Literacy Instruction

2019 —Houston Cofield for Education Week—Houston Education for Cofield

Ashley Palmer, a kindergarten teacher in Matthews, Mo., works with students on letter names using flashcards. Literacy instruction

Editor’s Note Cons nte t Commentary The state of literacy and early reading 15 There Are Four How Do Kids Learn to Data: How Reading Is instruction is changing. In this Spotlight, 2 10 Foundational Reading Read? What the Really Being Taught explore the science behind how children learn Skills. Why Do We Science Says to read, consider why it’s challenging to alter 12 More Than Phonics: Only Talk About Phonics? established reading practices, and learn how Improving Reading Isn’t How to Boost 6 16 How to Make Reading to make reading instruction more efficient. Just a Teaching Shift. It’s Comprehension For Early Instruction Much, a Culture Shift Readers Much More Efficient 17 ‘Writing Directly Benefits Students’ Reading Skills’ Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 2

Published on October 2, 2019, in Education Week ken words whose meanings they know. This differs from Chinese, for example. It uses a tonal spoken language, conveying meaning with small differences in stress How Do Kids Learn to Read? or pitch. Its writing system is partially logographic—in which written symbols correspond directly to a word or concept— What the Science Says and also includes words that couple symbols for meaning and symbols for sound. By Sarah Schwartz and Sarah D. Sparks Someone reading Chinese hanzi characters could not “sound out” unfamiliar ow do children learn to read? patterns, and what we don’t know for words character by character. For almost a century, sure yet. It touches on what else should researchers have argued be part of early reading programs. And over the question. Most of it explains why we know that most chil- What is systematic, explicit phonics the disagreement has cen- dren can’t learn to read through osmosis instruction, and why is it important? Htered on the very beginning stages of the or guessing. Connecting printed letters on a page to reading process, when young children are Here’s what the evidence shows. written sounds isn’t intuitive. While some first starting to figure out how to decipher young children may make those connec- words on a page. tions themselves, most do not. One set of Don’t children learn to read the way they One theory is that reading is a natural studies from 1989-90 illustrates this phe- learn to speak? process, like learning to speak. If teachers nomenon well. and parents surround children with good Infants learn to speak by listening to In these studies, conducted by Brian books, this theory goes, kids will pick up and repeating sounds made by adults and Byrne and Ruth Fielding-Barnsley, re- reading on their own. Another idea sug- connecting them to meanings. They don’t searchers taught young children between gests that reading is a series of strategic consciously distinguish individual sound ages 3 and 5 to read whole words aloud, guesses based on context, and that kids units (called phonemes) when hearing like “fat” and “bat.” These children didn’t should be taught these guessing strategies. spoken language. Some research sug- already know their letter names. But research has shown that read- gests infants learn probabilistically— Then, the researchers tested whether ing is not a natural process, and it’s not for example, hearing the sound “ball” the children could transfer their knowl- a guessing game. Written language is a at the same time as the sight of edge to reading a new word. They code. Certain combinations of letters pre- a round, bouncy object over gave them the word “fun,” dictably represent certain sounds. And time makes the child as- and asked whether the for the last few decades, the research has sociate the two—while word was “fun” or “bun.” been clear: Teaching young kids how to other studies suggest Very few of the students crack the code—teaching systematic pho- children map meaning could do this success- nics—is the most reliable way to make to a word after experi- fully. They couldn’t sure that they learn how to read words. encing it just once or break down the origi- Of course, there is more to reading than twice. Within the first nal word into pho- seeing a word on a page and pronouncing two years, typically nemes and then trans- it out loud. As such, there is more to teach- developing toddlers’ fer their knowledge of ing reading than just teaching phonics. brains focus on the most those phonemes to a Reading requires children to make mean- common sounds in their new word. ing out of print. They need to know the native languages and con- But children could suc- different sounds in spoken language and nect those sounds to meaning. ceed on this task if they were be able to connect those sounds to written A child develops understanding of —Getty first given some explicit instruc- letters in order to decipher words. They speech through exposure to language and tions. When children were taught how need deep background and vocabulary opportunities to practice the “serve and to recognize that certain letters repre- knowledge so that they understand the return” patterns of conversation, even sented certain sounds, and taught how words they read. Eventually, they need to without explicit instruction. to segment words to identify those indi- be able to recognize most words automati- By contrast, children do not naturally vidual letters and sounds, they had much cally and read connected text fluently, develop reading skill through exposure to greater success on the original transfer attending to grammar, punctuation, and text. The way they learn to connect oral test. Neuroscience research has since sentence structure. and written language depends on what confirmed and helped explain these find- But knowing how to decode is an essen- kind of language they are learning to ings. When learning how to read new tial step in becoming a reader. If children read. words in an unfamiliar made-up lan- can’t decipher the precise words on the Alphabetic languages, like English or guage, participants had more long-term page, they’ll never become fluent readers or French, use letters to stand for sounds success if they were first taught which understand the passages they’re reading. that make up spoken words. To read symbols correspond to which sounds, That’s why we’ve put together this an alphabetic language, children must than if they tried to remember words as overview of the research on early read- learn how written letters represent spo- wholes. Brain imaging of these readers ing, in grades K-2. It covers what’s known ken sounds, recognize patterns of letter finds that the two teaching strategies about how we should teach letter-sound sounds as words, and match those to spo- tap into different neural pathways in the Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 3

brain. Readers taught to connect print to explicitly tell students what sounds corre- ventions included in the study was about meaning directly could recall words ini- spond to what letter patterns, rather than 40 hours, and the follow-up assessments tially more quickly, but less accurately; asking students to figure it out on their were conducted about a year after the in- readers taught to connect print to sound own or make guesses. terventions were complete, on average. and then to meaning read aloud more In one series of experiments, Stanford quickly and correctly, better recalled the University neuroscientist Bruce McCan- Some of my students didn’t need phonics correct meanings of words, and trans- dliss and his colleagues made up a new instruction to learn to read. Why are you ferred their knowledge to new words. written language and taught three-letter saying that all kids benefit? Decades of research has shown that words to students either by asking them to explicit phonics instruction benefits early focus on letter sounds or on whole words. Depending on the estimate, anywhere readers, but particularly those who strug- Later, the students took a reading test of from 1 percent to 7 percent of children fig- gle to read. both the words they were taught and new ure out how to decode words on their own, That’s because small strengths or words in the made-up language, while an without explicit instruction. They may deficits at the start of reading compound electroencephalograph monitored their spot the patterns in books read to them over time. It’s what reading expert Keith brain activity. Those who had focused on or print they see in their environment, Stanovich in 1986 dubbed the “Matthew letter sounds had more neural activity on and then they apply these patterns. These Effect in Reading,” after the Bible verse the left side of the brain, which includes include children with a neurotypical form in which the rich get richer and the poor visual and language regions and is asso- of “hyperlexia”—a condition in which get poorer: “The combination of deficient ciated with more skilled reading. Those children may begin decoding as early as decoding skills, lack of practice, and dif- who had been taught to focus on whole 3—but this is more frequently associated ficult materials results in unrewarding words had more activity on the right side with children who have autism-spectrum early reading experiences that lead to less of the brain, which has been characteris- disorders and often have separate prob- involvement in reading-related tically associated with adults and lems with reading comprehension. activities,” Stanovich wrote. children who struggle with It may seem like these children are “Lack of exposure and reading. Moreover, those reading words as whole units, or using practice on the part of who had learned letter guessing strategies to figure out what the less-skilled reader sounds were better able comes next in the story. But they are at- delays the develop- to identify unfamiliar tending to all of the words’ individual let- ment of automaticity words. ters—they’re just doing it very quickly. and speed at the word Early readers ben- A systematic phonics program can still recognition level. Slow, efit from systematic benefit these students, who may have gaps capacity-draining phonics instruction. in their knowledge of spelling patterns or word-recognition pro- Among students in words that they haven’t encountered yet. cesses require cognitive grades K-1, phonics in- Of course, phonics instruction—like all resources that should be struction led to improve- teaching—can and should be differentiat- allocated to comprehen- ments in decoding ability ed to meet the needs of individual students sion. Thus, reading for mean- and reading comprehension where they are. If a student can demon- ing is hindered; unrewarding —Getty across the board, according to the strate mastery of a sound, there’s no need reading experiences multiply; and prac- National Reading Panel. Children at risk to continue practicing that sound—he or tice is avoided or merely tolerated without of developing future reading problems, she should move on to the next one. real cognitive involvement.” children with disabilities, and children There’s another answer to this ques- from all socio-economic backgrounds all tion: Students may look like they’re de- benefited. Later research reviews have coding when they’re actually not. For My reading curriculum includes letter- confirmed that systematic phonics in- example, a child may see an illustration sound instruction. Am I providing enough struction is effective for students with dis- of an apple falling from a tree, and cor- phonics? abilities, and shown that it also works for rectly guess that the sentence below the Not all phonics instruction is created English-language learners. picture describes an apple falling from equal. Most studies of phonics instruction a tree. This isn’t reading, and it doesn’t The most effective phonics programs test its immediate effectiveness—after give the teacher useful information about are those that are systematic. The Na- the intervention, are children better read- how a student will tackle a book without tional Reading Panel found this in 2000, ers? Among students in older grades, the pictures. and since then, further research reviews results are less clear. A recent meta-anal- have confirmed that this type of instruc- ysis of the long-term effects of reading in- Can cueing strategies help students to tion leads to the greatest gains in reading terventions looked at phonics and phone- read? accuracy for young students. mic awareness training, mostly in studies A systematic phonics program teaches with children in grades K-1. Both phonics Many early reading classrooms teach an ordered progression of letter-sound and phonemic awareness interventions students strategies to identify a word by correspondences. Teachers don’t only ad- improved reading comprehension at an guessing with the help of context cues. Ken dress the letter-sound connections that immediate post-test. But while the ben- and Yetta Goodman of the University of students stumble over. Instead, they ad- efits of phonemic awareness interventions Arizona developed a “three-cueing sys- dress all of the combinations methodically, persisted in a follow-up test, the benefits tem,” based on analysis of common errors in a sequence, moving on to the next once of phonics interventions faded much more (or “miscues”) when students read aloud. students demonstrate mastery. Teachers over time. The average length of all inter- Ken Goodman famously called reading ADVERTISEMENT

