, which developed both CKLA and the Sequence. It was financed through a mix of public and private funding.)

The various knowledge-building curricula developed in recent years all cover different topics in different ways, but they all share Core Knowledge's focus on content. Instead of jumping rapidly from one topic to another, students spend several weeks learning about each topic. They also read and write about the content covered in the core curriculum rather than random, unconnected topics. Previous studies have measured the results of some of these curricula, including CKLA, after one or two years and found a positive but modest effect.

Researchers conducting the Colorado study waited four years, until the children reached third grade-the first year state standardized tests are given-before measuring the results. They continued to look at test scores for those students, and their peers who failed to win the lottery, through sixth grade.

They found that the treatment group as a whole experienced significant "moderate" gains on reading tests in each grade compared to the control group. The term "moderate" here can be misleading; it refers to categories of "effect sizes" in statistics. In fact the gains were large enough that, if translated to American students as a whole, the U.S. would move up to a position among the top five countries on an international reading test given to fourth-graders. Currently, it ranks 15 th out of the 58 countries that participate.

Gap-Closing Gains for Students From Low-Income Families

Breaking down the study's results by income level leads to additional insights. Eight of the nine schools were located in middle- to high-income areas. Even though those children were presumably acquiring a fair amount of academic knowledge at home, they still benefited from acquiring knowledge at school. The effect size-which measures the difference between their performance and their respective control groups-was 0.445.

What does that mean? Again, the researchers characterize the effect as "moderate," but it needs to be viewed in the context of effect sizes found for other interventions aimed at boosting reading comprehension. One meta-analysis of 82 studies of interventions for struggling readers-none of which involved systematically expanding knowledge-found an average effect size of 0.35. A federal government report assessing the effect of 24 studies of comprehension strategy instruction found an average effect size of just 0.10. That was considered sufficient for a panel of experts to recommend adopting the strategies studied, which included things like teaching students how to generate questions about what they were reading and make inferences.

In the Colorado study, the effect size for students at the one school in a low-income area was truly extraordinary: 1.299. They also got large boosts in math scores and on the state science test given to fifth-graders. In fact, their gains were so large that, according to the researchers, they eliminated the gaps on Colorado tests between students from low- and high-income families, in all three subjects.

You might have some questions about the study-for example:

The study has not yet been peer-reviewed or published, but the data have been subjected to rigorous evaluation. According to one of the researchers who worked on the study, Daniel Willingham, the lead author-David Grissmer-is extremely careful in analyzing data.

One study can never be definitive, although the researchers tried to eliminate potential sources of "bias" that might limit the applicability of the findings.

For example, all the schools in the study were charter schools, raising the possibility that the findings wouldn't apply equally to other types of schools. But the researchers discount that possibility, observing that-outside of urban settings-charter schools don't have a better track record than traditional public schools. All schools in the study were in suburban areas.

On the other hand, the fact that the one school in the study that served a low-income population was located in a suburb might be a limiting factor. The same results might not be found with a school in a low-income urban neighborhood.

As the researchers argue, the results of this study should prompt more research along the same lines: long-term studies, lasting at least four years, of the effects of knowledge-building at the elementary level. Long-term studies are expensive, which is one reason they're rare, but they may be the only way to get reliable evidence of what actually works to boost reading comprehension.

Does this study mean that if we don't start building kids' knowledge in kindergarten, there's nothing we can do for them?

This study doesn't address what can be done for students at higher grade levels. It's not impossible to build knowledge later on, but it is more difficult. By the time students reach middle school or, especially, high school, the curriculum assumes a lot of academic knowledge they may not have. Those gaps in background knowledge can make it difficult or impossible for them to understand the content they're expected to learn. One thing that can help is to explicitly teach students to write about what they're learning.

Does this mean we should just ignore the many studies showing positive effects from comprehension strategy instruction?

No, but we need to recognize a few things about them. One is that few if any of those studies have followed students long-term-most last only a few weeks-so we don't know how long their effects continue. And those studies can't be used to justify teaching comprehension skills in isolation year after year, which is the standard practice.

It's also important to note that many commonly taught "skills and strategies" don't actually have strong evidence behind them. And the evidence for strategy instruction is actually strongest when multiple strategies are taught simultaneously-especially if those strategies are appropriate to the particular text at hand.

Any effective knowledge-building curriculum will bring in strategies in that way, even if they're not labeled as strategies. Students might be asked, for example, to predict what will happen next in a story or an account of a historical event, or they might be prompted to connect new information in a text to knowledge they've already acquired. Those are valuable teaching techniques, but they seem to work best when used to help students think analytically about specific content rather than being taught as free-floating skills.

The Colorado Study Should Lead to Changes in Practice

Even though this is just one study, it should be enough-when combined with the strong evidence that relevant knowledge is a key factor in comprehension-to spark a re-evaluation of the standard approach to reading comprehension.

It should also lead us to rethink how we measure academic progress. This study suggests- as have others -that relying solely on reading and math tests is a terrible idea.

One problem is that they fail to measure the knowledge students acquire through a knowledge-building curriculum. A bigger problem is that the importance attached to the tests is preventing most children from getting that kind of curriculum in the first place.

Reading tests provide a powerful incentive for educators to focus on the comprehension skills the tests purport to measure rather than the social studies and science topics kids need in order to understand the test passages-not to mention the complex texts they'll be expected to tackle at higher grade levels and in life.

Schools within a state generally have the freedom to choose from a variety of curricula, making it impossible for states to develop tests grounded in the knowledge covered in any particular curriculum. But all states have social studies and science standards that specify content to be taught at each grade level. States could at least connect the passages on their reading tests to that content.

We do need more long-term studies like the Colorado one. But given all the evidence we have-both of the potential benefits of knowledge-building curriculum and the clear failings of the current approach-we can't afford to wait until we have more data before taking action. We've already done enough damage to children's future prospects-albeit with the best of intentions-and we can't afford to prevent millions more students from reaching their full potential.

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Dramatic New Evidence That Building Knowledge Can Boost Comprehension And Close Gaps

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Building students' general knowledge can lead to dramatic long-term improvements in reading comprehension, a new study suggests-casting serious doubt on standard teaching approaches.

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Welcome back! In part two of our series, we will dive into the first essential component of literacy, phonological awareness. If you are an educator or parent, you know that there are many literacy essentials that young children need to learn, and phonological awareness plays a critical role in reading and writing, enabling children to:

Recognize that letters make up individual sounds

Identify which letter makes which sound in a word

Blend together letters or groups of letters to make up words

The term phonological awareness comes from two Greek roots: "phon-" meaning sound, and "-ology" from "logos" meaning word or speech. At its core, phonological awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words, and it helps children learn the letters of the alphabet and how to blend them to form words. It also helps developing readers associate letters with sounds and understand that there are patterns in spelling.

For example, through phonological awareness, children learn to sound out words and break them into smaller units, such as or (the smallest unit of sound). For example, they might separate "cat" into "c" and "at" or "ear" into "e" and "ar."

Phonological awareness skills are also needed for reading (the ability to read fast enough that the reader does not lose his or her place). Without it, children may have difficulty recognizing that words can be broken down into smaller parts (syllables), and then those parts can be recombined into new words.

Children who have strong phonological skills can also improve their reading comprehension by helping them recognize the meaning of unfamiliar words based on the sounds they make (e.g., if they know what a word starts with, they can guess what it means).

So, what does this look like? Well, children who have good phonological awareness skills can:

Tell the difference between similar-sounding words (e.g., pin, pen)

Rhyme words that sound alike (e.g., top/stop, big/dig)

Recognize new words that are related in sound to known words (e.g., phone and home)

Hear and produce rhyming sounds within words (e.g., pat-pat).

Phonological Awareness Skills

There are three main types of phonological awareness skills. They include segmenting, blending, and rhyming. Below we will take a closer look at each of these three terms.

Segmenting is breaking words into smaller units (phonemes), usually syllables. Students should practice segmenting initial sounds, onset-rime, and individual sounds in a word. Segmenting should be taught orally using direct and explicit instruction.

Check out these segmenting activities you can use at home or in the classroom created by the Wisconsin Department of Reading Instruction.

Blending

The opposite of segmenting is blending. This is when you blend together phonemes to form whole words. Students should be taught blending onset-rimes and individual sounds in a word with direct, explicit instruction.

