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Grades K-5

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Diagnostic

Defined as:

Teachers must be adept at individualizing instruction (even within groups) based on careful and continuous assessment, both informal (e.g., using observation) and formal (e.g., using standardized measures). Content must be mastered to the degree of automaticity needed to free attention and cognitive resources for comprehension and oral/written expression.

How the Sonday System incorporates:

Direct instruction ensures that errors are identified and corrected during a lesson. The lesson structure promotes continuous student-teacher interaction. Instructions are consistent by design so both students and teachers are familiar with how the lesson is taught. This allows the teacher to focus more on students - differentiating instruction and reinforcing skills not yet mastered. Errors are identified and addressed at the table, enhancing diagnostic and data-driven decisions.

Mastery Checks for Reading and Spelling are found after every third level to assess proficiency. These checks allow a teacher to quickly identify a student's proficiency in fluency, decoding, and spelling. A plan can be prescribed based on these data results.

Sonday System's Teacher Resource Book contains multiple assessments including a placement test to pinpoint where instruction should begin as well as pre- and posttests to document growth over a set period of time. The Sonday System Pre-Reading Survey Assessment checks students' ability to hear and process sound. This assessment can be used to identify students who are ready for phonics instruction as well as determining if these skills are strong enough to begin learning to read.

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Defined as: Teachers must be adept at individualizing instruction (even within groups) based on careful and continuous assessment, both informal (e.g., using observation) and formal (e.g., using standardized measures). Content must be mastered to the degree of automaticity needed to free attention and cognitive resources for comprehension and oral/written expression.

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A quick, easy definition

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A research-based method of instruction that helps struggling readers is appropriate to use with all students.

The first time I met my adult student Mary, she was skeptical but desperate. She was a treasured bus driver for the local school district and had recently received word that the route she had driven for 20 years was about to change. She would have to navigate a new route filled with unfamiliar street signs. Mary had come to the literacy council where I worked to confront the secret she had kept for decades from coworkers, friends, and family: She couldn't read.

At first, she doubted I could help, and I have to admit, so did I. I had to imagine other, more qualified teachers had tried and failed before.

Although this was my first formal teaching position, I wasn't totally lacking in experience. The prior summer I had prepared for teaching at the literacy council by taking a workshop in the Wilson Reading System, a literacy program based on the Orton-Gillingham method. I practiced the method with students at the Children's Dyslexia Center in New Jersey and found that the approach, when followed with fidelity, effectively taught reading to children in even the most difficult cases. Nothing had seemed to work for Mary before, but maybe no one had given this method a try.

To our amazement, in a few short sessions the concepts that had eluded Mary for decades began to stick, until she was reading and spelling on her own for the first time in her life.

More than once we ended sessions with tears welling, touched by her newfound access to print. But equally palpable was the realization that she could have learned to read all along but hadn't been exposed to the right approach.

What Is Structured Literacy?

Structured Literacy is a term coined in 2016 by the International Dyslexia Association to unify the many names for this research-based approach. Also known as Orton-Gillingham, phonics-based reading instruction, systematic reading instruction, and synthetic phonics (among others), this method has been around for nearly a century.

In the late 1920s, physician Samuel T. Orton partnered with Teacher's College educator Anna Gillingham to create a method of reading instruction that would better support the needs of his patients with reading difficulties. He believed that these difficulties were brain-based and not supported by the popular rote memorization method used to teach reading at the time.

The method Orton and Gillingham devised was phonics-based, systematic, explicit, and highly structured, with multisensory elements to help learners retain the concepts that eluded them. This is the same method we call Structured Literacy today.

Because Structured Literacy was originally devised to support students who struggle with reading, many educators assume that the approach is only for remedial instruction. But Structured Literacy is appropriate for the general education classroom because it supports the reading acquisition of all students.

When a Structured Literacy program is taught in general ed classrooms, teachers may find that 5 to 10 percent of students will still struggle to master the concepts and need to be referred to intervention to intensify instruction. A unified Structured Literacy approach within a school's Response-to-Intervention (RTI) framework allows teachers in each tier to use the same curriculum to scaffold the learning and intensify the instruction as needed, with extra repetition, smaller group sizes, and/or increased instructional time.

How It Works

In Structured Literacy instruction, teachers guide students through systematic mastery of the smallest units of sounds (phonemes) and build upon that knowledge by introducing new, more complex material (morphemes and lexemes) in a structured and cumulative way. Structured Literacy teachers are explicit about the ways English is predictable and unpredictable by teaching the linguistic rules behind spelling and the exceptions to those rules.

In Structured Literacy lessons, teachers work on phonemic awareness, decoding skills (blending phonemes to make words), encoding skills (segmenting words into phonemes or morphemes), sight words, and reading fluency. Teachers follow the scope and sequence, covering one syllable at a time until all six syllable types are taught (closed, open, vowel-consonant- e, r-controlled, vowel pair/diphthong, and consonant- le).

Teachers cover these key components of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, reading (decoding), spelling (encoding), sight words, reading fluency, and comprehension.