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development a “psycholinguistic guessing language. It’s easier for students to learn sound and blend them together to sound game,” and cueing systems teach students these letter-sound correspondences if they out “bat.” In analytic phonics, students to guess at a new word based on: already have early phonological skills would learn the word “bat” alongside like rhyming and alliteration, along with words like “cat,” “mat,” and “hat,” and • Meaning/Semantics, or background knowledge of the names of the letters of would be taught that all these words end knowledge and context, such as vocabu- the alphabet. in the “at” sound pattern. lary a student has already learned; And while vocabulary is important • Structure/Syntax, or how the word fits for reading comprehension, research has So there’s synthetic phonics and analytic in common grammar rules, such as also found that it’s a component in decod- phonics—is one way better than the whether the word’s position in a sen- ing ability. One study found that when other? tence suggests it is a noun, verb, or ad- children know a word’s meaning, they jective; and can more quickly learn how to recognize A few studies have found synthetic • Visual/Graphophonics, or what a word it automatically, because the visual let- phonics to be more effective than analytic looks like, such as how upper- and low- ters, corresponding sounds, and mean- phonics. Most notably, a seven-year longi- ercase letters are used (suggesting a ing all map together when a reader rec- tudinal study from Scotland found that proper noun, for example) or common ognizes a word. synthetic phonics taught in 1st grade gave spelling patterns. There are other early skills that re- students an advantage in reading and late to later reading and writing ability spelling over analytic phonics. Still, when Cueing systems are a common strat- as well, regardless of IQ or socio-econom- examined as a whole, the larger body of egy in whole-language programs, and ic status. Among these are writing letters, reading research doesn’t surface a con- also are used in many “balanced literacy” remembering spoken information for a clusive winner. Two landmark research programs that incorporate phonics in- short time, rapidly naming sequences of reviews haven’t found a significant differ- struction. Cueing systems were designed random letters, numbers, or pictures, and ence in the effectiveness of the two meth- by analyzing errors rather than practices other phonological skills—like the ability ods. Other more recent research is still of proficient readers, and have not shown to segment words into phonemes. inconclusive. benefits in controlled experiments. To decode words, students need to be Moreover, cognitive and neurosci- taught to blend together the phonemes Do these strategies apply to words that ence studies have found that guessing that graphemes represent on the page. don’t follow traditional sound-spelling is a much less efficient way to identify a For example, a young reader must learn patterns? What about words like “one” new word, and a mark of beginning or to recognize that /r/, /o/, /d/ are three and “friend”—can those words still be struggling readers, not proficient readers. sounds that together form the word taught with phonics? Skilled readers instead sound out new “rod,” but also that the word “rock” also words to decode them. contains three sounds, /r/, /o/, /k/ This Yes, but not alone; spelling and se- Balanced literacy programs often in- is a process that builds on itself rapidly. mantic rules go hand-in-hand with teach- clude both phonics and cueing, but stud- Though there are some 15,000 syllables ing letter sounds. Words like “lime” and ies suggest cueing instruction can make it in English, after a child has learned the “dime,” have similar spelling and pro- more difficult for children to develop pho- 44 most common sound and letter nunciation. But some words with nics skills because it takes their attention combinations, they will begin similar spelling have differ- away from the letter sounds. to sound out words as they ent pronunciations, like read. These include both “pint” and “mint.” And the basic letter and others have different I know phonics instruction is supposed to vowel sounds, but also spellings and similar be explicit and systematic. But beyond common combinations pronunciations, like that, how should I teach it? Does the such as “th,” “sh,” and “jazz” and “has.” Brain research say anything about what “-ing.” There are two imaging studies find content I need to cover, and how should main ways to demon- that when readers see it be sequenced? strate to children that word pairs that are in- There is a general path that most chil- words are made up of consistent, they show dren follow as they become skilled decod- sound-letter correspon- greater activity in the ar- ers. Research can tell us how children dences. In one method, eas of the brain associated usually progress along this path, and students learn the sounds of with processing both visual which skills specifically predict better the letters first and then blend —Getty spelling and spoken words. This reading performance. these phonemes together to sound out shows that young readers use systems of Before starting kindergarten, children words. That’s synthetic phonics—they’re understanding of both printed shapes and generally develop some early phonologi- synthesizing phonemes into greater sounds when they see any written word. cal awareness—an understanding of the whole words. The other method, analyt- When those two systems conflict, the sounds that make up spoken language. ic phonics, takes an inverted approach: reader may call on additional rules, such They can rhyme, break down multi-sylla- Students identify—or analyze—the pho- as understanding that words at the end ble words, and recognize alliteration. nemes within words, and then use that of lines of a rhyming poem (such as “has” A next step in the process is under- knowledge to read other words. and “jazz”) likely rhyme even if their spell- standing that graphemes—combina- Take the word “bat.” In synthetic pho- ing would not suggest it. tions of one or more letters—represent nics, students would first learn the /b/ Some research has found that teaching phonemes, the smallest units of spoken sound, then the /a/ sound, then the /t/ common irregular words, like “one” and Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 5

“friend,” as sight words can be effective. researchers looked at, individual sessions eral and topic-specific background knowl- Still, in these studies, children were also lasted 25 minutes on average. edge are also essential for reading com- taught phonics along with sight words— But the authors of the NRP are quick prehension. and that’s important. Understanding to point out that these patterns are de- This is one of the premises of the Sim- phonics gives students the foundation to scriptive, not prescriptive. The studies ple View of Reading, a framework to un- read these irregular words. Take “friend.” they looked at weren’t specifically testing derstand reading first proposed by re- While the “ie” doesn’t produce the same the effectiveness of different time lengths, searchers Philip B. Gough and William E. sound it normally does, the other and it may be that time wasn’t Tunmer in 1986. In the simple view, read- letters in the word do. Re- the relevant factor in these ing comprehension is the product of de- search has suggested that shorter programs perform- coding ability and language comprehen- children use the “fr” and ing better. sion. If a student can’t decode, it doesn’t the “nd” as a framework Eventually, a skilled matter how much background knowledge when they remember reader doesn’t need and vocabulary he understands—he won’t how to read the irregu- to sound out every be able to understand what’s on the page. lar word “friend.” word that she reads. But the opposite is also true: If a stu- She sees the word dent can decode but doesn’t have a deep and recognizes it im- enough understanding of oral language, When should children mediately. Through he won’t be able to understand the words start to learn how to reading the word again he can say out loud. Since Gough and sound out words? Is and again over time, her Tunmer first proposed this framework, there a “too early”? brain has linked this par- many studies have confirmed its basic Even very young children ticular sequence to this word, structure—that comprehension and de- can benefit from instruction de- —Getty through a process called ortho- coding are separate processes. One meta- signed to develop phonological awareness. graphic mapping. analysis of reading intervention studies The National Early Literacy Panel Report But neuroscience research has shown finds that phonics-focused interventions (2009), a meta-analysis of early literacy that even if it feels like she’s recognizing were most effective through grade 1; in studies, found that teaching preschoolers the word as a whole, she’s still attending older grades—when most students will and kindergartners how to distinguish to the sequence of individual letters in have mastered phonics—interventions the sounds in words, whether orally or in the word for an incredibly short period of that targeted comprehension or a mix of relationship to print, improved their read- time. That’s how skilled readers can tell reading skills showed bigger effects on ing and writing ability. The children in the difference between the words “accent” students’ reading skills. these studies were generally between the and “ascent.” For young students, early oral-lan- ages of 3 and 5. guage interventions can help set them Studies suggest progress in phonics is up for success even before they start for- What else—aside from phonics—is less closely linked to a child’s age than to mal school. part of a research-based early reading the size and complexity of his spoken vo- The National Early Literacy Panel program? cabulary, and to his opportunities to prac- found that both reading books to young tice and apply new phonics rules. There Phonics is essential to a research- children and engaging in activities aimed is some evidence that “decodable” books, based reading program. If students can’t at improving their language development designed to help students practice specific decode words, they can’t derive any mean- improved their oral language skills. letter-sound combinations, can benefit the ing from them. But understanding the al- earliest readers. But it is mixed, and stu- phabetic code doesn’t automatically make If children don’t learn to read naturally dents very quickly progress enough to get students good readers. There are five es- from being exposed to reading, why are more benefit from texts that provide more sential components of reading: phonemic parents and teachers encouraged to read complex and irregular words—and often awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, to infants and preschoolers? texts that students find more interesting. and comprehension. The National Reading Panel ad- The amount of time adults read with dressed all five of these components. The preschoolers and young children does How much time should teachers spend researchers found that having students predict their reading skills in elemen- on teaching about letters and sounds in read out loud with guidance and feedback tary school. One of the most important class? improved reading fluency. Vocabulary in- predictors of how well a child will learn There isn’t yet a definitive “best” struction, both explicit and implicit, led to read is the size and quality of his spo- amount of time to spend on phonics in- to better reading comprehension—and ken language and vocabulary, and chil- struction. In several meta-analyses, re- it was most effective when students had dren are more likely to be exposed to searchers haven’t found a direct link be- multiple opportunities to see and use new new words and their meanings or pick tween program length and effectiveness. words in context. They also found that up grammar rules from reading aloud The National Reading Panel report teaching comprehension strategies can with adults. found that programs focusing on phone- also lead to gains in reading achievement, In a series of studies in the late 1990s mic awareness, the ability to hear, iden- though most of these studies were done of 5-year-olds who had not yet learned to tify, and manipulate the smallest units with students older than 2nd grade. read, Victoria Purcell-Gates found that of speech sounds, that lasted less than For younger students, oral language after controlling for the income and edu- 20 hours total had the greatest effect on skills; understanding syntax, grammar, cation level of the children’s parents, chil- reading skills. Across the studies that the vocabulary, and idioms; and having gen- dren who had been read to regularly in the Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 6

last two years used more “literary” lan- There is a lot of correlational research tally based books, particularly to support guage, longer phrases, and more sophis- that shows that children who read more students who do not have easy access to ticated sentence structures. Moreover, an are better readers. But many of these paper books at home. Yet some emerging adult reading with a child is more likely studies don’t quantify how much reading evidence suggests children learn to read to explain or expand on the meanings of students are actually doing. While they differently in print versus digitally, in words and concepts that the child does not may specify a time frame—15 minutes of ways that could hinder their later compre- already know, adding to their background sustained silent reading, for example— hension. knowledge. the studies don’t report whether kids Researchers that study eye movements Reading with trusted adults also spend this time reading. That makes it find that those reading digital text are helps children develop a love of reading. difficult to know how effective choice read- more likely to skim or read nonlinearly, “The association between hearing writing actually is. looking for key words to give the gist, ten language and feeling loved provides More importantly, these studies don’t jump to the end to find conclusions or the best foundation for this long process provide experimental evidence—it’s takeaways, and only sometimes go back [of emergent literacy], and no cognitive not clear whether reading more is what to find context in the rest of the text. In scientist or educational researcher could makes students better readers, or if bet- a separate series of studies since 2015, re- have designed a better one,” notes cogni- ter readers are likely to read more. The searchers led by Anne Mangen found that tive neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf. National Reading Panel found that there students who read short stories and espe- wasn’t evidence that choice reading im- cially longer texts in a print format were proved students’ fluency. better able to remember the plot and se- What about independent choice reading? quence of events than those who read the In a choice reading period—also known same text on a screen. Does it make a difference whether as sustained silent reading or Drop Every- It’s not yet clear how universal children learn to read using printed thing and Read—students get to pick a these changes are, but teachers may books or digital ones? book to read independently in class for a set want to keep watch on how well their amount of time. The premise behind this In the last decade or so, access to Inter- students reading electronically are de- activity is that children need time to prac- net-based text has continued to expand, veloping deeper reading and compre- tice reading skills on their own to improve. and schools have increasingly used digi- hension skills.