Check out these blending activities you can use at home or in the classroom created by the Wisconsin Department of Reading Instruction.

Rhyming

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Students should recognize that words rhyme and use this knowledge when reading. For example, if you know that 'cat' rhymes with 'hat', then you can use this information when reading new words such as 'mat' or 'pat'.

Activities to Build Phonological Awareness Skills

Listening

Children are always listening to what is going on around them. This is one of the best ways for them to build their phonological awareness skills by picking up on sounds, syllables, and rhymes in the words they hear.

For example, if you're reading One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, ask your child to listen to the /fffff/ sound in fish. Outside of reading time, try pointing out other words that start with the /fffff/ sound, just like in the book.

Playing Rhyming Games

Read aloud to your child or students using books that rhyme. Dr. Suess is a great author when it comes to finding rhyming books where your child or students can point out repeated sounds.

For example, The Cat in the Hat can be used to ask questions such as, "Did you hear a word that rhymes with ?"

Making Connections Between Letters and Sounds

Ask your child or students to grab a whiteboard and marker or set them up with S ensational Sand or shaving cream in a tray. Using segmenting and blending skills, have them draw letters to form CVC words /b/ /a/ /t/, and have them blend the sounds together to say as they write out each individual letter.

Check out more classroom activities to facilitate phonological awareness in this IMSE blog!

Resources:

Stay tuned for the rest of the series:

1. The Essential Components of Literacy Instruction, Part 1 of 6

2. What Is Phonics? Part 3 of The Essential Components of Literacy

3. What Is Fluency? Part 4 of The Essential Components of Literacy

4. What Is Vocabulary? Part 5 of The Essential Components of Literacy

5. What Is Comprehension? Part 6 of The Essential Components of Literacy

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What Is Phonological Awareness? Part 2 of the Essential Components of Literacy - IMSE - Journal

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Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words, and it's a key skill for learning to read.

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Beginning Writing: Transcription vs. Composing Skills

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Beginning Writing: Transcription vs. Composing Skills

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Transcription skills include spelling and handwriting, basic skills that are needed to transcribe the words a writer wants to put into writing. For students in upper grades, keyboarding in place of handwriting is also a transcription skill. Once students become automatic and fluent with spelling and handwriting, they can focus their attention on higher level composing. If students do not develop fluency with these skills by grade 3, this will put a constraint on writing development as they move into the later grades. One of the four main recommendations in the Institute of Sciences research guide Teaching Elementary Students to be Effective Writers (Graham et al., 2012) is to teach students to become fluent with transcriptions skills, including teaching young writers how to hold a pencil correctly and form letters fluently and efficiently, and to spell words correctly.
Spelling
In the primary grades (kindergarten through grade 3), students need to learn about orthography - how the English writing system works. This means teaching that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken English, which is called the alphabetic principle. It includes instruction to develop phonemic awareness (the ability to recognize individual sounds in words), to learn phonics concepts (how the sounds can be represented with letters), and to develop morphological awareness (knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and base words). While many teachers consider spelling a writing skill, it is best taught during a phonics lesson. Decoding (reading words) is the process of converting printed words into their spoken forms. Encoding (spelling) is the process of using letter-sound knowledge to write words. What we teach for decoding is used for spelling, and spelling reinforces decoding, which is why an effective phonics lesson should include time to use dictation to practice spelling words that include the phonics concept that is the focus of the lesson.
Handwriting
Difficulty with handwriting can have negative consequences for later writing ability. Teaching handwriting should be an essential part of a beginning writing curriculum. Stephen Graham (2009-2010) explains it this way:
"Of all the knowledge and skills that are required to write, handwriting is the one that places the earliest constraints on writing development. If children cannot form letters - or cannot form them with reasonable legibility and speed - they cannot translate the language in their minds into written text. Struggling with handwriting can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which students avoid writing, come to think of themselves as not being able to write, and fall further and further behind their peers." (p. 20) "Young writers typically cope with the multiple demands of handwriting and composing by minimizing the composing process (planning, organizing, etc.). Because so much of their thinking must be devoted to forming legible letters, they turn composing into a knowledge-telling process in which writing is treated as a forward-moving idea-generation activity. A relevant idea is generated and written down, with each new phrase or idea serving as the stimulus for the next one. Mostly absent from this approach to writing are more reflective and demanding thinking activities such as considering the constraints imposed by the topic, the needs of the reader, or the most coherent way to organize the text." (p. 21)
There are three main aspects of handwriting instruction: pencil grasp, letter formation using writing strokes, and legibility. For instructional suggestions, see my previous post about teaching handwriting.
Grade Level Expectations for Composing and Transcription Skills
The charts below identify grade-level expectations for composing versus transcription skills. Keep in mind that within the same grade level there can be significant differences in spelling and handwriting ability. It is therefore important to differentiate instruction to meet individual student learning needs.

This post includes wording from my book Keys to Early Writing, available at the Keys to Literacy website.
For related blog posts, see: Additional Resources: References

Graham, S., Bollinger, A., Booth Olson, C., D'Aoust, C., MacArthur, C., McCutchen, D., & Olinghouse, N. (2012). Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers: A practice guide (NCEE 2012- 4058). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Graham, S. (2009-2010). Want to improve children's writing? Don't neglect their handwriting. American Educator, Winter 2009-2010.

Joan Sedita

Joan Sedita is the founder of Keys to Literacy and author of the Keys to Literacy professional development programs. She is an experienced educator, nationally recognized speaker and teacher trainer. She has worked for over 35 years in the literacy education field and has presented to thousands of teachers and related professionals at schools, colleges, clinics, and professional conferences.

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Beginning Writing: Transcription vs. Composing Skills - Keys to Literacy

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Transcription skills include spelling and handwriting, basic skills that are needed to transcribe the words a writer wants to put into writing. For students in upper grades, keyboarding in place of handwriting is also a transcription skill. Once students become automatic and fluent with spelling and handwriting, they can focus their attention on higher level composing.

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What Is Structured Literacy? - International Dyslexia Association

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What Is Structured Literacy? - International Dyslexia Association

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For a downloadable PDF click here. Summer 2016
By Carolyn D. Cowen

IDA infographics help make complex information easy to digest, remember, and share and are made for a wide audience-those new to dyslexia and related literacy/learning issues as well as the experts. Please share our infographics as well as our Fact Sheets to raise awareness about dyslexia and to help support the policy and practice changes needed to bring effective instruction (particularly in reading) to every child with dyslexia in every classroom across the nation.
Author's Note: You may need to zoom in to read small text.
Carolyn D. Cowen, Ed.M., is the Social Media Editor/Strategist for the International Dyslexia Association's Examiner. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Newgrange School, Ann Robinowitz Education Center, and Laurel School and on the Board of Directors for the Research Institute for Learning and Development. Carolyn is especially interested in creative ways nonprofits and movements can "power the mission with the message." Follow her on Twitter .

More infographics!

Good News! Most Reading Difficulties Can Be Resolved or Greatly Diminished (April 2016)

How Widespread Is Dyslexia? (February 2016)
Copyright © 2016 International Dyslexia Association (IDA). We encourage sharing of Examiner articles. If portions are cited, please make appropriate reference. Articles may not be reprinted for the purpose of resale. Permission to republish this article is available from info@interdys.org.

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What Is Structured Literacy? - International Dyslexia Association

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Growing Readers: Monthly Literacy Tips for Parents

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Growing Readers: Monthly Literacy Tips for Parents

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Written especially for parents, Growing Readers provides monthly tips for raising strong readers and writers. All of our tip sheets are available in English and Spanish.

