A few years ago, a phrase began to circulate in schools across the country with increasing frequency. Known as the Science of Reading, this approach to structured literacy has gained rapid momentum in many schools and districts. For numerous reasons, it also received strong praise, but also censure from education experts. Particularly in light of recent results showing a continued decline in reading skills across the country, the effort to help students seems urgent. The question is: How does our own knowledge about literacy lend itself to helping students achieve growth? By uncovering the elements that develop skills from a young age, we can better understand how children become lifelong readers.
The components of literacy
Reading teachers consider a variety of factors when evaluating students’ progress. The decoding skill is centered on recognizing and being able to pronounce words, while the comprehension process is more related to how young people understand the content they read. For example, a student who is able to decode words and read aloud with what appears to be proficiency may not be advancing to the next level of understanding the meaning of everything that comes out of their mouth. For this reason, reading intervention programs often differentiate between decoding and comprehension so that students can benefit from targeting the right needs for their growth.
However, when we talk about the Science of Reading, we go beyond decoding and comprehension to explore five areas of literacy acquisition: phonological awareness; phonics and word recognition; fluency; vocabulary comprehension; and oral language and text comprehension. Each of these five elements provides more detail about where students may be struggling. Additionally, there is an intentional approach behind how they learn. They must develop phonological awareness so that they can recognize the sounds that occur in words, and then it is easier to move on to phonics, where the sounds are then analyzed with the corresponding letters. When teachers are aware of how students develop their reading skills by observing these five components, they can more easily identify where children may be struggling and address concerns more accurately.
More than phonetics
Phonics is just one part of the Science of Reading, and research supports the idea that it plays a key role in how students’ success in literacy is determined from an early age. When children are taught to put sounds together to form words, their improved ability to decode language can more easily extend to their overall understanding of text. Some of the gains seen with growth in reading also extend to writing, which only benefits students further as they progress through the early grades and become more adept in their approach to accessing increasingly complex texts. Additionally, it is important to note that although some learn to read outside of the classroom, many need explicit phonics instruction to progress.
As a component of the Science of Reading, phonics is a fundamental literacy necessity. However, it is very important to note that several for-profit organizations (such as education providers) and media outlets mischaracterize the Science of Reading as being just one big push toward phonics, when in fact there are several components of literacy that play a role. a fundamental role. In this research-based approach. Ultimately, the Science of Reading is not a product that someone can sell to achieve specific results, whether in phonics or any other area of literacy skill development. Instead, the goal is to help teachers access important information and research that will help boost students’ progress in a more systematic way.
Breaking down the controversy
While the Science of Reading has experienced an enthusiastic response in many quarters, there are also experts who are skeptical of the approach. At the heart of much of the debate is the aforementioned emphasis on phonetics. Some reading experts believe that phonics should first be taught in isolation from other skills as part of a progression; others see phonics as just one of many dimensions of learning to read, which gains power when integrated with meaningfully engaged reading and writing with vocabulary and language development, with instruction designed to increase comprehension and fluency, and so on. In other words, the effectiveness of any approach applied to all students can be called into question when it appears to lack a certain degree of flexibility.
Muting the noise
There is no single solution that applies to everyone. Ultimately, schools and districts need to determine the right course for students, and this can only be accomplished by focusing on measurable, data-driven outcomes that guide progress. Those who disagree with the Science of Reading will generally recognize that it is important to know the five components that drive early literacy and provide young people with basic reading skills. Instead of allowing a national exam to drive urgency in literacy, let the genuine desire to ensure that each new group of students has the gift of reading well in hand be the motivator for exploring any possible method to help them.
The Science of Reading presents an attractive opportunity for many schools and students, but it may not be for everyone. Equally important, there is no silver bullet for improving literacy gains. Every approach we try must also come with effort and consistency; otherwise, the results will be variable at best and detrimental at worst. At the beginning of this new school year, setting aside differences and controversies is essential to ensure that all students, regardless of what they come to school being capable of accomplishing, leave the classroom with a solid foundation in reading.
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