Published on December 3, 2019, in Education Week’s Special Report: such practices are learned, reinforced, Getting Reading Right and transmitted. Yet sociology plays a major role in why they linger on in classrooms—despite evidence that they can hinder young readers’ ability to crack the Improving Reading Isn’t Just a code. This is a story about how Fernandez realized there was a better way to teach Teaching Shift. It’s a Culture Shift early reading. It’s also a cautionary tale illuminating the cultural obstacles that Flawed methods are often passed on through mentors, hold back many of her K-2 reading peers, and the field at large, from similar shifts. popular programs, and professional groups For one thing, new data from the Edu- cation Week Research Center, released as By Stephen Sawchuk part of this special report, suggest that in the pursuit of “balanced literacy,” many lready troubled by her 4th picture books with easily memorized, re- teachers are blending multiple approach- grade students’ low reading petitive sentence structures. es in a way that can weaken instruction. levels, San Antonio-area “You would just do different strategies, What that means is that shifting early lit- teacher Melody Fernandez different little activities to get this rote eracy practice on a large scale won’t hap- entered “survival mode” memorization of sight words,” she said. pen merely by switching out a textbook Awhen she was moved down to 1st grade— “I did everything I was supposed to do. or two. It will require helping teachers and discovered the full scope of what she Kids were supposed to need kinesthetic make a culture shift—without blaming or and many of her elementary colleagues movement, and so we did ‘reach up high shaming them. were not prepared to teach. for the tall letters and hang down low for Teachers are using flawed reading She had learned a lot in her prepara- the low letters.’ We had our weekly spell- practices not because they’re ignorant, tion about reading theories, but no specific ing test and our sound of the week, and ill-prepared, or incompetent. They are protocols for teaching the subject. So she that was supposed to translate to read- doing it because, like Melody Fernandez, did what many teachers new to a grade ing,” she said. they are being told to use them—usually do. She used the methods more seasoned In all that’s been written about early by deeply trusted sources, like cherished colleagues told her to use, and the cur- literacy, little attention has been given mentors, colleagues, or the popular curriculum on hand, which relied on leveled to the cultural factors that influence how riculum sitting in their classrooms. Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 7

The Education Week survey paints the first nationally representative picture of how K-2 teachers instruct students to decode, or identify new words on the page— a critical piece in the complex process of learning to read. Balanced literacy is a term with a number of interpretations, but teachers appear to use a mix of techniques to put it into practice—some research-based and others not. Nearly 60 percent of teachers said that when students encountered a word they don’t know, they taught them to first “sound it out,” a core component of phonics, which helps students master how to decode and encode letter sounds. But that’s undercut by the more than half who said they agreed that students didn’t need a good grasp of phonics to read unfamiliar words. And 3 in 4 U.S. teachers said they —Getty taught students to use the “three-cueing system” when reading. also was told about the reading wars, skills,” Fernandez recalled. “And that was Cueing, sometimes called “MSV”— that a balanced approach was the best a problem to me. I had won Teacher of the shorthand for meaning, syntactical, and way to teach, and that students should Year one year. And I felt like a failure.” visual—developed from whole language, spend a lot of time reading “authentic an approach that prioritizes meaning texts,” while learning their sounds sepa- over learning the alphabetic code. The ba- rately. So alongside phonics, she learned Sending Mixed Signals sic idea is that students use cues like pic- about sight words and the principles of This mix of techniques isn’t a bug in tures, sentence structure, and sometimes “guided reading.” the system: It is often communicated letters to decipher a new word. Students Once in the classroom, with no scope to teachers as a best practice. When the are assigned books with predictable sen- and sequence for teaching phonics, Fer- cueing systems are taught in education tence structures that reinforce the use nandez prompted her students to use the courses next to phonics, the message that of the cues, and they’re frequently put in cueing methods when they came across sends is that no one method is superior to teaching groups based on which cues they words they didn’t know. She had posters another. Logically, teachers assume that supposedly need help on. on the walls depicting animals, each tout- it’s perfectly acceptable to pick and choose, Empirical research studies overwhelm- ing a different reading strategy: “Eagle or blend them together. ingly support a systematic code-based Eye,” who encouraged students to look for Teacher preparation is hardly the only approach over the meaning-first ones. pictures if they didn’t know a word, and transmitter of mixed signals. For years But many teachers protest that the two “Skippy Frog,” who told them to “skip the teacher licensing exams have included should be complementary—what’s wrong tricky word” they didn’t know and come questions related to cueing, often along- with uniting them? It’s a common refrain back to it later. She made popsicle-stick side important literacy topics like pho- among reading teachers, after all, that reminders that students could refer to nemes and morphemes. Though the Edu- students can benefit from “all the tools when reading independently. cational Testing Service has phased out in the toolbox.” Or, that students can use But she began noticing small things most references to cueing in its tests, its cueing systems to “cross check” whether that didn’t add up. For one thing, stu- reading-specialist exam, required in they’ve successfully decoded a word. dents’ brains “seemed to turn off” in her about 20 states, still includes the topic. In essence the problem is that phonics small-group lessons. They weren’t pay- (ETS officials said that test will be re- and cueing work at cross purposes to one ing attention to the printed words on the placed in September 2020, and will no another. As researchers like Marilyn Ad- page; they were scanning the page look- longer include cueing.) ams and Keith Stanovich have found, good ing for pictures and making guesses. A set of reading standards used by the readers attend to all the letters in words For another, they couldn’t recognize National Board for Professional Teach- when they read, rather than predicting words out of context: “They would memo- ing Standards, which runs the presti- upcoming words from context. Cueing, on rize a story in a book, but when they saw gious national board-certification pro- the other hand, encourages students to those same words in another book they cess, state that “accomplished teachers take their attention off of printed text. wouldn’t be able to transfer their knowl- know that strategic readers use a variety edge,” she said. of cueing systems, and they understand By the end of her second school year how to instruct students to use these sys- ‘I Felt Like a Failure’ teaching 1st grade, Fernandez wasn’t sat- tems flexibly.” Fernandez actually had heard about isfied with her students’ reading growth. Both the ETS and NBPTS exams are phonics, phonemes, and digraphs in her “They’d improved, but the students with taken by teachers of an array of grade teacher preparation program. But she the lowest skills still had the lowest levels, including those working with K-2 Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 8

students, where cueing is likely to cause ported theory to take over your district’s phabetic skills are. The rules for phonics the most harm. literacy initiative, even though I’m sure aren’t simple or intuitive, and guiding As explored elsewhere in this special that wasn’t the intent.” students through 44 sound patterns is a report, some of the most popular early- For Fernandez, things came to a head lot more difficult than reading alongside a reading curricula encourage teachers to after one particularly brutal lesson. Stu- student and prompting him to use context use the cueing ideas with their students. dents were working on the word family of to guess at new words. Even in those that have recently rushed the week, specializing in a particular vow- Marnie Ginsberg, a former federally phonics supplements to market, an im- el sound, like the long o. They were excit- funded literacy researcher, is now a liter- plicit message continues to tell teachers ed, peppering Fernandez with examples. acy consultant and one of the sources Fer- that phonics should be separated from the But then she ran into a problem: Students nandez credits with her breakthrough. “real” work of reading. were naming words with the correct pho- She says the teachers she works with gen- Marketing materials for the Units of neme but lots of different spellings. And erally fall into several categories. Some Phonics K-2 curriculum, written by Lucy Fernandez realized she couldn’t explain have access to great phonics resources, Calkins and her colleagues at Teachers to them why the /o/ sound could also be but simply feel overwhelmed trying to College, Columbia University, and pub- spelled -oa or -ow or -oe. put them into practice. Others, like Fer- lished by Heinemann, say: “Lucy and her “They came up with these great ideas, nandez, don’t arrive with a particularly coauthors aim to protect time for authen- and it would absolutely be the right sound, strong philosophical bent: They’re using tic reading and writing, while also help- but it wouldn’t fit into that word family. weak materials and approaches because ing you teach a rigorous, research-based And I’d tell them that, and their faces that’s what they know. phonics curriculum.” would fall,” she said. More challenging, she says, are those Professional associations also send She commiserated with a colleague, teachers who have seen old-fashioned pho- a variety of mixed signals. Conferences newly arrived from a different district nics worksheets and thus have the idea of hosted by the International Literacy As- that had been using a systematic code- phonics as “drill and kill” teaching. But sociation and the National Council of based approach, who ultimately told her: the hardest of all is working with teach- Teachers of English continue to include “You’re really not teaching it the best ers who have been trained in specific bal- sessions critical of code-based instruction. way. Letter names aren’t as important as anced literacy curricula. The American Association of School Ad- teaching all the letter sounds,” Fernan- Indeed, many teachers are deeply ministrators’ November 2019 issue con- dez recalled. skeptical of recent reporting, including tained an article written by Calkins on She thought that was crazy at first, Education Week’s, that questions staples her balanced literacy curriculum, whose but she determined over the summer of the balanced literacy classroom. And materials use some of the cueing prompts. that she’d get to the bottom of matters it’s no wonder: Whole teaching careers, It ran right next to an essay by another before starting at a new school district. not to mention professional reputations, superintendent, who noted—correctly— She Googled “teaching letter sounds.” have been built on these methods. Ideas that the curriculum’s approach lacks em- She spent hours on blogs. She eventu- like cueing are so ingrained that many pirical research. ally came across articles on the science of teachers don’t even realize their origins; In light of that, it’s no wonder misun- reading, participated in webinars, even they may only know them as the “animal derstandings persist, some frustrated dis- paid for some private training on pho- strategies.” trict officials said, in response to the odd nemic manipulation and phonics out of In those cases, working with teachers juxtaposition. her own pocket. And eventually, all the is a little bit like trying to separate two “We’re talking about things that are pieces clicked. colors of clay that have been kneaded to- settled, versus things that aren’t settled “I was just kind of shocked, I guess, gether: getting rid of practices like cueing or proven outside of anecdotal little sto- like, ‘Huh! This is so weird. This makes while keeping the commendable focus on ries,” said Jared Myracle, the chief aca- sense to me, and it makes sense to teach. reading and writing. demic officer for the Jackson-Madison Why isn’t everyone doing it this way?’ ” That usually means showing how district in Tennessee, about the articles. she said. “It’s baffling to me, still.” teachers can start to shift in small, di- “Most superintendents are not experts in gestible ways. For example, Wiley Blevins, the science of reading. … The next time who trains teachers nationwide, helps the discussion comes up in the district Unmixing the Clay teachers who lack “decodable” or con- and you’re making decisions about mate- It’s not as baffling, though, when you trolled texts that help students practice rials, you’ve opened a door for an unsup- consider just how complex foundational al- newly learned phonics skills create some of their own, and he insists that teachers spend at least half of their lessons having students apply phonics knowledge to actual reading and writing to dispel the idea that building background knowledge isn’t compatible with foundational skills. “We work on how teachers can write [decodable] text sentences—like maybe five sentences, with one new word intro- ducing a new phonics skill. You can write sentences on the topics you’re talking about so you’re reinforcing it in a phonics way,” he said. “I don’t make them write Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 9