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Using Data-Based Decision Making to Intensify Instruction, Dr. Kim St. Martin, Glen + OSPI 

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Using Data-Based Decision Making to Intensify Instruction, Dr. Kim St. Martin, Glen + OSPI 

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OSPI + Glean | Dr. Kim St. Martin | February 16, 2023

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The Reading Comprehension Blueprint, Nancy Lewis Hennessy

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The Reading Comprehension Blueprint, Nancy Lewis Hennessy

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Nancy Lewis Hennessy M.Ed. (Author), Louisa Cook Moats Ed.D. (Foreword)

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The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text

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The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text [Hennessy M.Ed., Nancy Lewis, Moats Ed.D., Louisa Cook] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text

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Oxford School Dictionary of Word Origins

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Oxford School Dictionary of Word Origins

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ISBN-13:

9780192733740

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Oxford University Press, USA

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05/02/2013

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Large Print s increased font size and wider line spacing maximizes reading legibility, and has been proven to advance comprehension, improve fluency, reduce eye fatigue, and boost engagement in young

One hundred years ago, a killer wave of molasses struck a crowded Boston neighborhood. Discover the story of this strange disaster in the next book in the New York Times bestselling I Survived

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Fitzgerald's short fiction before he wrote the great American novel
For the first time, the short stories F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote before he began work on what would become his great American novel,

The Last Tycoon, edited by the preeminent Fitzgerald scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli, is a restoration of the author's phrases, words, and images that were excised from the 1940 edition, giving new

The Great Gatsby is not only Fitzgerald's greatest work-to many, it is the Great American Novel. Now, distinctively packaged with a beautifully designed jacket by noted

This high-quality Spanish-language edition of the Eric Carle favorite From Head to Toe can be enjoyed by fluent Spanish speakers as well as those learning the language, whether at home or in a

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Oxford School Dictionary of Word Origins|Paperback

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ISBN-13: 9780192733740 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Publication date: 05/02/2013 Pages: 480 Sales rank: 1,175,737 Product dimensions: 5.60(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d) Large Print s increased font size and wider line spacing maximizes reading legibility, and has been proven to advance comprehension, improve fluency, reduce eye fatigue, and boost engagement in young One hundred years ago, a killer wave of molasses struck a crowded Boston neighborhood.

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i-Ready fluency practice guide PRF_Manual

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Why Oral Reading Fluency Isn't Decodable? , Stephanie Stollar, Reading Science Academy

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Why Oral Reading Fluency Isn't Decodable? , Stephanie Stollar, Reading Science Academy

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Nessy Spelling Strategy: The 'V' Needs an 'E'!

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Nessy Spelling Strategy: The 'V' Needs an 'E'!

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Nessy Spelling Strategy | The Sound 'V' | 'V' Needs An 'E'! | Learn to Read & Spell

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Teaching Text Structure to Support Writing and Comprehension, Keys to Literacy

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Teaching Text Structure to Support Writing and Comprehension, Keys to Literacy

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Teaching Text Structure to Support Writing & Comprehension - Keys to Literacy

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What is text structure, and why should teachers teach it? Text structure is unique to written language, and awareness of text structure supports both writing and reading comprehension. This post explores the different types of text structure that can be taught explicitly to support writing and readi…

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What is Background Knowledge, and How Does It Fit Into the Science of Reading? Education Week

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What is Background Knowledge, and How Does It Fit Into the Science of Reading? Education Week

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What Is Background Knowledge, and How Does It Fit Into the Science of Reading_

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Placing Text at the Center of the Standards-Aligned ELA Classroom, Achieve the Core

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Placing Text at the Center of the Standards-Aligned ELA Classroom, Achieve the Core

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Stuck on Decoding: 5 Ways to Scaffold Instruction, The Dyslexia Classroom

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Stuck on Decoding: 5 Ways to Scaffold Instruction, The Dyslexia Classroom

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Have you ever had a student that struggles with blending words or over-emphasizes the strategy of letter-by-letter decoding? Or a student who segments, or pulls apart, individual sounds in words but cannot blend them to read the word? What can you do to move a student forward?

It can be incredibly frustrating for the student who can isolate the sounds - or decode letter-by-letter but then struggles to bring that knowledge together to read the word.

Dyslexic students learning to read need more instructional time and practice addressing decoding and spelling applications, but what happens when students get stuck on letter-by-letter decoding? Are there scaffolds we can use to move them to fluent reading?

What is Scaffolding in Instruction?

Scaffolding is integral to working with diverse learners and those with dyslexia. It is an instructional strategy in which learning is broken into smaller chunks, providing a tool, structure, or strategy to help students grasp new materials or concepts so they can tackle increasingly more complex skills or material. Simply put, they are temporary instructional tools or strategies used to help learners grow.

Scaffolding Strategies to Aid Decoding Difficulties

The phonological component of language is a challenge for many dyslexic learners. Many of the students I work with struggle to hold sounds in their phonological memory. They may segment phonemes in words correctly, but when blending that word, they omit or ultimately change sounds. When students do this, scaffolding is a perfect strategy to implement - but knowing when, where, and which ones to use is necessary to move learning forward. Careful observation of students will determine when and where to implement scaffolding techniques.

5 ways I Scaffold Instruction to Help Students with the Blending Task of Decoding Words

1. Determine skills in segmenting and blending

It is essential that students correctly identify the individual phonemes (sounds) in words. Before students are fluent in blending or decoding, we must determine if they can orally say each phoneme and blend the sounds to say a word sans letters. Oral blending and segmenting are an early phonological awareness skill, but it will tell much about where the breakdown occurs for students. Are they able to orally segment and blend, or is it only when the task of connecting to reading or spelling sounds are omitted? Typically, for some students, especially those with dyslexia, segmenting phonemes (sounds) can tax the phonological memory as it requires students to hold two, three, four, or more phonemes in their phonological memory.

To aid students in segmenting tasks, develop this skill first without letters. I have students use manipulatives to represent each phoneme as we pull apart or segment sounds within words and then blend them back together to say the complete word. Segmenting lays the foundation for reading, spelling, and phoneme manipulation. Students will pull apart each sound. Scaffolds include incorporating multi-sensory strategies to engage the learning through techniques that integrate visual-auditory-kinesthetic/motor-and-tactile connections to aid in working memory and cognition. These include, but are not limited to, having students tap each sound, move a chip to represent each sound, etc. Read more about multi-sensory strategies in structured literacy lessons here.

Specific instruction in developing phonemic awareness is needed to bridge speech to print. Once students understand the segmenting and blending skills orally with manipulatives, I add in those letter representations explicitly taught. We aim to get students to this one-to-one correspondence as quickly as possible to practice decoding words. If a student struggles with segmenting individual phonemes within a word, pulling back to manipulatives may benefit the student. Read more .

Successive blending is an early scaffold for students who tend to drop the initial phoneme. This strategy is best for students to work with short vowel sounds where you do not have a vowel situation like silent e or vowel team since you are uncovering one grapheme at a time. Students identify the initial phoneme, then add the second phoneme, and read from the beginning to the second phoneme. Then, students add the next phoneme and so on until they have read the word. This strategy is beneficial for students who struggle with phonological working memory or who need additional help with blending.

This scaffold is best when students are at the beginning stages of reading. You may also hear this referred to as additive blending or connected phonation. Teaching continuous blending is a great strategy to help students connect sounds with decoding. Students that struggle with holding individual speech sounds with their phonological memory benefit from this instruction. Within this scaffold, it is recommended that you start with continuous sounds (those sounds that are able to be stretched out until you run out of breath - /m/, /s/, /f/, Read about and watch a video on continuous blending .

Body Coda blending is more effortless than onset and rime work, especially for students with difficulty linking sounds/phonemes. When we speak, the vowel is the loudest part of the syllable. Children can hear this more audible part (accented vowel sound) and can stretch out the vowel sound. When working with body-coda blending, the student will read or say the sounds from the beginning to the vowel (body) and then add the consonants after the vowel (coda). This practice is helpful for students who are distorting sounds within words or may have phonological mapping or retrieval difficulties.

Body-Coda examples:

This strategy is one that I use most often with error correction in my dyslexia sessions. When a student struggles with vowel sound production or sound omission, I will cover the beginning portion of the word up to the vowel and have the student begin with the vowel sound and read to the end. (See image) Then, I will uncover each grapheme, one at a time, that comes before the vowel, blending the word as we go. The student will then read the word as a whole.

When we look at the characteristics of dyslexia and understand that the difficulties lie in the area of accurate and/or fluent word recognition and poor spelling and decoding abilities, we see the link between the need to teach and provide scaffolds for students as they link speech-to-print in reading.

In upcoming blogs, I will address scaffolds for decoding multisyllabic words. What are your favorite scaffolds for helping students with decoding challenges?

I've had many requests for a PDF with these scaffolds. I've included that resource in the Resource Library for you to download. I hope you find it helpful. To download the PDF, Decoding: 5 Ways to Scaffold Instruction, click HERE to access the Resource Library. Haven't joined the Resource Library? Be a part of The Dyslexia Classroom Resource Library HERE.