Why It Works

In Structured Literacy instruction, teachers review previously taught concepts in each lesson and introduce new material to keep the student stimulated and engaged. Built into this design is the understanding that while a student who doesn't struggle with reading difficulties can master a concept in one to five exposures, a student who struggles with reading difficulties may take upward of 25 exposures to master a concept.

Structured Literacy teachers are also diagnostic, evaluating concept mastery both informally in each lesson (through reading observation and written dictation) and formally at the end of each step in the scope and sequence. Teachers respond to student progress or lack thereof by moving at a pace led by student progress, not the curriculum.

There are many published programs that make implementing Structured Literacy in your classroom easier by providing lesson plan maps, scope and sequence, and detailed explanations of the spelling rules that you'll need to explicitly teach to your students. Some of the programs popular with districts, schools, and teachers are:

I stopped working with Mary after a year due to a cross-country move. I helped her new tutor get training and left my materials with him so Mary could continue the program. A few years ago, I received an email written by Mary herself: "Dear Jessica, the seed you planted all those years ago is still growing. Just thought you'd like to know."

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A Powerful Approach to Reading Instruction

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A research-based method of instruction that helps struggling readers is appropriate to use with all students.

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Foundational Skills Guidance

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from IDA

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The definition of dyslexia is included in Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.01. As stated in statute, "dyslexia" means a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate or fluent recognition of words and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge. Students who have a dyslexia diagnosis must meet the state and federal eligibility criteria in order to qualify for special education services.

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) dyslexia team is currently focusing on supporting school efforts to screen and identify students with characteristics of dyslexia and develop teacher capacity to provide evidence-based reading instruction.

Parent Support and Advocacy

The role of the dyslexia specialist is to provide technical assistance and serve as the primary source of information and support for Minnesota schools in addressing the needs of students with dyslexia. The following organizations provide supports to parents such as consultation, education, resources and advocacy: PACER, Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Minnesota and Decoding Dyslexia of Minnesota (DDMN) (see Related Links). If there are concerns about compliance with service plans and rights and procedural safeguards contact MDE's Compliance and Assistance Division.

Dyslexia Information for Parents and Educators

Current Statutes Defining Dyslexia and Requirements

MDE Informational Papers and Guidance

Recommended Professional Development Opportunities

Teachers request information on where to learn more or get training. The following options are not exhaustive but come highly recommended by the International Dyslexia Association.

Reading Rockets (Reading 101 modules and other resources). Reading 101 was produced in collaboration with the Center for Effective Reading Instruction and The International Dyslexia Association. These nine modules are provided online for free and prepare teachers to take the Certification Exam for Educators of Reading Instruction (CEERI).

Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS). This professional development program can be used regardless of the literacy program used in a school. Modules are also available for early childhood educators, administrators and principals.

Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading, International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and Center for Effective Reading Instruction (CERI). Information provided about structured literacy certification for educators and accredited university programs.

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The definition of dyslexia is included in Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.01. As stated in statute, "dyslexia" means a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate or fluent recognition of words and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.

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Structured Literacy: Setting the Stage for Student Literacy Success

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The explicit and systematic instructional approach of Structured Literacy ensures students build their skills in each component area of literacy.

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What you must know about structured literacy programs

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Spread the loveLiteracy skills are the key to success for students and adults. Now more than ever, readers must be able to comprehend information from a variety of sources. When combined with vocabulary acquisition and fluency, decoding and encoding skills produce comprehension.

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How Is Structured Literacy Different From Other Approaches?

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How Is Structured Literacy Different From Other Approaches?

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Today, we know a lot more than we did decades ago about how children learn to read. Thanks to research on the science of reading, we can use evidence-based literacy instruction for all students. The International Dyslexia Association uses the term structured literacy to describe this type of teaching.

What Is Structured Literacy?

It's important to know both what to teach (the content) and how to teach it (the delivery) with structured literacy.

Phonology: the study of sounds in spoken words

Sound-symbol (orthography): how to map sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes)

Syllables: knowing the types of syllables and how to divide words into syllables

Morphology: the study of base words and affixes (prefixes and suffixes)

Syntax: understanding the grammatical order of words (like sentence structure)

Semantics: understanding the meaning of words and sentences

Explicit instruction: With explicit instruction, you make learning clear and straightforward for students. There's no guesswork. You directly model a skill using multiple examples, and you verbalize your thought process at the same time. For example, you could use explicit instruction to show students how to segment a one-syllable word into individual sounds.

With explicit instruction, you also provide plenty of guided practice (working with students) and independent practice (having them work on their own). There's a lot of teacher-student interaction with in-the-moment feedback.

Systematic and sequential instruction: With systematic and sequential instruction, you teach skills in a logical order. Students learn and master easier skills before moving on to more complex skills. For instance, you would teach students how to blend two letters before asking them to find the blends in words.

The goal of systematic and sequential instruction is to make sure that students have the knowledge they need to learn a new skill. Teachers who use this type of teaching also continue to practice and review previously learned skills.