stories—that’s too hard. But five sentences and one new word? That they can do.” As teachers gradually learn effective What Teachers Mean When They Say ‘Balanced Literacy’ decoding practices, they also start to realize that they’ve become experts in early Guided reading or leveled reading literacy research, he said. Nearly 70 percent of K-2 and special The challenge facing the nation now is education reading teachers in a nationally These are most associated with two how to do that work at scale. And surpris- representative survey conducted by the specific curriculum providers, both of ingly, much of the recent interest in early Education Week Research Center said them popular among educators. The literacy has been driven by grassroots par- that they are using balanced literacy. But Education Week survey found that 4 ent groups, rather than by district brass. what did they mean by it? In responses, in 10 teachers use Fountas & Pinnell’s Increasingly, it’s also being led by prac- teachers outlined how they defined Leveled Literacy Intervention and 16 ticing classroom teachers, who are orga- the term, with most falling into one percent use Units of Study for Teaching nizing themselves into networks to spread of the following three categories. Reading, developed by Teachers College research-based approaches to early lit- Professor Lucy Calkins. In a guided eracy and other subjects. ResearchED, a A combination of phonics and reading program, students work with teacher-led network inspired by a similar whole language instruction a teacher in groups separated by their effort in the United Kingdom, has been reading level, usually determined via leading conferences and trainings, as Balanced literacy is often defined as periodically administered “running has The Reading League, which began in “taking the best parts” from these two records” looking at student reading 2015 as a dedicated group of teachers and approaches. Among the most common errors based on cues. The students read administrators in Syracuse, N.Y. blended approaches is the notion and analyze texts at their instructional “We don’t push strategies, activities, of using “cueing systems” to solve level, rather than books deemed too or programs—we push knowledge,” said unfamiliar words: Students are asked challenging or easy. Phonics skills are Maria Murray, the CEO and president to use meaning cues like pictures and generally introduced within context. of The Reading League. She’s heartened context, syntactic cues like sentence to see the rise of like-minded groups and structure, and “graphophonic” or visual A program that bases instruction on senses that a sea change is coming even if cues like initial letter sounds to identify all five major components of literacy it’s early days yet. a new word. In practice, phonics is often “I think because it takes a while for subordinated to the other two cues. The “big five” refer to the 2000 National phrases and realities to make their way Reading Panel report. The federally into schools. Twenty years ago you didn’t financed panel concluded from dare do PD and say ‘science of reading,’ a review of empirical research but now it’s been around so long that that phonemic awareness, there’s more than one person in a school phonics, fluency, vocabulary, who knows what it is,” she said. and comprehension were critical elements of early literacy teaching. Bottom Up or Top Down? There are some emerging signs that But the panel did not states are pressing for more systemic prescribe a particular way that changes, too. Mississippi has invested these components should be significantly in teacher preparation, put together in a curriculum. while in an aggressive recent move, Ar- kansas recently declared that it won’t give any early literacy curriculum program whose theoretical base includes cueing a state stamp of approval. Still, major knowledge gaps remain. And even those teachers who have successfully shifted their own practices often feel that they’re swimming up- stream against the cultural tides. Fernandez’s current district recently se- And fear of falling afoul of adminis- dents to take the new, not-great curri- lected a new curriculum with a lot of word trators remains a powerful deterrent. cula out of their desks and to use them. memorization, and it came with fewer de- Education Week spoke with at least two “I’ve had to find all these reading ma- codable books, she said. There’s a separate teachers in other districts who shared terials myself, and learn the research phonics program that doesn’t appear to be remarkably similar experiences to Fer- by myself without getting caught,” she well integrated with the core curriculum. nandez’s, but declined to share them on said. “There is always that fear that the She must still administer periodic “run- the record, citing concerns about profes- other shoe’s going to drop, and I’m go- ning records” based on the cueing philoso- sional repercussions. ing to get my hand slapped for not doing phy, because the district uses them to track Fernandez understands. She worries what the district has said is the way to progress in all its elementary schools. that someday, she’ll be asked to tell stu- teach reading.” ADVERTISEMENT

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Published on December 3, 2019, in Education Week’s Special Report: Getting Reading Right Data: How Reading Is Really Being Taught By Liana Loewus

hen I first met “Juan,” then a 2nd grader, he knew about half of his consonant sounds and none of his vowels. I wasW a new K-5 special education teacher at the time, now more than a dozen years ago, and his initial reading assessment results looked pretty similar to those of the other 21 kids I was servicing. Juan was a handful—brimming with mischief and vigor. He’d been diagnosed with a specific learning disability in reading and placed in special education early on. I figured we had a long, hard slog ahead of us. I was, in some ways, quite wrong. Juan picked up the individual letter sounds and digraphs I introduced in no time. He began decoding shorter, then longer, words and reading books with the sounds he’d learned. The reading gains were coming fast for a student who’d stag- nated for two years prior. It wasn’t my pedagogical ability making the difference—my lagging classroom management and unsteady math instruction made that quite clear. But I did have a secret weapon of sorts. Before coming to the public school, I’d spent a couple years working at a tutoring center that taught, among other things, an intensive phonics program to students with reading difficul- ties. I’d had dozens of hours of training in several different research-based reading programs, and taught close to 100 students how to read. At the time, I figured most early-reading teachers had, at some point, had similar cognitive science-based training. But as results from two new nationally representative surveys show, that’s not the case. In preparing this reporting series, the Education Week Research Cen- ter surveyed about 670 K-2 and special education teachers and 530 education professors who teach reading courses. The findings—among the first to look at teacher and teacher-educator knowledge and practices in early reading across the country—tell an illuminating story about what’s happening in classrooms, including what teachers do and don’t know about reading and where they learned it. Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 11

We also asked teachers about their phi- losophy of teaching early reading. Sixty- eight percent said “balanced literacy,” while 22 percent chose “explicit, systematic phonics (with comprehension as a separate focus).” Balanced literacy, as many will point out, has no single definition—though there’s agreement among most balanced literacy advocates that comprehension and immersion in authentic texts are key. Yes, students need some phonics, but not too much or they’ll become disengaged, the thinking goes. And yet a multitude of studies over many decades have shown that systematic, explicit phonics is the most effective method for teaching early readers. And a much-validat- ed framework, known as the Simple View of Reading, says that reading comprehension is reliant on both decoding and language skills. A student cannot understand a text that he cannot accurately decode. In all, the survey points to a willing- ness among teachers to spend time on phonics—the majority who responded said they devote 20 to 30 minutes a day to it. But that’s coupled with a commit- ment to practices, such as cueing, that research has shown can actually coun- teract good phonics instruction by encouraging students to look away from the letters on the page. So where are teachers learning what they know about the foundations of reading? According to the survey, most of this training is happening on the job. Teach- ers were most likely to say they learned what they know about reading from professional development or coaches in their district (33 percent), or from personal experiences with students (17 percent). Our reporting bears this out, too—a culture of reading instruction is often passed from classroom to classroom. Teachers learn It’s all part of a larger project we’ve Similarly, more than a quarter of what to do from trusted colleagues and taken on recently called Getting Read- teachers said they tell emerging readers cherished mentors. ing Right, which explores the challeng- that the first thing they should do when Fourteen percent of teachers surveyed es teachers face in bringing cognitive they come to a word they don’t know while said they learned to teach reading from science to the classroom. We think it’s reading is look at the pictures—even be- their school-provided curriculum. Teach- timely, given that scores on the “nation’s fore they try to sound it out. ers also listed the instructional materials report card” show that just 35 percent of And yet, as the research primer in this they’re using for reading, and an analysis 4th graders are proficient readers—and report details, those techniques aren’t of the top five shows they often push cue- that the gap between low and high per- backed by science. They’re methods em- ing strategies and fail to implement pho- formers has grown. ployed by struggling readers; proficient nics in a systematic way. Our survey showed that 75 percent of readers attend to the letters. Teachers were less likely to say they teachers working with early readers teach The survey also showed that 1 in 5 learned what they know about reading three-cueing, an approach that tells stu- teachers confuse phonemic awareness with from their preservice training. dents to take a guess when they come to letter/sound correspondence. Only about Still, a look at the survey results from a word they don’t know by using context, half knew that students can demonstrate professors offers insight into where some picture, and other clues, with only some phonemic awareness by segmenting the in- ingrained literacy practices come from. attention to the letters. dividual sounds in a word orally. Nearly 6 in 10 professors said their phi- Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 12

Published on December 3, 2019, in Education Week’s Special Report: Getting Reading Right More Than Phonics: How to Boost Comprehension For Early Readers By Sarah Schwartz

m a t t h e w s , m o.