This information is the intellectual property of @2016 The Dyslexia Classroom. Do not use or repurpose without expressed permission from The Dyslexia Classroom. Please give The Dyslexia Classroom an attribution if you use, reference, or quote/paraphrase copyrighted materials. This includes but is not limited to blogs, social media, and resources.

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Stuck On Decoding: 5 Ways To Scaffold Instruction

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It can be incredibly frustrating for the student who can isolate the sounds - or decode letter-by-letter but then struggles to bring that knowledge together to read the word.

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Early Identification: Predicting Reading Disabilities and Dyslexia, Shanahan on Literacy

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Early Identification: Predicting Reading Disabilities and Dyslexia, Shanahan on Literacy

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Early Identification: Predicting Reading Disabilities and Dyslexia | Shanahan on Literacy

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This blog entry explores the possibility of predicting reading problems early on so that reading problems could be prevented.

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IMSE: The Essential Components of Literacy Instruction Part 1 of 6 

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IMSE: The Essential Components of Literacy Instruction Part 1 of 6 

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Literacy instruction is the most important curriculum component of early childhood. Learning how to read, write and communicate effectively is the foundation for everything else in learning - like math, science, history, and so forth - is premised.

An essential skill, literacy is the number one marker for later success in life, both socially and academically. Studies show that kids with higher literacy levels are more likely to graduate from high school and college than those who do not have these skills. A softer skills side to literacy comes in the form of self-esteem and confidence as children mature and learn to handle more responsibility and independence.

According to the National Reading Panel , there are five essential components to literacy instruction: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. These skills are interrelated and mutually supportive, requiring consistent practice and emphasis. When these elements are targeted and honed from the earliest moments, like when a parent reads to their child at bedtime, to reading out loud as a budding independent reader in kindergarten and throughout elementary school through quality reading programs, students will see improvements across all areas of literacy.

Quick Breakdown of the 5 Essential Components of Literacy

Phonological awareness: The ability to hear sounds in words. It helps children learn how to blend sounds together to read words.

Phonics: The understanding that letters represent individual sounds. It helps children recognize words when they see them, which helps them learn how to spell new words.

Fluency: The ability to read smoothly and accurately with expression. Fluent readers can read a text accurately and with expression at their own pace.

Vocabulary: The number of words your child knows and understands the meaning of. A large vocabulary will help your child become a better reader and writer!

Comprehension: This means understanding what you have read or heard-that it makes sense and that you can relate it back to other things you know about or experience in life (like the plot of a story).

Teaching the 5 Essential Components of Literacy with Orton-Gillingham

There are various ways for educators to teach these literacy components. The most effective instruction educators should be using is systematic and explicit instruction . At IMSE, our favorite form of this type of instruction is the Orton-Gillingham methodology.

The Orton-Gillingham methodology combines direct, multi-sensory teaching strategies with systematic, sequential lessons focused on phonics. It was actually the very first approach to use explicit, direct, sequential, systematic, and multi-sensory instruction to teach reading.

Orton-Gillingham was among the first teaching approaches designed to help struggling readers by explicitly teaching the connections between letters and sounds . It combines auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and tactile activities like drawing letters in sand or shaving cream or saying letter sounds out loud as students trace letter shapes with their fingers, merged with regular literacy instruction in the classroom.

Skills are broken into smaller manageable parts and progressively built upon as students learn new concepts. For example, students may begin by making the connection between letters and sounds and building their phonological awareness skills. Next, they would use those letter sounds to form the relationship to build words and must master each skill before they move on to the next.

Incorporating a multi-sensory approach to reading instruction helps young learners utilize multiple pathways to further enforce what they are being taught. Uniquely, Orton-Gillingham is effective for students and especially essential for teaching students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

Conclusion

Teaching students to read is the greatest responsibility an educator has. To help a student achieve this critical milestone, an educator must be prepared with the appropriate knowledge and tools, which involves a commitment to training and supplemental tutorials.

IMSE provides all the tools and resources educators need to make an impact on literacy in their classrooms. Not only does IMSE have professional development programs, but we also provide educators with:

Physical and digital materials: these can be used in your classroom to implement IMSE strategies with your students

IOG 2.0: our online lesson planning tool takes the guesswork out of daily lesson planning and makes life easier for IMSE-trained educators

Ongoing support and resources: we are here to support you every step of the way so that you able to provide the very best literacy instruction to your students

Based on the latest research in the Science of Reading, IMSE Impact incorporates the Orton-Gillingham methodology and all five pillars of literacy - plus language comprehension, spelling, and writing - to begin driving measurable gains for all students in a classroom, beginning on day 1.

In parts 2-6 of this blog series, we will tackle each of the individual essential components of literacy instruction and provide you with a clear understanding of each of the five components.
Please connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest to get tips and tricks from your peers and us. Read the IMSE Journal to hear success stories from other schools and districts, and be sure to check out our digital resources for refreshers and tips.
Resources

Stay tuned for parts 2-6:

1. What Is Phonological Awareness? Part 2 of The Essential Components of Literacy

2. What Is Phonics? Part 3 of The Essential Components of Literacy

3. What Is Fluency? Part 4 of The Essential Components of Literacy

4. What Is Vocabulary? Part 5 of The Essential Components of Literacy

5. What Is Comprehension? Part 6 of The Essential Components of Literacy

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The Essential Components of Literacy Instruction, Part 1 of 6 - IMSE - Journal

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Literacy instruction is the most important curriculum component of early childhood. Learning how to read, write and communicate effectively is the foundation for everything else in learning - like math, science, history, and so forth - is premised. An essential skill, literacy is the number one marker for later success in life, both socially and academically.

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How Explicit Writing Instruction Can Compensate for Gaps in Background Knowledge

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How Explicit Writing Instruction Can Compensate for Gaps in Background Knowledge

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Transcript

Narrator:
Welcome to EDVIEW360.
Natalie Wexler:
It's not that kids don't want to write. It's that they haven't been explicitly taught how to do it. And once you show them how to construct a sentence and how to put a paragraph together, what I've heard is that reluctant writers often become eager writers.
Narrator:
You just heard from Dr. Natalie Wexler, international literacy expert and author of The Knowledge Gap. Dr. Wexler is our guest today on EDVIEW360.
Pam Austin:
This is Pam Austin. Welcome back to the EDVIEW360 podcast series. We're so excited to have our listeners back with us today. I'm conducting today's podcast from my native New Orleans, where it is extremely hot. Today, we are excited to welcome Natalie Wexler, Washington, D.C.-based education journalist focused on literacy, the importance of writing skills, and the achievement gap noted by ongoing NAEP scores and input from college professors regarding the quality of writing of incoming students. She is the co-author of The Writing Revolution, Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades, and the author of The Knowledge Gap, the Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System and How to Fix It. She is also a contributor on education to forbes.com and the author of three novels. Welcome, Natalie.
NW:
Thanks Pam. I'm delighted to be here.
PA:
Tell us a bit more about your background and what drew you to literacy teaching and learning before you became an author and education journalist.
NW:
Well, I've never been a teacher. My mother was a teacher. That is, I've never been a teacher at the K-12 level. I have taught writing and English as a second language to highly motivated adults, but I know that's a whole different ballgame. But about oh, 12 years ago now, I got very interested in the education reform efforts that were going on in Washington, D.C., where I live, and I started just looking into it and it seemed incredibly important. I was specifically focused on what is sometimes called the achievement gap, this gap in test scores and other education outcomes between students at the upper and lower ends of the socioeconomic spectrum. And it just seemed to me incredibly important to figure out how to narrow that gap. And it looked like we weren't making as much progress as we should be. So, I drew on my background as a journalist and I started writing about it for a local news website, but I just stumbled upon some issues that were clearly bigger than Washington, D.C. And that led me to dig even further.
PA:
All right. Wow. What a journey. I think we all have our journey to teaching and learning in so many different ways and how we all can collaborate and provide that input. We've heard you say that writing is potentially the most powerful lever we have for building knowledge and improving reading comprehension. Tell us more about that and how writing can uncover and support those gaps in background knowledge and application of strategies preventing students from accessing grade-level materials.
NW:
Yeah, I mean, I think writing has a huge potential and it really hasn't been unlocked. But the potential has to do with the way our minds take in new information. It has to do specifically with working memory, which is that aspect of our consciousness where we're taking in and trying to make sense of new information. And the important thing about working memory is that it can easily get overwhelmed. It can only handle about four or five new items maybe for about 20 seconds before you start forgetting stuff. And you don't have the cognitive capacity to really think about what you're trying to take in. And what writing can do is get around that limitation on working memory in a really effective way. So, the way around those constraints of working memory is to have more relevant information stored in long-term memory. So, that means you have to, first of all, transfer information, new information from working memory to long-term memory and a great way to do that is to attach meaning to it, maybe by explaining it to someone else.

