Science of Reading

High quality reading instruction is grounded in the current science of reading regarding the acquisition of language (syntax, semantics, morphology, and pragmatics), phonological and phonemic awareness, accurate and efficient word identification and spelling, world knowledge, and comprehension. It is guided by state-adopted standards and informed by data so that instruction can be differentiated to meet the needs of individual students. High quality reading instruction includes explicit and systematic phonics instruction, allowing all students to master letter–sound relations so that they can understand the meaning of increasingly complex text.

This website was created to organize information shared on the Facebook page Science of Reading-What I Should Have Learned in College. As educators, specialists, and parents have joined the Facebook page to gain knowledge on the science of reading, a community has been created. This knowledgeable community shares resources and experiences on the science of reading and implementation in schools and at home. It is my hope to provide you with as many resources available worldwide in order to improve literacy outcomes for all. This website is fluid and will be updated frequently.

There’s a wrong way to teach reading and, unfortunately, it’s also the most popular way. So, if you’ve ever committed these teaching errors, don’t worry, you’re not alone. I’ve been there, too. I was shocked when I realized that many teacher prep courses and even professional development classes are teaching reading methods not supported by science. If you’re reading this blog and find yourself surprised or even defensive at these “errors,” please take a moment to step back, take a deep breath, and use it as a springboard to start your journey into learning more about the science of reading. Instead of feeling denial, guilt, or anger…I encourage you to simply learn more and do better.

When I became a reading interventionist, my first graders taught me that Guided Reading isn’t as effective as I had once believed. Initially, my attention was on my readers’ “strengths.” Mistakes in reading were not problems but rather “miscues,” windows into my students’ minds and reassurance that they needed me for guidance as they read.

But as I observed my students, I noticed them develop misunderstandings about reading.

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I had taught phonics in guided reading, but leveled books had allowed students to use pictures, initial sounds, and context to guess rather than sound out words. Decodable books foiled these guessing strategies by including visually similar words (man/mat, run/ran) and unpredictable sentence structures that required students to look at all the letters in words and all the words in sentences. To read decodables, we had to actively fight the reading behaviors I had once promoted in guided reading. Progress was labor-intensive and painfully slow for some of my students.

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Sound walls are becoming more common in classrooms thanks to a clearer understanding of the science of reading.

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To examine the “why,” “what,” and “how” of this important topic, watch the three parts of The Science of Reading webinar series—featuring Laura Stewart—on demand.

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Online course on one of Dr. Kilpatrick's book Assessing, Preventing and Overcoming Reading Difficulties.

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