hat do you do when you hear a word you don’t know? In Ashley Palmer’s kindergarten class, you stop. And you talk about it. WPalmer, a teacher at Matthews Ele- mentary School in Missouri’s New Madrid district, was telling a story about a family of toy lions during one morning lesson when she got to the word “lass.” “That’s one of our vocabulary words,” she told the group of children sitting cross-legged on the rug. Then she led the students in clapping out its one syllable, then segmenting the sounds: /l/, /a/, /s/. “It’s another word for ‘girl,’” Palmer said. “Sometimes when I line you up for bathroom break, instead of saying girls, or ladies, I can say, ‘If you are a—’ ” losophy of teaching early reading is than half of professors agree that “it is “Lass!” the students shouted out, as balanced literacy. And ideas about possible for students to understand writ- some sat up on their knees. “ ‘If you are a— teaching reading are coming from the ten texts with unfamiliar words even if lass—you can line up,’” Palmer finished. professors themselves—most said they they don’t have a good grasp of phonics,” The whole process is deceptively have some or complete control over the indicating a lack of familiarity with the simple—it took less than 60 seconds— syllabus for their early reading courses. Simple View of Reading. but this kind of embedded vocabulary Most professors (86 percent) said Teachers want what’s best for their instruction is a key piece of Matthews’ they model how to teach phonics in their students—it’s simply not possible to put overhauled early reading program. Just classes. But like the teachers, about 1 in in the hours and sweat needed for the five years ago, only about 14 percent of 5 professors confused phonemic aware- job if you don’t. But wanting that and the school scored proficient on the state’s ness with letter/sound correspondence. having the training, materials, direc- annual assessment. The numbers have And 1 in 10 professors could not cor- tion, and support to provide it are not grown steadily to the point where this rectly identify that the word “shape” the same. year, 80 percent of the students met the has three phonemes. I won’t go so far as to say Juan was standard. In 3rd grade, the numbers Like the teachers surveyed, the misdiagnosed with a learning disabil- reached 95 percent. education professors seemed to hold ity—he did struggle in many ways. But I In the literacy world, there’s a peren- sometimes dissonant beliefs about how do often wonder how his trajectory might nial concern that focusing on foundational reading should be taught. Eighty-one have changed if he’d finished his elemen- skills will come at the expense of giving percent of professors disagreed with the tary years having never been exposed kids opportunities to practice language statement that “most students will learn to a systematic, science-based reading and enjoy stories. But researchers and to read on their own if given the proper program—a possibility we know is very educators say that it’s not only possible to books and time to read them.” But more real for many children. teach useful vocabulary and meaningful Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 13

Ava Newton, a student in Ashley Palmer’s kindergarten class, points at the projector screen during a reading comprehension lesson.

at the Learning Research and Develop- ment Center at the University of Pitts- burgh, and an expert in vocabulary instruction. As very young children learn words, they start to form connections in the brain—links that join synonyms together, or relate words that are used in similar situations. This gives bigger, harder words a place to land when students learn them, McKeown said. “The concepts aren’t new,” she said. “They’re just more sophisticated or refined ways to describe similar things.” At Matthews Elementary, teachers meet once a week to go through their foundational skills lessons and read-aloud

—Houston Cofield for Education Week—Houston Education for Cofield books. The curriculum they use identifies vocabulary words that can be embedded content knowledge to young children—it’s to read, no matter how much vocabulary in lessons. But the teachers also look for necessary. they know, or how much they know about words in the text that their students spe- A body of research has shown that once the world. But the opposite is also true: If cifically might struggle with. students can decode, their reading com- they don’t have this background knowl- In this week’s kindergarten class, one prehension is largely dependent on their edge, children won’t be able to understand of those words was “living room.” Palm- language comprehension—or the back- the words that they can read off the page. er had introduced the word earlier that ground and vocabulary knowledge that week—a lot of her students didn’t have a they bring to a text, and their ability to space in their homes that they called by follow the structure of a story and think Engaging With Rich Content that name. In this day’s lesson, she asked about it analytically. “Decoding has a really outsized role students to recall it, asking questions: Before students can glean this kind on reading comprehension in the early What kind of room has a couch? A chair? of information from print, experts say, grades,” said Gina Cervetti, an associate Matthews is in a small, rural county, they can do it through oral language: by professor of education at the University where the majority of students receive having conversations about the mean- of Michigan, who studies the role of con- free and reduced-price lunch. Hanlin said ing of words, telling stories, and reading tent-area knowledge in literacy. “But as that a lot of books, even for young readers, books aloud. students consolidate their decoding, very assume life experience her students don’t At Matthews, an explicit, system- quickly that equation shifts.” have. So teachers build on the knowledge atic approach to phonics instruction has As students progress into 2nd, 3rd, and that students do have. For example, Han- helped drive the big jumps in student 4th grades, texts become more challeng- lin said, students might not know the achievement—but it’s only one part of the ing—there are bigger words, harder con- word “cathedral.” But they do know the equation, said Angie Hanlin, the school’s cepts, and more assumptions about what word “church.” principal. The school took on a complete students already know about the world. It’s important to do this kind of plan- restructuring of its reading program, Kids need to start engaging with rich ning ahead, said Tanya Wright, an as- which included changing the way teach- content early on, so that once they are ex- sociate professor of education at Michi- ers planned and taught vocabulary and pected to read it on the page, they under- gan State University, who studies oral reading comprehension. stand what’s going on. If they haven’t de- language, vocabulary, and knowledge “Putting a phonics patch on a read- veloped that foundation, it’s hard to catch development. ing program or on a school is not going to up quickly, said Cervetti. Before a teacher reads a text to or teach all students to read,” Hanlin said. “To learn words well, you need to with students, she needs to read it her- “It is not going to fix it, and it’s not going encounter them again and again,” said self, Wright said. “You’re going to know to drive up the data.” Margaret McKeown, a senior scientist where you need to stop, where you need to This is the premise behind the Simple View of Reading, a framework for comprehension first proposed by researchers Philip B. Gough and William E. Tunmer in 1986, and confirmed by later studies. The simple view holds that reading comprehension is the product of decoding ability and language comprehension. Kids who can’t decode words won’t be able Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 14

explain.” Ahead of time, teachers should Schools where the vast majority of stu- plan child-friendly definitions, or figure dents received free and reduced-price out how they might use props or move- lunch were trailing the district when ments to demonstrate the word. Myracle started there in 2017. But this kind of planned vocabulary Now, students spend an hour every day instruction may not be happening in most You’re always adding doing basic skills instruction—like nam- schools. In a study published in 2014, ing and writing letters, practicing phono- Wright and her colleagues observed the more words that are logical awareness, and learning phonics— way teachers discussed vocabulary in 55 associated with the [main] and an hour on what’s called “listening kindergarten classrooms. They found a and learning.” These lessons teach topics general lack of planned and purposeful word, demonstrating through conversation and read-alouds— instruction—most teachers weren’t talk- in kindergarten, they learn about plants, ing about a word more than once or select- a greater context for 1st grade is early civilizations, and 2nd ing words in any systematic way. graders cover systems of the human body. There are ways to draw out more con- words.” Kristin Peachey, an instructional versation about vocabulary words, McKe- Margaret McKeown coach at Pope Elementary School in the own said. One strategy comes from an un- senior scientist, Learning Research and district, said that talking about complex likely place: improv comedy groups. Development Center, University of Pittsburgh topics lets students engage at a higher In improv, comedians are taught to level than they would through text at say, “Yes, and … “to build off of the sce- this early age. nario that their fellow performers create. grades. These curricula are based on the A coherent unit of study also provides The same framework can help kids build theory that all students need a similar opportunities for teaching comprehen- related vocabulary. Take the word “cau- foundation in core domains—like litera- sion, said Cervetti, the University of tious,” McKeown said. ture, the arts, science, social studies, and Michigan professor. “You can’t really A student asked to use the word might history—so that they have the knowledge reason about things in very sophisticated say that he had to be cautious, because base to support comprehension. ways unless you know something about someone was riding a bike fast near him. Educational theorist E.D. Hirsch is them,” she said. The teacher can agree, and then expand widely credited as the originator of this Students should have the opportunity on that same idea: “You had to be careful idea. His 1987 book, Cultural Literacy: to discuss questions that are open-ended, because it might be dangerous if someone What Every American Needs to Know, ar- without a single answer, during read- hit you with their bike.” gued that schools need to expose students alouds, said Wright. “If we’re telling kids “You’re always adding more words that to the body of knowledge that authors and to think quietly and only be listeners and are associated with the [main] word, dem- speakers will expect them to have. This not participants in the read-aloud, then onstrating a greater context for words,” idea has seen a resurgence in popular con- that’s not optimal for their learning.” McKeown said. versation more recently through author At Pope Elementary, teachers plan In a read-aloud that afternoon, Natalie Wexler’s 2019 book, The Knowl- and talk through the questions they’ll Palmer’s kindergarten class heard an- edge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s ask during read-alouds, said Peachey. other story about a lion—this time, one Broken Education System—and How to Take a recent 2nd grade lesson about that had escaped from the zoo and be- Fix It, which criticizes U.S. schools for pri- Greek mythology, she said. After teachers friended a little girl. As the lion curled oritizing skills-based instruction over the read the story “Atalanta and the Golden up for a nap in the girl’s house, Palmer teaching of content. Apples,” students were asked to reflect on paused on the words “lions sleep a lot.” The notion that background knowl- characters’ motivations: Why would Ata- She turned to give the students on the edge informs understanding isn’t very lanta only marry someone who could beat rug a puzzled look. controversial. But proposals about exact- her in a footrace? “Is that true?” she asked. She refer- ly what knowledge schools should priori- Imparting a deep understanding of enced a nonfiction book the class had read tize definitely are. Many teachers reject subject matter, and teaching children to the day before, about lions in the wild. the idea of a shared literary canon, for think analytically—that takes time, said “They like to sleep and lie around 20 out example, arguing that it upholds a Euro- Myracle. “It’s pretty easy to see gains on of the 24 hours!” Palmer said. centric approach to American education the foundational skills side, once you As she continued to read, she made that privileges the knowledge and histo- implement a systematic [phonics] pro- more links back to the nonfiction text, ex- ries of white Westerners at the expense gram,” he said. Knowledge-building is a plaining as she went what was real and of people of color. longer process. what was make-believe, adding in extra But Jared Myracle, the chief academic Myracle believes that the payoff will details that the nonfiction book hadn’t officer in Jackson-Madison County schools be worth it. But he worries that some covered. She made these implicit connec- in Tennessee, sees providing this kind of districts will try on a content knowledge tions explicit for her students. background knowledge as an equity issue. focus like a passing fad, dismissing it Students from low-income families of- before they have the opportunity to see ten don’t come into school with the same any effects. Building Knowledge depth of academic language that students “My biggest fear is that districts that Still other schools are turning to cur- from higher-income families do, limiting are starting to do some of this work to build ricula that are purposefully structured to their ability to make meaning from what knowledge in early grades, that they won’t build knowledge—diving deeply into spe- they read, he said. In Jackson-Madison stick with it,” Myracle said. “The gains are cific content areas, even in the very early county, the data bore out this divide: going to be longer in coming.” Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 15

