Researchers have unlocked the complex inner workings of the reading brain, broadly referred to as the Science of Reading. What has evolved is a shared understanding of effective reading instruction.
In 2000, a National Reading Panel determined that evidence-based reading instruction requires five key components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. More recently, the International Dyslexia Association has labeled the classroom application of this knowledge Structured Literacy. Structured literacy is an explicit, systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic approach that teaches the structure of language (phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics, syntax, and discourse).
Today in the United States, an elementary school student would have better odds of surviving the Titantic than becoming a competent reader. And yet our society prizes literacy as a basic human function. It's time to understand the crisis and do something about it.
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US Literacy Rank
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National Literacy. (2024). Literacy statistics 2024- 2025 (where we are now). National Literacy. https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now
Rasinski, T. (2020). Art and Science of Teaching Reading. Timothy Rasinski. http://timrasinski.com/presentations/Art_ and_Science_of_Teaching_Reading_TR.pdf
Statistics. The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance. (2022b, February 23). https://thencbla.org/literacy-resources/statistics/#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%2014,that%20needle%20in%2010%20years.
The Science of Reading vs. Balanced Literacy: The History of the Reading Wars. (2022, June 30). Lexia. January 5, 2023, https://www.lexialearning.com/blog/the-science-of-reading-vsbalanced-literacy-the-history-of-the-reading-wars
Wolf, M. (2010). Proust and the squid: The story and Science of the reading brain. Icon Books.
Learn about recent research and explore instructional strategies to support your students with SLD.
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