And then you also have to be able to retrieve that information when you need it, because if you can just withdraw information from long-term memory, it doesn't take up that space in working memory. And it turns out that a very effective way to practice retrieving an item is again, to attach meaning to it by explaining it to someone else in your own words. And the more you do that, the more likely it is you're going to be able to retrieve the information when you need it. So, writing is a powerful way of both transferring information to long-term memory in the first place, and also practicing that retrieval of it. Because when we're writing, that is what we're doing. We're retrieving information from long-term memory that we've slightly forgotten and putting it in our own words, explaining it to the unknown reader. So, that's the potential of it.

It is also a very effective way of figuring out what kinds of gaps in background knowledge are preventing kids from accessing the grade-level work that we're asking them to do. Especially with anything really other than math, I would say you can't sort of go back and just cover everything that kids might have missed in previous years if they have these gaps in knowledge. But what writing can do is, especially if you are doing it in manageable chunks like sentences, if you give everybody in the class a sentence stem to complete about the content you're teaching, and I can go into examples of that later, but what you get back will very quickly tell you there are kids who just have misconceptions. If they need some additional information, that's going to help them access the content. So, it's a very effective way of pinpointing what is it that we need to fill in here so that kids can actually do grade-level work. So, that's really what a lot of the potential of writing is.
PA:
So, Natalie, what you're saying is writing can help transfer that information from working memory to long-term memory, which will allow students not only to retrieve, but be able to explain and writing is the tool used to make it happen and also to uncover those gaps, right? Because kids' gaps are different based on their experience, where they've come from, what they have interacted with. It's just a different experience for each child as they're going through that learning situation.
NW:
Yeah. And I think teachers, we often rely on kids to sort of raise their hands and say, "Wait a minute, I don't understand this." And often they don't do that. So, by the time we figure out that there's something they're not understanding, or there's some piece of knowledge that they're missing that's preventing them from learning what we are expecting them to learn, is sometimes too late. So, writing can be that kind of just-in-time identifier of what's needed.
PA:
Right. Great. And you're right. Students don't always raise their hands. I know that sometimes adults are reluctant to raise their hand or ask a question.
NW:
Absolutely. Yep.
PA:
What do we know from national assessments about American students' writing ability?
NW:
Well, I wish we knew more. But what we do know is that a lot of kids are not writing well. The most recent national test of students' writing ability, which was done in 2011 and it showed that only about 27 percent of eighth- and 12 th-graders were at the proficient level or above. That's on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. And that's a lower proportion than is it proficient or above in reading. That's about a third of students. So, we're talking about a quarter of students being proficient in writing, which it stands to reason that there would be fewer because actually writing is harder than reading.

Now, those tests can't tell us exactly why or exactly what the problems are. And they're also over 10 years old, those results at this point. I doubt things have gotten better, but I will say that the dismaying news that I got recently is that we're not scheduled to give another one of these national writing tests until 2030, which means there'll be a 20-year gap between these assessments of kids' writing. And the NAEP tests reading every two years. And I think that's just a reflection of how we haven't really given writing the attention it deserves.
PA:
Yes, definitely. And the NAEP scores have given us an indication that we have to have some attention to writing.
NW:
Yep.
PA:
Well tell me, Natalie, how has writing been taught in the past and what's the dominant approach today?
NW:
Yeah, well, I think it's clear from those test scores that whatever we've been doing hasn't been working very well for most students. The traditional approach is thought of as teaching grammar, rules of grammar, parts of speech, maybe having kids diagram sentences. And some people feel like we need to do more of that. And in some ways we do, but studies going back maybe 100 years now have shown that for many kids, that kind of grammar instruction in the abstract doesn't carry over to their own writing. It's just, it's too abstract. And, so partly, I think in reaction to that research in the last 20 or 30 years, the dominant approach to the extent that we teach writing at all has been to not pay so much attention to rules of grammar conventions, but just to focus more on having kids express themselves, to develop their fluency, their voice, their writerly voice.

But, unfortunately, for most kids that hasn't really worked either. And one of the problems there I think is, well, one problem is that writing's really hard. So, if you ask kids to write at length, it just becomes harder. But often kids don't just pick up the conventions and grammar, the syntax of written language just on their own, just from reading. It often does need to be taught explicitly, but not in the abstract. It needs to be taught in the context of students' own writing. And so we haven't been doing enough of that. And it's hard when you ask students to write at length, to deal with grammar mistakes and things, and syntax errors in the context of students' own writing, because you may be getting page after page of error-filled prose, and that can be as a teacher, it's kind of overwhelming. Where do you begin? And for students, of course, it could be very discouraging to get a lot of red marks back on your written work. So, I think those are some of the problems that we've had.
PA:
Right. So, what's happened in the past, in a shift to what's happened in the present, would be two different approaches. But what it sounds like, Natalie, is we need to meet some kids somewhere in the middle, right? Make the abstract concrete, make it real for them as we still give that explicit, direct instruction in understanding grammar, but also practical application. Would you say that's a summation of what you've just said?
NW:
Yes. And there's one thing that I didn't mention. I think that is definitely the case. If a kid is writing a fragment of a sentence and she thinks it's a sentence, but it's missing a verb, then you don't even need to, especially if kids are young, you don't need to say, "You need to add a verb." But you can say, "Well, what are they doing? We don't know what they're doing." And that's a more functional approach. The other problem we've had with the way we've approached writing instruction though, is that we've really tried to teach it in isolation from the content of the curriculum. And so this more recent approach, which is sometimes called Writers' Workshop, where kids don't worry too much about the conventions, just write, they're often writing about their personal experience.

That's been the dominant approach until fairly recently. And more recently, there's been more emphasis on well we need to get kids to write more expository writing, more analytical writing, argumentative or persuasive writing. But often there'll be a separate writing curriculum with its own topics. And maybe just a couple of paragraphs, a few paragraphs of information about those topics. The kids may not have that much information to write about those topics in the writing curriculum, but also with both of these approaches, either writing about personal experience or opinion or writing about a separate topic in a separate writing curriculum, we're not using the power of writing to build the kind of knowledge we really want kids to acquire. So, one of the problems that we need to solve is really not that difficult. We have to ask kids to write about the content in social studies, in science, even in math, across the curriculum, because not only will that help them acquire writing skills, it's also going to help them acquire the knowledge in those subjects that we want them to acquire.
PA:
Oh, excellent. There are so many aspects of what you just said, Natalie, that are just warming my heart, writing in response to text and topics, the power and the knowledge gained through writing. Those are all things that are just making me very, very excited about what you're sharing with educators here. And when you think about the idea of those grammar concepts, taking a look at the functions of words, asking questions so they understand who or what did it, what did they do? What did they do it to? When, where, how, which one, how many, what kind? So, these are things that we want students to be able to understand when they're writing so that they can use the correct word, not necessarily labeling as a noun or a verb, but what's the function and how can it be used. I see wonderful application there. Well, Natalie, you mentioned some challenges you see with these approaches that we've just discussed. What method do you think would work better?
NW:
Well, I think one of the challenges that I didn't really go into is that writing, as I mentioned, I think is really difficult, more difficult than reading. It imposes a really heavy load on working memory. And we've been asking kids to write at length from really the get go. And if you're an inexperienced writer at any grade level, any age, it's quickly going to become overwhelming to write at length because you're juggling all sorts of things. If you're really little, you might be juggling letter formation and spelling, which of course is notoriously difficult in English, word choice, and organizing your thoughts and then the content you're writing about. And so one challenge here that needs to be addressed is how to make writing less overwhelming. Because if it's too overwhelming, kids are not going to get the knowledge-building benefits of writing. And they're also probably not going to learn to write well. And so the most effective way to modulate that cognitive load, we don't want to reduce it because you need to be expending some effort in order to be learning something. But to modulate that cognitive load, we should start writing instruction at the sentence level, if that's what kids need, no matter what grade level they're in. There are a lot of kids in high school who still have not learned to construct a good sentence, not because they can't, but because they haven't been explicitly taught how to do so. And not only is that going to impose a heavy cognitive load on them that's going to prevent them from really getting the benefits of writing. It's also going to prevent them from becoming good writers, because if you can't write a good sentence, you're unlikely to be able to produce a good paragraph or a good essay.