derstanding complex ideas and vocabulary. No one can concentrate on Newton’s laws, plot development, or electrical cir- cuits if they are struggling to decode every fifth word. A common misconception is that “foundational skills” only means “phonics.” The truth is that the four areas are an integrated gestalt, greater than the sum of their parts. Often emphasized nko/Getty A in K-2, phonics is teaching students the ire correspondence between visual symbols (graphemes made of letters) and speech sounds (phonemes). But to access phonics, ource image: S children must have certain insights, or the system will make no sense. Students often learn letters but don’t know, for example, that print runs left-to- right or that words are groups of letters olis/Education Week. S separated by space—insights called print concepts. Similarly, students learn letter

anessa S names but do not understand the alpha- V

— betic principle—that symbols represent speech sounds (“cat” equals 3 symbols, COMMENTARY 3 sounds). Kindergarteners learn the alphabetic principle and print concepts Published on January 23, 2020, in Education Week when their teachers model reading and writing. We are putting the cart before the horse if we drill letter/sounds without also teaching print concepts and the al- There Are Four Foundational phabetic principle. Some educators think phonological awareness is synonymous with phonics, Reading Skills. Why Do We but this is another misconception. In fact, when I recently observed foundational Only Talk About Phonics? skills lessons in more than 10 K-2 classrooms, I only saw one phonological awareness lesson. Phonological awareness is We must teach the integrated set of the ability to orally identify and manipulate the sound units of language such as foundational skills completely words, syllables, and speech. Research tells us that if students do not consciously By Heidi Anne E. Mesmer attend to and distinguish these units, they are unlikely to benefit from phonics. ere’s the good news: Most hending lengthy, advanced literary, and Similarly, instruction in print concepts educators have gotten the informational texts. primes students to learn phonics. Can message that K-5 students Literacy is livelihood. If you can’t read you imagine going to a job where you need to learn the founda- words, many aspects of your life will be learn all about the different types of but- tional reading skills out- impacted. Take this question on a cos- tons, threads, fabrics, and zippers but no Hlined in the common core and other col- metology licensing exam: “Which of the one tells you that you are manufacturing lege and career-ready standards: print following refers to the deepest layer of jeans? Yet that’s often how reading in- concepts, phonological awareness, pho- epidermis—stratum spinosum, stratum struction can feel for children. nics and word recognition, and fluency. granulosum, stratum germinativum, Phonics and word recognition skills in- The bad news? The foundational skills stratum lucidum?” It requires under- clude analyzing multisyllabic words into instruction that students receive is too standing complex Latin vocabulary as morphemes, the smallest meaning units often incomplete and ineffective. Districts well as decoding multisyllabic words. (e.g., pre-treat-ing). Many schools stop in- are “checking” the foundational skills box That’s why foundational reading skills struction after students can decode single but are using practices of questionable must work together—it is the integration syllable words, but multisyllabic words quality and not addressing all of the foun- of the skills that provide an entry point to outnumber single syllable words 4-to-1 in dational skills. It’s not enough to just do complex literacy. As students increase in advanced texts. To complete foundational foundational skills. They must be taught their abilities to automatically recognize skills instruction, we need systematic in- completely—yet efficiently—with quality words, they also increase in the amounts struction in morphology through the 5th materials to build capacity for compre- of mental energy they can devote to un- grade and beyond. Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 16

The last foundational skill, fluency, that heavily emphasize just one or two Thoroughly vet materials to ensure full closes the deal. It is the ability to read skills, such as phonics, but completely coverage of all foundational skills. EdRe- connected text automatically (with little miss others. These skills are complemen- ports.org provides a rigorously developed conscious effort), accurately, and with tary and need to be consistently taught, in tool that give leaders a road map. (I re- proper expression using volume, phras- response to development, through grade 5. cently sat on an advisory panel for the or- ing, smoothness, and pace to convey the 3. Instructional language should ganization’s inaugural review of Founda- meaning. Addressed in 1st through 5th be explicit. Teachers should clearly and tional Skills curriculum.) With focused grade, fluency enhances—and is affected directly tell students the grapheme/pho- planning even small or underresourced by—meaning making. Without requisite neme relationships, word roots, or syl- districts can find research-based, stan- fluency, students will have little cognitive lable patterns being taught. I recently dards-aligned materials. energy to devote to complex ideas. tested more than 150 kindergarteners Moreover, all four foundational skills It can be exhausting to hear about who knew about 90 percent of their letter/ deserve our full attention as they pro- research-based this and research-based sounds but could not decode simple words. vide an entry point to complex literacy. that—but there are well-established find- Most young children must be taught ex- Decisionmakers must fully understand ings regarding foundational skills in- plicitly how to decode words. what the foundational skills are and struction. Simply put: Foundational skills 4. Solid foundational skills in- apply the robust research that informs cannot be separated. Print concepts and struction is assessment-guided and best practices. These foundational read- phonological awareness support phonics responsive. All students do not need ing skills are truly foundational—an es- instruction, morphological instruction ex- the same thing. In a 2014 study, one re- sential ingredient but not the full recipe. tends students’ word recognition, and flu- searcher found that entering kindergar- Comprehension and writing instruction, ency automatizes word reading. Here are teners ranged from knowing zero letter which requires a wide range of instruc- truths educators should focus on: names to knowing all of them. Teachers tional targets such as vocabulary and 1. Systematic instruction is effec- must use simple diagnostic assessments world knowledge, the focus of the other tive. It is driven by a scope and sequence, that inform cumulative review and in- standards, round out the complete recipe. a guide specifying the content to be taught struction and often must use small group Millions of students are looking to their and its order. Let one scope and sequence instruction. schools to provide them with the essen- drive instruction. I often see districts us- 5. Instructional materials must tial knowledge they need to succeed in ing two to three foundational skills plans, be aligned to the standards. A recent college and career—it is imperative that an overkill approach that is bound to con- analysis from the RAND Corporation we get these skills right. fuse students. found that only 7 percent of elementary 2. Students need to learn all the school teachers used at least one high- Heidi Anne E. Mesmer is a professor in literacy foundational skills. I see approaches quality English/language arts material. in the school of education at Virginia Tech.

COMMENTARY our 3rd graders perform at grade level on their own state assessments. It is even Published on November 19, 2019, in Education Week lower for poor and minority students. This is both horrific and unnecessary. According to literacy researcher Richard Allington, studies show that “virtually How to Make Reading every student could be reading on grade level by the end of 1st grade.” In my experience, most educators acknowledge the Instruction Much, need for intensive, systematic phonics instruction. They also know that students Much More Efficient need to read and talk and write far more than they currently do, across the curric- Scaling back small-group instruction would have ulum. There is wide agreement that all of dramatic improvements in literacy

By Mike Schmoker

hird grade reading proficiency literacy instruction, on which so much matters—enormously. It is ee- depends, is often a misguided, inefficient rily predictive of academic and mess. While it consumes a generous por- career success; students who tion of the school day, it typically neglects don’t reach this benchmark the most vital elements of literacy. That’s areT four times less likely to graduate from why our success rate, despite some prog- high school on time. Unfortunately, K-3 ress, is still abysmal: only about half of —Getty Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 17

these elements must be in place for K-3 • Discussion. To become confident, COMMENTARY students to acquire the fluency, knowl- articulate speakers, students must en- edge, and vocabulary needed to become gage in frequent, purposeful discus- Published on January 5, 2020, in Educa- literate and articulate. We’ve yet to sions about what they read. We could tion Week’s Classroom Q&A Blog capitalize on this consensus. Or to see multiply the length and frequency of what prevents us from acting on it: the such discussions, which animate an ap- structure and substance of the typical preciation of reading and are excellent K-3 literacy block and our overhyped preparation for writing. ‘Writing Directly commercial literacy programs. Their • Writing and writing instruc- failure can often be traced to the per- tion. Writing has an unsurpassed Benefits vasiveness of small-group, ability-based capacity to help us think logically, instruction. express ourselves clearly, and under- The most successful K-3 teachers stand, analyze, and retain content. It Students’ I’ve observed use small groups sparing- often promotes dramatic, measurable ly. That’s because their whole-class in- improvements across the curriculum Reading Skills’ struction consistently incorporates the and is crucial to success in innumerable most proven (but rarely implemented) careers. By Larry Ferlazzo elements of successful teaching. They Let’s be candid here: These core el- master simple methods for ensuring ements of literacy seldom get the time n what ways can writing support that all students are attentive, and they they deserve in most K-3 classrooms— reading instruction? conduct frequent, ongoing assessments or our inordinately praised commercial All of us obviously want to help of the class’s progress throughout the programs. A shift to larger amounts of our students become better writers. lesson—and then re-teach accordingly. well-executed, whole-class instruction But are there ways we can “double- An Education Week article last year would at least double the amount that Idip,” too—in other words, help them im- adds credence to this approach, report- students receive in these critical areas. prove their writing AND also use writing ing that whole-group instruction is “al- The benefits, for K-3 and beyond, would instruction to improve reading skills? most always” more effective than the be immense. We’ll explore that question today with small-group, ability-based model. Of course, many will argue that stu- Tony Zani, Mary Tedrow, Mary Beth These facts point to an opportunity dents don’t need more time with their Nicklaus, Colleen Cruz, and Pam Allyn. for dramatic improvements in 3rd grade teacher; they can learn to read and literacy. Do the math: In a two-hour write on their own, at our now-ubiqui- reading block, five groups of students tous independent learning “centers,” Giving kids the “write stuff” will receive about 20 minutes of reading which are set up with materials for stu- makes them better readers instruction per day. In a classroom that dents to work independently while the uses small groups more sparingly, stu- teacher works with small groups. But Tony Zani is a literacy coach in the Salt Lake dents will receive about 80 minutes— are they learning? “According to the City school district. He has a bachelor’s degree three to four times as much. studies,” writes literacy expert Timothy in elementary education and a master’s degree Three to four times as much. This Shanahan, “No.” Time spent away from in instructional leadership. Tony is a national- would allow for huge infusions of in- the teacher, he writes, should not be con- board-certified teacher with a specialization in structional time into the essential sidered a “productive part of the school early-childhood education: components of literacy. Teachers could day.” I consistently observe students use this additional time to incorporate languishing at these unsupervised cen- Writing is often the overlooked con- more: ters, ambling slowly from station to sta- tent area. After the National Reading • Intensive, sustained, system- tion, aimlessly turning pages or talking Panel left it out and No Child Left Be- atic phonics. We could substantially quietly with a partner instead of read- hind focused on reading achievement, accelerate students’ mastery of the pho- ing. And that explains, as Michael P. there seemed to be a decline in teach- netic code in K-1—and still have time Ford and Michael F. Opitz found nearly ing writing. After the Common Core for kids to read and listen to far more two decades ago, why only about a third State Standards came out, there was an fiction and nonfiction texts. of the overall literacy period has any increase in writing instruction. But, if • Reading/general knowledge. If academic value. your state is like mine, writing is only most students have mastered decod- What should we do? Take Shana- tested in a few grades. So, guess what? ing in the 1st grade, they could spend han’s advice: “Brush up your skills in Those are the grades when writing is record amounts of time in 2nd and 3rd working with larger groups,” and use taught like crazy. In other grades, it of- grade reading literature, history, and the windfall of precious time to multiply ten becomes a nice thing “if there’s time.” science texts to build their knowledge the amount of instruction we provide in There’s rarely time. base and vocabulary, which are critical the most indispensable elements of K-3 This mentality is prevalent because ev- to effective comprehension. literacy. Then as night follows day, 3rd ery level of the education system focuses • Vocabulary instruction. Most of grade literacy rates will rise. on making sure students do well on end- a rich vocabulary is acquired through of-year, high-stakes assessments. Jobs are abundant reading. But research also Mike Schmoker is an author, speaker, and at stake. Money from the government is at shows that we can reliably supplement consultant. He is the author of FOCUS, 2nd stake. Heaven forbid your school does so this with targeted, embedded vocabu- edition (ASCD, 2018) and Leading with FO- poorly that an outside group comes in to lary instruction. CUS (ASCD, 2016). help you “turnaround.” Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 18