Who Does Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction Help?

Evidence-based literacy instruction benefits all students. When general educators use explicit instruction in phonics, reading proficiency rates improve drastically. In one district, student proficiency increased from 47 percent to 84 percent after teachers learned about the science of reading and used explicit and systematic phonics instruction.

But this type of instruction is especially beneficial for some students, including:

Those who learn and think differently. For example, research shows that students with dyslexia benefit from interventions using explicit instruction in phonemic awareness. Likewise, students who struggle with language comprehension benefit from explicit instruction on semantics (meaning) and syntax (the grammatical order of words).

English language learners. Evidence-based literacy instruction can help these students develop reading and writing skills. Specifically, knowing the elements of English (like phonology and syntax) can help unlock the mystery of a new language.

How Is Structured Literacy Different From Other Approaches?

Structured literacy may sound similar to-or perhaps different from-other ways of teaching reading and writing. For that comparison, a mini history lesson can be helpful.

You may have heard of the "reading wars," a decades-old debate about how children best learn to read. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, some educators argued that phonics-based instruction, with its focus on the rules of decoding words, was the most effective. Other educators said that phonics instruction bored students and didn't build a love of reading. They believed in whole language-the idea that immersing kids in books helps them learn to read.

But the "whole language" approach had opponents too. Opponents argued that learning to read doesn't magically happen by putting a book in a child's hands. In fact, research shows that reading is not an innate ability. We naturally learn to speak when we're exposed to oral language as babies. But our brains aren't wired in that same way to read. We must be taught how to read.

As the reading wars continued, a compromise emerged: "balanced literacy." Balanced literacy uses a variety of teaching methods (such as read-alouds, independent reading and writing, and small group instruction) to address the five pillars of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. But finding that balance in busy classrooms is easier said than done. And some educators say they feel unprepared to teach all aspects of literacy, especially phonics.

With the right training, structured literacy can help you explicitly and systematically teach all areas of literacy in an engaging way.

Getting Started In Your Classroom

You may be thinking that your school's literacy curriculum doesn't include these components, or that your teacher preparation program didn't cover literacy instruction in great depth. Don't worry-there are several things you can do.

First and foremost, advocating for quality professional learning opportunities can help you and your colleagues feel you have the resources and support you need.

You can also try teaching strategies to augment your reading program or curriculum, one step at a time. For example, explore these strategies that include key elements of evidence-based literacy instruction:

You'll begin to see how this way of teaching benefits all students, and especially those who struggle with reading and writing. Once you see those gains, you can share those success stories with your colleagues and advocate for changes to how literacy is taught in your district.

About the Author

About the Author

Kim Greene, MA&nbsp

is the managing editor of Understood for Educators. A former elementary teacher and a certified reading specialist, she has a passion for developing resources for teachers and school leaders.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Margie B. Gillis, EdD&nbsp

is the founder and president of Literacy How, which provides professional development for teachers on research-based reading practices in the classroom.

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Structured Literacy: What You Need to Know

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Today, we know a lot more than we did decades ago about how children learn to read. Thanks to research on the science of reading, we can use evidence-based literacy instruction for all students. The International Dyslexia Association uses the term structured literacy to describe this type of teaching.

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References

Click the "References" link above to hide these references.

Brady, S. (2011). Efficacy of phonics teaching for reading outcomes: Implications from Post-NRP research. In S. Brady, D. Braze, & C. Fowler (Eds.), Explaining individual differences in reading (pp. 69-96), London: Psychology Press.

Denton, C. A., Fletcher, J. M., Taylor, W. P., Barth, A. E., & Vaughn, S. (2014). An experimental evaluation of Guided Reading and explicit interventions for primary-grade students at-risk for reading difficulties. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 7(3), 268-293.

Ehri, L., Nunes, R. S., Stahl, S., & Willows, D. (2001). Systematic phonics instruction helps students learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71, 393-447.

Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Furgeson, J., Hayes, L., Henke, J., Justice, L., Keating, B., Lewis, W., Sattar, S., Streke, A., Wagner, R., & Wissel, S. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: http://whatworks.ed.gov

Kilpatrick, D. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

McCardle, P., & Chhabra, V. (Eds.). (2004). The voice of evidence in reading research. Baltimore, MD, Paul H. Brookes.

National Early Literacy Panel (NELP). (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Bethesda, MD: National Institute of Child and Human Development.

Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the speed of sight: How we read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it. New York: Basic Books.

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Structured Literacy Instruction: The Basics

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Structured Literacy prepares students to decode words in an explicit and systematic manner. This approach not only helps students with dyslexia, but there is substantial evidence that it is effective for all readers. Get the basics on the six elements of Structured Literacy and how each element is taught.

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Helping Students Read Better and Learn More

The Iowa Reading Research Center strives to improve the literacy skills of all students through research with students, professional learning for educators, and technical assistance for school districts.

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Iowa Reading Research Center | The University of Iowa

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Striving to improve the literacy skills of all students.

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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