So, that is certainly one thing that I think any effective writing approach needs to do. It needs to start at the sentence level if that's what students need. It needs to embed writing instruction as much as possible in the content, the core content of the curriculum. And then thirdly, those grammar and conventions I was talking about, those need to be taught in the context of students' own writing. And as I mentioned, that's going to be easier if you're not asking students to write at length. So, it's going to be easier to do that if you're starting at the sentence level.
PA:
Great, Natalie. So, meeting students where they are with that explicit instruction. I heard that a number of times. We have to explicitly teach that writing. And I love your analogy of juggling. There are so many literacy skills we have to consider that students will need to juggle when writing and it is a more difficult, challenging literacy skill. I'd like to say it's the epitome of all literacy skills. Well, what's the relationship between writing and reading comprehension? Can you expound on that?
NW:
Sure. I'd say there are two connections or relationships. One is, as I mentioned, writing really helps sort of cement information in long-term memory. And it's known by cognitive psychologists the more general information you have in long-term memory, the more knowledge you've got, the better you are at understanding whatever you're trying to read. So, that's one relationship. But in addition to that, the language of written text is almost always more complex than spoken language. It's got its own vocabulary words like "despite" or "moreover," and its own complex syntax with lots of clauses and various other things that we just don't hear much in conversation.

And if kids are going to be able to understand written text on their own, they need to become familiar with that sophisticated language and syntax of written text. One way to familiarize them with it is through reading aloud from complex texts that they may not be able to read yet themselves. But even more powerful is to teach them to use that kind of vocabulary and that kind of syntax in their own writing, teach them how to construct a sentence with a subordinating conjunction, etc. If they can do that themselves, they're going to be in a much better position to understand that kind of structure, that syntax, that vocabulary, when they encounter it in their reading.
PA:
That practice of actually creating will help them when they encounter these types of complex sentences in writing.
NW:
Yeah.
PA:
When students learn to write well, do we see improvement in other areas as well? For example, content-area classes, motivation, and speaking and listening skills. Are any of those impacted?
NW:
Absolutely. As I mentioned, when students write about the content they're learning in any subject area that enhances their learning, it boosts their learning. And there are studies that support that. So, science, math, social studies, all of that. Writing about that content is going to boost learning. And then certainly motivation. Teachers have told me, "Oh, my students just hate to write. And the teachers at my school hate to teach it." One of them said, "We'd rather jump off a building." And I think the problem there is often, it's not that kids don't want to write. It's that they haven't been explicitly taught how to do it. And once you show them how to construct a sentence and how to put a paragraph together, what I've heard is that reluctant writers often become eager writers. And that of course has also to do with the content of the curriculum.

One problem, especially at the elementary level, is there really isn't much content in the curriculum. And so kids don't have much to write about because we've been focusing more on reading comprehension skills and strategies, and the topics might change from day to day. But if you do spend at least a couple of weeks on a topic and do that in an engaging way, that often also really increases the motivation to write because kids are excited about what they're learning and they want to write about it. And then speaking and listening skills. Definitely I think there's a carryover there. It's kind of a two-way street. I think you kind of need to start with speaking and listening. So, for example, when you're introducing a new writing strategy, it's important to do that orally and collaboratively. And again, that has something to do with cognitive load.

If kids are trying to do it on their own, it could become overwhelming. And especially if they're writing, trying to write while they're experimenting with a new strategy. But listening and speaking are easier. They impose less of a cognitive load. So, that frees up more space and working memory to take in new information. And that could be content information, but it could also be a new way to put a sentence together. So, how to use an apositive, for example, which is a phrase describing a noun. We want to do that orally first. And we also want to embed that in content that students are familiar with, so that also can modulate the cognitive load.

But then in addition to that direction, going from speaking and listening to being able to do these things in writing, once kids do learn to construct complex sentences, etc., in their own writing, that often will carry over into their spoken language and their spoken language will become more sophisticated as well. This is something that teachers will say once they've tried this different kind of approach. And it also has to do with kids' self-concept and their self-confidence. When you explicitly teach a kid to express themselves coherently in writing, they feel more powerful, that they can do this. And I think it really has the power to change their concepts of who they are and what they can do and what they deserve from life.
PA:
So, beginning with the oral can help lead to building those reading skills and opportunities to express themselves.
NW:
Yeah.
PA:
So, I'd like you to provide some examples of writing activities. You have done that throughout our conversation together, but just to be a little bit more explicit about those writing activities that build writing skills and knowledge simultaneously.
NW:
Sure. Yeah. I mean, there are a lot of different activities and I think what people may be familiar with, if they're familiar with any kind of sentence-level activity, is what's often called sentence combining, where you give kids maybe three simple sentences and ask them to combine those into one longer sentence. And there are different ways they can do that. They could use conjunctions, they can use various techniques. And that has been researched and it's been found to be effective at helping students construct more complex sentences. But what it doesn't do is really build knowledge in a powerful way because it's giving kids all the information. If you give them three sentences, they don't need to really retrieve anything from long-term memory and put it in their own words. So, there are other kinds of sentence-level activities that haven't yet been researched the way sentence combining has been, but which I really hope there will be some research done on them because these other kinds of sentence-level activities can both teach writing skills and also build knowledge and build analytical abilities at the same time, helping kids connect bits of information.

So, for example, even something as basic as the difference between a complete sentence and a sentence fragment can be used as a way of building knowledge, as well as sentence-level skills, mechanical skills. So, what you can do rather than just providing the definition of a sentence, it's got a subject and a verb and it expresses a complete thought, which is probably going to be too abstract for a lot of students. You can give students a list of phrases, groups of words that are not punctuated and have them as a first step distinguish between the ones that are complete sentences and the ones that are fragments. And repeating that kind of activity and giving feedback, that helps kids absorb at a kind of gut level the difference. What is a complete sentence? Which is really pretty complicated. I mean, it seems basic, but there are high school students and beyond who don't really have that firmly in their heads.

And then once they've identified which are the sentences and which are the fragments, first they capitalize and punctuate the sentence, which is an important thing to know. But the knowledge building comes in when they need to turn the fragments into complete sentences. And to do that, they have to draw on knowledge they have in long-term memory. They have to retrieve that and they have to put it into their own words. So, for example, and as I mentioned, this can and should be embedded in any curriculum content. So, let's say you're teaching kids about maps in social studies. So, you could have a list of those groups of words. They identify the sentences. They identify which ones are the fragments, and then they have to fix the fragment. So, let's say you have a fragment that just says, "Shows the cardinal directions." Well, a kid would think, well, what is it that shows the cardinal directions?

Oh, a compass rose. And then they turn that into a complete sentence by writing, "A compass rose shows the cardinal directions." And that's reinforcing that knowledge. It's also helping kids understand what distinguishes a sentence from a fragment. And just one other activity I'll mention that can be very powerful is giving kids a sentence stem in the beginning of a sentence and asking them to complete it in three different ways with three different conjunctions, "because," "but," and "so." And each of those conjunctions is going to require kids to retrieve a different kind of information from long-term memory, put it in their own words. And it's also not all kids even pick up using those simple conjunctions just from their reading. And as I mentioned, this could be embedded in any content. So, let's say it's math class. Well, you could give kids a sentence stem like "Fractions are like decimals."