Never fear, though. Writing directly benefits students’ reading skills. For example, if you have students write about what they’ve read or learned (for nearly any content or age), you’ll dramatically improve reading comprehension. Students are often forced to reread and think more deeply about what they’ve read. When students have to consider a controversial question and use texts they’ve read to defend their point of view, reading comprehension is off the charts. In our school, we’ve emphasized writing about what we read. It took about two years for most teachers, and students, to really embrace the concept. It was about that time that our end-of-year reading scores had a huge jump. Our highly impacted Title I school made enormous growth just because students were better schools. Writing in all genres is impor- cent research has revealed that students at thinking about what they read. tant. Don’t lose that balance! who are given latitude to use inventive Writing also improves students’ read- Writing is a critical communication spelling become better readers (Oulette & ing fluency. When students have to stop skill. Universities and employers frequent- Senechall, 2017). and think about what spelling patterns ly complain that writing is an underdevel- But the interplay between writing and to use when they write, they are making oped skill. It’s no wonder, when we have an reading goes well beyond just learning to a deeper connection in their brains about education system that often relegates writ- read. When students are asked to write sound and spelling patterns. This deeper ing to the land of “I wish we had time” and for their own purposes, they intuitively connection makes it easier, and faster, for “That’s not on the test.” What a tragedy. understand the choices authors make as students to recall those same patterns Teaching students to be effective writers is they create a work that moves a reader. when they read. Written language is liter- important by itself. However, writing also Teachers who have students writing ally a secret code that someone made up provides big gains in reading comprehen- authentically—that is, the way real writ- to represent spoken sounds. The more stu- sion and reading fluency. ers write—can interrupt the process and dents think about and practice the code teach craft lessons. Show students how to in written form, the better they will be develop several good beginnings and ask at understanding the same code in writ- “Reading is the inhale; writing is them to choose the one which serves their ing. Again, in our high-needs school, we the exhale” purpose best. Show how to incorporate saw students’ scores on tests like DIBELS the senses in description, how to move a and our end-of-level test rise dramatically. Mary K. Tedrow, an award-winning high school plot forward through dialogue, how to ma- Fluent readers more deeply understand English teacher, now serves as the director of nipulate sentences for punch and clarity. that code. the Shenandoah Valley Writing Project. Her All of these writing skills are the inside/ Writing also improves reading compre- book, Write, Think, Learn: Tapping the Power out version of analyzing writing by others. hension as students get better at format- of Daily Student Writing Across the Content When we analyze the books, poetry, and ting their writing. When students write Area is available through Routledge: essays we read, we are simply describing argumentative essays, they learn how the choices an author made on their road authors often lay out their arguments and Writing and reading are intricately in- to composing a piece. When students are evidence. This, in turn, gives students a tertwined. One is the inverse of the oth- heavily involved in creating those pieces framework for reading others’ argumen- er: Reading is the inhale; writing is the themselves, they will more easily see what tative writing. Having a framework in exhale. They depend on each other, and authors are doing and understand the your mind helps you fill in the blanks and when we find time to practice both, the messiness required in producing effective improves comprehension. When students students are the winners. communication. Writing brings the author write narrative pieces, they develop an In the earliest readers, writing is a and his or her skill to life. understanding of how authors typically natural way to ingest and experiment Students who write are better, more lay out character development, setting, with a growing knowledge of letters and observant, and appreciative readers in plot, problems, turning points, and resolu- their function in symbolizing the sounds general. And students who read are bet- tions. Again, students have a framework we speak. Encouraging students to write, ter, more competent writers. Be sure your to build upon when they read others’ nar- even before they know all the rules, builds students have the chance to breathe in rative texts. In a bit of irony, our school a deeper understanding of how reading and out throughout the day. focused on writing informative and argu- works. In kindergarten, the inventive • Bibliography: Ouellette, G., & Sé- mentative pieces—those are emphasized spelling students employ to compose early néchal, M. (2017). Invented spelling in in the common core, right? Our students writings allows children to represent on kindergarten as a predictor of reading had very high scores when reading infor- the page what they are hearing in the and spelling in Grade 1: A new path- mational texts. However, students scored world. Children more clearly understand way to literacy, or just the same road, lower when reading literature. Reading the letter/sound relationship as they com- less known? Developmental Psychology, literature was a strength for most other pose thoughts and stories in writing. Re- 53(1), 77-88. Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 19

to help design or co-create a rubric for evaluating writing, which will help students internalize the elements of the specific writing. Steer the strategy to a similar text where you might use the same kind of structure and response. • Engage in wide practice of written response: Continuing both “big” and “little” writing in our classes, based on the structures and types of texts we teach, can increase reading comprehension. Working on mechanics of writing improves basic reading skills like fluency and word recognition. In addition, continue to practice reading, writing, and reflecting and sharing in whole-group, small-group, and partner contexts. Have students create “Why?” ing a letter to students sharing some questions to inquire about text. Supply “Lure” students into reading general information and interests. The sentence stems to help students focus through working with their teacher then guides the students to their text response with their writing writing write a letter back to them with simi- such as, “I think ______did what lar information. This experience en- he did because in the story______.” Mary Beth Nicklaus is a secondary-level teacher courages students to begin sharing Make it a habit of requiring written re- and literacy specialist for the Wisconsin Rapids and expressing themselves in writing. sponse in the form of exit response slips public schools in Wisconsin: Get into the habit of crafting student- where students within a limit of 3-5 writing response assignments for which minutes, quickly write a response to an I have found it possible to lure second- we are asking about students’ feelings inquiry regarding what they learned ary-level students into the reading world and opinions regarding classroom read- through the reading. Wide practice of through working with their writing. I ing—even soliciting poetry writing if writing helps students’ classroom read- work with 6-9th grade struggling readers that genre works best for some students. ing become second nature, and it helps as a reading specialist and literacy coach. Students may also find starting with a prune their focus on text. By the time they are referred to me, they salutation hailing a specific audience have not been reading for years—which helps them focus their thoughts in their I know the strategies I have elaborated accounts for much of their struggle. When writing. “Dear teacher/class/partner, I upon work, because my students made we teachers work through the power think that____.” They can also focus on enormous, lasting gains in their reading of written self-expression with and for sharing their writing with a partner or through focusing on writing. Also, the these students, we can also tinker with small group. gains secondary-level students can make content-specific academic vocabulary, • Teach the writing process relative through focusing on feelings and opinions text structure, and mechanics of writing. to classroom text. Teach students a in their reading-response writing foster We can also prime and build basic read- few writing structures to clearly com- livelier conversations during classroom ing and comprehension skills. Even re- municate thoughts and ideas. Teach the discussion. Students’ overall gains even searchers have found that use of read- main structures of the text you use in show students that content texts across ing-response writing, explicitly teaching your content—be it narrative or exposi- the curriculum can pique their interests writing process, and engaging students tory structures. Let’s say we want to outside of the classroom. It’s a win-win all in wide writing practice enhances basic teach students to compare and contrast around! reading skills and comprehension in K-12 within a classroom text on the running readers. Here are some strategies I have of restaurants. We might use a Venn found to be successful working with sec- Diagram graphic organizer to compare Having students annotate their ondary-level students based on the afore- and contrast the information about writing with the strategies they use mentioned three areas: restaurant operation with them on the Colleen Cruz is the author of several ti- smartboard. Allow the class to help fill tles for teachers, including The Unstoppa- • Create reading-response writing in information. Then together, flesh out ble Writing Teacher, as well as the author opportunities focusing on opinions a comparison-contrast response with a of the young-adult novel, Border Crossing, and feelings of the reader. By the question like, “Based on our reading to- a Tomás Rivera Mexican American Chil- time they are in 6th grade, most stu- day, what might be a more difficult res- dren’s Book Award Finalist. She was a dents want to share information about taurant to run, Culver’s or Buffalo Wild classroom teacher in general education and interests and opinions. How can we con- Wings?” Use a template to gather stu- inclusive settings before joining the Teachers nect that interest into reader response? dent input to flesh out a response. Teach College Reading and Writing Project, where To begin with, we don’t always have to students to support viewpoints with as the director of innovation, she shares her work with published text. We can cre- evidence from the text and show them a passion for accessibility, 21st-century learn- ate our own texts in the classroom. We specific way you will always want them ing, and social justice. Most recently, Col- teachers can start the process by writ- to use to cite evidence. Allow the class leen authored Writers Read Better: Nonfic- Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 20