And then they have to complete it with these three different ways. So, they could write, "Fractions are like decimals because they are all parts of wholes." For "but" they could write, "But they're written differently." And for "so" they could write, "Fractions are like decimals so they can be used interchangeably." And all of these activities are laying the groundwork for more complex, not only sentence-level construction, but also for length-year writing. And so for example, once kids have the conjunction "but" down, and that's going to be more difficult than "because." It's asking for contrasting information, change of direction, then you could go on to "Although fractions are like decimals," which again is a construction that we often don't hear in conversation. So, you're introducing them to that subordinated conjunction and that language of written text.
PA:
Natalie, just listening to you share these practical examples of how to improve writing instruction has really warmed my heart. And I know I said that before, but it's warmed even more. Often as educators, we look at the end goal, right? What do we want our students to be able to do? Write a multiparagraph essay, but beginning at that sentence level, right? Starting there to build students up. Building that knowledge as you talked about, that working memory, that information that students are learning into that long-term memory, reinforcing through writing. Thank you for those practical, simple strategies that can be applied in any content area. Thank you for joining us today. It's been a pleasure speaking with you, Natalie. Please tell our listeners how they can learn more about you and how they can follow you on social media.
NW:
Well, they can find me at my website, nataliewexler.com and they can contact me through the website. Also, I'm on Twitter. My handle is @NatWexler and I also have a free Substack newsletter called Minding The Gap, which they are welcome to subscribe to.
PA:
Thanks, Natalie. It's been a pleasure having you. Thank you for joining us.
NW:
Thanks very much, Pam. It's been a real pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Pam Austin:
This is Pam Austin bringing the best thought leaders in education directly to you.
Narrator:
This has been an EDVIEW360 podcast. For additional thought-provoking discussions, sign up for our blog, webinar, and podcast series at voyagersopris.com/edview360. If you enjoyed the show, we'd love a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts and to help other people like you find our show. Thank you.

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How Explicit Writing Instruction Can Compensate for Gaps in Background Knowledge

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Narrator: Welcome to EDVIEW360. Natalie Wexler: It's not that kids don't want to write. It's that they haven't been explicitly taught how to do it. And once you show them how to construct a sentence and how to put a paragraph together, what I've heard is that reluctant writers often become eager writers.

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March  2023 Richland Reads a focus-on-literacy newsletter 

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Achievethecore.org :: Instructional Practice Guide: Academic Word Finder

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This guide is a practical tool that teachers, and teacher-trainers, can use (and re-use!) in order to build fluency with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

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PBS: Books to Celebrate Black History Month

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PBS: Books to Celebrate Black History Month

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Children's Books to Celebrate Black History Month | Parenting Tips &...

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February is Black History Month, a time for celebrating the accomplishments of Black pioneers and trailblazers. With these books, teach young children about Black history all year long.

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Black history is American history. To help you celebrate with your students, we've rounded up 28 books that are perfect for Black history read alouds, one for each day of the month.

Do you have other books you'd recommend for Black History read alouds? Drop us a note in the comments.

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28 Read Alouds for Black History Month - Lalilo Blog

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Black history is American history. To help you celebrate with your students, we've rounded up 28 books that are perfect for Black history read alouds, one for each day of the month. Do you have other books you'd recommend for Black History read alouds? Drop us a note in the comments.

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Can you believe we're already more than halfway done with the 2022-2023 school year? 🤯 If you and your students are celebrating the 100th day of school, we've got three great read-alouds to recommend from our friends at Random House Children's Books. These 100th day of school books are also fun to recommend to families so students can celebrate their accomplishments at home too.

Plus, until February 3 you can enter to win all of the 100th day books below right here!

Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School by Emily Jenkins, illustrations by Pete Oswald

If you haven't read this warm and funny chapter book, you're in for a treat-it's all about one first grader's first 100 days of school and adjusting to the ups and downs of classroom and family life. It's written in 100 short chapters too, so if you start now, you can finish by the big day!

Activity to try: While writing a story that's 100 chapters long might be a little intimidating for your kiddos, you could try writing a story that's 100 sentences or 100 words long!

Learn more: Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School at Random House Children's Books

Rocket's 100th Day of School by Tad Hills

Students will love this sweet Step 1 easy reader about the beloved Rocket trying to collect 100 things to take to school on the 100th day.

Activity to try: Challenge your students to bring 100 things to school just like Rocket!

Learn more: Rocket's 100th Day of School at Random House Children's Books

The 100 Hats of the Cat in the Hat by Tish Rabe, illustrated by Aristides Ruiz and Joe Mathieu

Students will enjoy learning all about the number 100 along with the Cat in the Hat, and you'll find lots of opportunities for math extensions and activities in this Seussian celebration of the 100th day.

Activity to try: Play with a hundreds chart like the Cat in the Hat!

Learn more: The 100 Hats of the Cat in the Hat at Random House Children's Books

What are your favorite 100th day of school books? Please share in the comments!

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3 Great Books for the 100th Day of School

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Can you believe we're already more than halfway done with the 2022-2023 school year? 🤯 If you and your students are celebrating the 100th day of school, we've got three great read-alouds to recommend from our friends at Random House Children's Books.

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Improve your students' reading comprehension with ReadWorks. Access thousands of high-quality, free K-12 articles, and create online assignments with them for your students.

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OSPI The Science of Reading Summit May 2023

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OSPI The Science of Reading Summit May 2023

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Flyer_The Science of Reading Summit May 2023.pdf

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Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6

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Comprehensive and evidence-based, Structured Literacy (SL) approaches place a high value on explicit, systematic, and sequential instruction. This book brings together leading experts on key components of literacy to help K–6 teachers design and target SL interventions for particular student profile…

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Suffix Conventions and Morphology bookmarks

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Suffix Conventions and Morphology bookmarks

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Can Do Kids Academy

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Aaron Slater - Illustrator Morphology lessons

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Aaron Slater - Illustrator Morphology lessons

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Can Do Kids Academy

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If you prefer, read the text version of the infographic.

Route to Reading: Keep Your Child's Engine Running

Helping your child stretch apart and connect sounds to sound out words supports early reading success. For example:

How does this word start?
Your child says, /mmm/.
What's the next sound?
Your child says, /aaa/.
What sound comes next?
Your child says, /nnn/.
What happens when you put them
together?
Your child says, /mmmaaannn/.
What is the word?
Your child says, man!

Suggested Citation

National Center on Improving Literacy (2019). Route to Reading: Keep Your Child's Engine Running. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. Retrieved from http://improvingliteracy.org.

Abstract

Helping your child stretch apart and connect sounds to sound out words supports early reading success.

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Route to Reading: Keep Your Child's Engine Running

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If you prefer, read the text version of the infographic. Route to Reading: Keep Your Child's Engine Running Helping your child stretch apart and connect sounds to sound out words supports early reading success. For example: How does this word start? Your child says, /mmm/. What's the next sound?

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Season 5

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SoR-What I Should Have Learned in College

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How to Help Students Read Long Words: Pol-y-syl-lab-ic Word Read-ing Strat-e-gies

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Nessy Spelling Strategy | Learn the 3 sounds of -ed |  Spell Words Ending in -ed

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Idaho Dept of Education

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Teaching Reading to Students Who Experience Trauma

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Teaching Reading to Students Who Experience Trauma

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Tim Shanahan

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Teaching Reading to Students Who Experience Trauma | Reading Rockets

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Teacher question: I’m interested in whether personal grief trauma and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) affect reading comprehension or learning to read. Over the years, I have had students who have lost parents or siblings, and some who are witnesses to (or victims of violence). What does resea…

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Foundational Skills Instructional Routines 

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Foundational Skills Instructional Routines 

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Idaho Dept. of Education

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What should fluency instruction look like? And, what can teachers do to help students whose fluency is far behind their peers'? This article can help practitioners effectively use fluency-based assessments and select instructional practices.

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February Richland Reads a focus-on-literacy newsletter 

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Dr. Stephanie Stollar: Questions about nonsense word fluency

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Dr. Stephanie Stollar: Questions about nonsense word fluency

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WA Educators Enhance Literacy Instruction Practices Using MTSS

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WA Educators Enhance Literacy Instruction Practices Using MTSS

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Every child has the right to learn to read and write. In Washington, educators are increasing their efforts to support early literacy for all students and identify students in need of additional support.

With support from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and partners, Washington educators are screening students in kindergarten through second grade for indications of dyslexia. Educators then provide instructional support that best addresses each student's identified areas of needed support.

Screening and intervening are elements of the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework. MTSS also includes regular progress monitoring and communication within and among teams comprised of school district staff and students' families.