tion (July 2018) and Writers Read Better: Narrative published by Corwin: As an educator who works with teachers and students in grades 2 through 8, I find that I often look at the practices of primary-grade teachers and wish we upper-grade folks borrowed more heavily from them. Whether it be a focus on individual development, an emphasis on play, or just an overarching focus on the whole child, there are pedagogical treasures we need to bring more to our big-kid classrooms. At present, the most pressing for me is the desire to use writing to support reading instruction more often. Every kindergarten and 1st grade teacher I know asks students to write as soon as they enter the classroom. This is long before students know the entire al- One of my favorite ways to do this is ing literacy expert, author, and motivational phabet or how to read any words. In fact, to ask students to annotate their writing speaker. In 2007, she founded LitWorld, a global most of us who have had little ones at with the strategies they tried as writ- literacy organization serving children across the home can attest to how often kids pick up ers and the reasons why. For example, United States and in more than 60 countries, a marker or crayon and write their names, “I used show-don’t-tell in this paragraph pioneering initiatives including the summer strings of letters, or familiar words. Our to help make a picture in my reader’s reading program LitCamp and World Read youngest learners often produce words be- mind.” I then ask them to read a book of Aloud Day: fore they consume them. And when they their choice with their own writing near- do that, they are setting themselves up by. When they come to a spot in the text Writing and reading are not just two for success as readers because they learn they find challenging, they can look back sides of the same coin; they are profoundly early on, if they can write their name they to their own writing to see if they made related and entwined. I have often said can read it. If they can write any word, a similar move and why. A few common that reading is like breathing in, and they can read it. writing/reading reciprocal moves I teach writing is like breathing out—the child Also, many of us grew up as educa- students include: is taking new breaths in this new world, tors with the knowledge that reading feeling her power and her potential. supports writing. I first learned how this • Show-not-tell in writing helps readers Surrounding our children in the conventional wisdom applies to children’s to infer in reading. sounds of language from literary and writing from Katie Ray and her seminal • Plotting in writing helps readers to informational text is crucial to their un- book Wondrous Words. So, it should not make predictions in reading. derstanding of language. The child who be all that revolutionary to discover that • Developing objects as symbols in writ- is read aloud to multiple times per day, those early-writing and -reading connec- ing helps readers interpret symbols in week, month, and year is already realiz- tions still apply when students move into reading. ing the sound and feel of language. Then, more complex reading. • Defining a word in writing helps read- too, the child who is given the opportunity Yes, they might have moved past sim- ers to understand the meaning of an to put her first marks on the page is al- ple decoding and literal comprehension unknown word. ready beginning to make meaning in the work. But the role of writing and reading world. When reading a book, she sees it reciprocity still applies. For every compre- There are, of course, countless more. as something constructed from a world hension move a reader makes, there is an We know the power of modeling. And I she already knows because her scribbles author on the other side of the desk. If a believe for many years, rightly so, we have connect to those of others and give her the young reader is also a writer, they will be taught students how to mine the power of powerful idea that she has a voice. well-positioned to see the mirror moves the published word for ideas for their own Writing early and constantly, in and they have made as a writer in the texts writing. For many of us, it’s time to try out of school, is a powerful lever for help- they are reading by other authors. Stud- to teach the power of modeling by asking ing our students learn to read profoundly. ies have shown this, of course (Graves, students to look at their own writing as Here are five ways writing supports read- Calkins, Chew, Graham & Hebert to name their mentor for their reading lives. I am ing and vice versa: a few). But in my work with young readers hard-pressed to think of more empower- and writers I have seen time and again ing reading work. 1. Building a deep sense of the that if something is challenging to a read- beauty of grammar, sound, and er, one of the most accessible paths to over- vocabulary coming that challenge is through writing. Writing “is a powerful lever for The student who writes becomes alert It’s a transferable understanding that can helping our students learn to read to the structure of sentences, the rhythm last a lifetime: Show students that every profoundly” of multiple words together, and words that reading skill has a reciprocal writing skill, surprise. Because our students are using and if they have written something like it, Pam Allyn, senior vice president, innovation & the tools of language to build their own they are able to read it well, too. development, Scholastic Education, is a lead- stories, they are awake to the qualities Literacy Instruction / edweek.org 21

of texts. When students share works by 5. Knowing and deepening one’s own authors such as Jacqueline Woodson or writing and the voice of an author Naomi Nye, they’re astounded and try to The student who writes is building con- emulate them in their own writing. fidence, courage, and a sense of self. She is learning how to evoke emotion, keep 2. Understanding the purpose of and someone in suspense, and persuade while use of genres developing her own voice, which will serve Students who write quickly learn the her in the future whether she’s writing a necessity of genre. My 1st graders were narrative or an email. When she turns to writing informational texts and choosing her reading, she is now more aware of the their own topics. One wrote about nursing author’s voice and knows the risks the au- homes because that’s where her grandpa thor takes. She is one herself. was. Later, I saw her scouring a book with a glossary in it. She explained, “I want to Larry Ferlazzo is an award-winning English add a glossary to my story. My readers and Social Studies teacher at Luther Burbank might need to know some of the big words High School in Sacramento, California, and au- I use to describe where my grandpa lives.” thor of Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Genre is already embedded within her at Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges, the age of 6. The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide, and Building Parent Engagement In Schools. 3. Recognizing the power of writing to connect us Students who write understand that by telling their stories, they’re making their thoughts permanent, which leads to a hearty respect for the text, the authors who write them, and the uses we make of them. When our student writers are finishing works to put into the classroom library, they have an opportunity to see themselves side by side with published works, which feels celebratory. Writing, theirs and others, inspires and connects them.

4. Becoming aware of the ways writing can change someone’s mind or change the world Even the smallest writer has big ideas. My 2nd grade class once wrote letters to the entire neighborhood inviting them to Copyright ©2020 by Editorial come see our play. People young and old Projects in Education, Inc. All rights came, and students saw how they could reserved. No part of this publication change their communities with the power shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval of their own words. So, when they read, system, or transmitted by any means, they consider all the ways writers can electronic or otherwise, without the change people. written permission of the copyright holder.

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Published by Editorial Projects in Education, Inc. 6935 Arlington Road, Suite 100 Bethesda, MD, 20814 Phone: (301) 280-3100 www.edweek.org Spotlight Get the information and perspective you need on the education issues you care about most with education week Spotlights

The Achievement Gap l Algebra l Assessment l Autism l Bullying l Charter School Leadership l

Classroom Management l Common Standards l Data-Driven Decisionmaking l Differentiated

Instruction l Dropout Prevention l E-Learning l ELL Assessment and Teaching l ELLs in the Classroom

l Flu and Schools l Getting The Most From Your IT Budget l Gifted Education l Homework l

Implementing Common Standards l Inclusion and Assistive Technology l Math Instruction l

Middle and High School Literacy l Motivation l No Child Left Behind l Pay for Performance

l Principals l Parental Involvement l Race to the Top l Reading Instruction l Reinventing

Professional Development l Response to Intervention l School Uniforms and Dress Codes l Special

Education l STEM in Schools l Teacher Evaluation l Teacher Tips for the New Year l Technology

in the Classroom l Tips for New Teachers

SEPTEMBER 2011

1 Education W EEK Spotlight on i mplementing common S tandard S n edweek.org 2012

On Teacher Evaluation On Implementing Common Standards Editor’s Note: Assessing teacher Published February 2, 2011, in Education Week On Data-Driven Decision Making performance is a complicated issue, raising questions of how to Editor’s Note: In order to implement the Common Core Published June 30, 2011 in Education Week best measure teacher effectiveness. This Spotlight State Standards, educators Editor’s Note: Access to quality examines ways to assess teaching Wanted: Ways to Assess need instructional materials and data provides district leaders with assessments. But not all states and efforts to improve teacher the opportunity to make informed are moving at the same pace, Schools Find Uses for evaluation. instructional and management and some districts are finding decisions. This Spotlight the Majority of Teachers common-core resources in

examines the potential risks and INTERACTIVE CONTENTS: short supply. This Spotlight advantages of data systems and Predictive Data Techniques By Stephen Sawchuk highlights the curriculum, the various ways in which data can 1 Wanted: Ways to Assess professional development, and By Sarah D. Sparks the Majority of Teachers online resources available to be used to improve learning. They’ve long been a standard in the he debate about “value added” measures of teaching may help districts prepare for the 4 Gates Analysis Offers Clues be the most divisive topic in teacher-quality policy today. he use of analytic tools to predict business world—both credit scores and common core. INTERACTIVE CONTENTS: student performance is exploding car-insurance premiums are calculated to Identification of Teacher It has generated sharp-tongued exchanges in public forums, with predictive analytic tools. Yet they have Effectiveness InteractIve 1 Schools Find Uses for Predictive in higher education, and experts say in news stories, and on editorial cOntentS: T been slower to take hold in education.an- Data Techniques the tools show even more promise for K-12 5 State Group Piloting Teacher pages.T And it has produced enough 1 Educators in Search of “School districts are great at looking schools, in everything from teacher place- Prelicensing Exam Common-Core Resources 4 Leading the Charge for Real-Time policy briefs to fell whole forests. ment to dropout prevention. nually at things, doing summative assess- Data 6 Report: Six Steps for Upgrading But for most of the nation’s 4 Higher Ed. Gets Voting Use of such statistical techniques is ments and looking back, but very few are 0-stu- Teacher Evaluation Systems teachers, who do not teach sub- Rights on Assessments 6 Proposed Data-Privacy Rules hindered in precollegiate schools, however, looking forward,” said Bill Erlendson, the assistant superintendent for the 32,00 Seen as Timely for States by a lack of researchers trained to help 7 Peer Review Undergoing jects or grades in which value- 6 Common Core’s Focus on dent San José Unified School District in Revitalization ‘Close Reading’ Stirs Worries 7 States Make Swift Progress on districts make sense of the data, according added data are available, that California. “Considering our economy sur- Student-Data Technology to education watchers. debate is also largely irrel- 7 Few States Cite Full Plans vives on predictive analytics, it’s amazing to COMMENTARY: Predictive analytics include an array of me that predictive analytics evant. Now, teachers’ unions, for Carrying Out Standards 8 Surviving a Data Crash don’t drive public edu- 10 Moving Beyond Test Scores statistical methods, such as data cation. Maybe in content-area experts, and 8 Common Core Poses Published February 29, 2012, in Education Week 9 ‘Data Mining’ Gains Traction mining and modeling, 12 My Students Help Assess administrators in many states Challenges for Preschools in Education used to identify My Teaching the factors that and communities are hard at work 10 Common Core Raises PD 13 Taking Teacher Evaluation COMMENTARY: predict the examining measures that could be Opportunities, Questions to Extremes Educators in Search 11 My Nine ‘Truths’ of Data Analysis likelihood of cOmmentary: used to weigh teachers’ contributions to a speciﬁ c 15 Value-Added: It’s Not Perfect, 11 Standards: A Golden 12 Education as a Data-Driven learning in subjects ranging from career and technical But It Makes Sense Opportunity for K-16 Enterprise result. education to art, music, and history—the subjects, of Common-Core Resources Collaboration

13 Data Rich But Information Poor PAGE 2> RESOURCES: 12 The Common-Core 17 Resources on Teacher Evaluation Contradiction By Catherine Gewertz RESOURCES: s states and districts begin the work of turning com 15 Resources on Data-Driven re SOurceS: mon academic standards into curriculum Decision Making 14 Resources on - Common Core tion, educators searching for teaching resources and instruc are often finding that process frustrating and fruitless.- A Teachers and curriculum developers who ar road maps that reflect the Common Core State Standards can e trying to craft

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