"MTSS is a prevention-based framework that places student needs at the center of flexible systems and supports," said Rebecca Estock, MTSS Program Implementation Supervisor at OSPI. "A well-implemented MTSS system reflects the needs of the students and empowers educators in preventing and responding to the academic and social-emotional needs of all learners."

OSPI recently published updated guidance for screening for indications of dyslexia, a neurological difference in the brain characterized by challenges with reading and spelling. The updated guidance includes a renewed focus on MTSS.

To implement an MTSS framework, the updated guidance recommends establishing teams across school districts and within schools that also engage families and community partners in problem-solving. Team communication and planning leads to better identification of student needs and implementation of relevant and impactful interventions.

The updated guidance names three necessary steps for using the MTSS framework to support student literacy development: screen, intervene, and communicate.

Screeners, which are brief and standardized assessments of specific skills, determine a student's level of knowledge and awareness of concepts like the sounds of spoken words and letters. If a student's screener data shows that they are not meeting expectations for their grade level, the school must provide appropriate interventions to support the student's needs. Throughout the process, schools are expected to communicate regularly with families.

All interventions must be aligned with and layered onto universal instruction, which is the education that all students receive. For students in kindergarten through second grade learning to read and write, interventions should be based in structured literacy, an evidence-based teaching approach informed by the science of reading.

The science of reading looks at research from fields including psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and education to inform how children learn to read and write, as well as why some have difficulties. Practices aligned with the science of reading link sounds to letters to read words, and later weave these abilities with students' understanding of language, content, and text structures.

Structured literacy instruction "ensures that all students gain the skills they need to read independently and the background knowledge and vocabulary to understand what they read," said Dr. Alicia Roberts Frank, Regional Administrator for Special Programs at Capital Region Educational Service District 113.

In classroom instruction, structured literacy is characterized by high levels of teacher-student interaction; instruction that starts with simpler phonics concepts and leads to more complex patterns; engaging multiple senses and ways of interacting with language; and adjustments based on data from assessments and student needs.

"Structured literacy is not a packaged program, nor is it one-size-fits-all," Roberts Frank said. "Structured literacy instruction enables teachers to understand all their learners' literacy development needs and provide them with appropriate instruction and supports."

Along with implementing an MTSS framework for literacy instruction, the updated guidance clarifies that all students in kindergarten through second grade classrooms must be screened annually for indications of dyslexia - including students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and students who are multilingual/English learners.

Students with disabilities "should access the same continuum of services provided to all" students in Washington's schools, said Dr. Liz Stewart, Special Education Program Improvement Supervisor at OSPI.

For students who are multilingual/English learners, the updated guidance notes that the results of these students' screeners should not be directly compared to grade-level norms and that students may be screened in a language other than English. The updated guidance also indicates that students who are multilingual/English learners should not be included in literacy screeners during their first four months of U.S. schooling.

"We need to keep in mind that benchmarks may not always apply as students are still developing their language skills and that students in their first four months of U.S. schooling need time to adjust to their new environment before being assessed," said Dr. Kristin Percy-Calaff, Director of Multilingual Education at OSPI.

OSPI is continually developing guidance and resources to support educators and schools in implementing evidence-based practices that support early literacy. Be sure to follow us on social media for updates and resources.

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The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

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Washington Educators Enhance Literacy Instruction Practices Using Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

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Every child has the right to learn to read and write. In Washington, educators are increasing their efforts to support early literacy for all students and identify students in need of additional support. With support from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and partners, Washington educators are screening students in kindergarten through second grade for indications of dyslexia.

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by Joan Sedita

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Keys to Literacy founder, Joan Sedita, is the creator of framework for writing instruction. Based on research findings, the framework organizes effective writing instruction practices into five strands. Educators can use The Writing Rope to determine if their writing curriculum or program addresses all essential components of writing instruction.

View the 2019 article The Writing Rope: The Strands That Are Woven Into Skilled Writing published by Keys to Literacy.

Joan has written a book published by Brookes Publishing titled The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects. The book delves into each strand in the rope and includes teaching suggestions drawn from Joan's writing professional development courses.

About the Book

From the back cover:
Joan Sedita's innovative Writing Rope weaves multiple skills and strategies into five fundamentals of a comprehensive writing curriculum: critical thinking, syntax (sentence structure) text structure, writing craft, and transcription (spelling and handwriting). Teachers will get crystal-clear guidelines that demystify the process of helping students learn to write and write to learn across academic content areas. With dozens of included templates, handouts, and other resources - available for download online - teachers will have all the tools they need to design and deliver explicit, high-quality writing instruction.
The target audience for the book is grades 4-8, but many of the instructional suggestions can be used with children in younger grades and with high school students, especially those who have writing difficulty.

To Order the Book

Click here to order the book at the Brookes Publishing store.

Free Book Study Guide

Joan has prepared a set of questions designed to help individuals or groups of educators reflect on the content of the book. Click here for a free set of the book study questions.
Archived Book Study
Click here to access free recordings of a 5-part webinar series of Joan Sedita's book study sponsored by PaTTAN (PA Training & Technical Assistance Network).

Are you interested in professional development related to The Writing Rope?

WORKSHOPS: If your organization is looking for a 60- to 90-minute overview workshop for a conference or school-district professional development day, contact Keys to Literacy to schedule one of our writing consultants. This workshop begins with a brief overview of research related to effective writing instruction, followed by a review of the five strands in The Writing Rope: Critical Thinking, Syntax/Sentences, Text Structure, Writing Craft, Transcription Skills. Examples of effective instruction for each strand are highlighted.

MORE IN-DEPTH TRAINING: In writing the book, Joan combined the research on effective writing instruction with her decades of experience teaching students and training teachers. Many of the instructional suggestions in The Writing Rope are part of Keys to Literacy writing professional development programs. Click on each title below to learn more about the professional learning options, online courses, and books, or contact us to discuss professional learning options.

These professional development courses provide detailed suggestions and guided practice for using many of the instructional practices that are introduced in The Writing Rope book.

Permission to Use The Writing Rope

Joan Sedita holds the copyright and trademark to The Writing Rope. To ask for permission to reference The Writing Rope, send an email including a contact name and email, and a brief description of how The Writing Rope will be used to: info@keystoliteracy.com

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"The Writing Rope" by Joan Sedita - Keys to Literacy

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Keys to Literacy founder, Joan Sedita, is the creator of The Writing Rope framework for writing instruction. Based on research findings, the framework organizes effective writing instruction practices into five strands. Educators can use The Writing Rope to determine if their writing curriculum or program addresses all essential components of writing instruction.

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Why a Tiger is a Tiger: A Bestiary of Etymology

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Why a Tiger is a Tiger: A Bestiary of Etymology

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Why is a Tiger a Tiger?: A Bestiary of Etymology

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Why is a Tiger a Tiger?: A Bestiary of Etymology [Buchen, Dave] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Why is a Tiger a Tiger?: A Bestiary of Etymology

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Ox, House, Stick: The History of our Alphabet

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Ox, House, Stick: The History of our Alphabet

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Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet|Paperback

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Bold collage illustrations and clear prose trace the origins of our familiar letters. From the proto-Sinaitic peoples, through the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, this book follows the development of the Roman alphabet.Includes sidebar information on punctuation, writing materials, the...

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It's not an easy thing, learning to read and write. Discover what it takes to build important literacy skills, and how you can help your children grow as readers, writers, and thinkers!

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Using Data-Based Decision Making to Intensify Instruction, Dr. Kim St. Martin, Glen + OSPI

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Using Data-Based Decision Making to Intensify Instruction, Dr. Kim St. Martin, Glen + OSPI

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OSPI + Glean | Dr. Kim St. Martin | February 16, 2023

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The Kastner Collection: Effective Writing Practices

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This Waklet includes resources for supporting effective practices for student writing. This includes knowledge building resources and instructional practices that align with transcription skills and composition skills. Research for developing effective writers is included on this Waklet.

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Free Prefix, Suffix, and Roots Posters (Morphology Posters)

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Are you teaching prefixes, suffixes, and roots? Grab free prefix and suffix posters (and roots and bases) for grades 4-5 to use as references!

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Chart of Basic Phonograms identified by Logic of English

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How to Use Assessments with Phonics Intervention in Benchmark

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How to Use Assessments with Phonics Intervention in Benchmark