In elementary school, an important goal of reading instruction is to enable children to read most words automatically by sight so that they can focus on learning from and enjoying what they are reading. But becoming a strong reader takes several years. Parents and caregivers need to know if a child is making good progress in learning to read.…

Recent stories raising the alarm about students' poor reading skills and calling for greater attention to the "science of reading" represent the latest round in the ongoing "reading wars." Going back at least as far as the 1950s, scholars, pundits and policy makers have debated which teaching strategies are most successful at…

Understand the science of reading and how to implement evidence-based instruction to increase the reading and writing achievement of pre-K-6 students, including those at risk for reading difficulties. Fully revised and updated, this core text covers the research base for structured literacy instruction and practical guidance on the essential…

The Report of the National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000) identified five key elements that were critical to the development of reading, and these have been widely accepted by educational jurisdictions as providing definitive guidelines for early reading instruction. This paper presents a case for the inclusion of oral language and early literacy…

A fundamental challenge facing students who are English Learners is the interplay of oral language development--being able to speak and understand a language--and literacy development--learning to read and write the language. This interplay is especially challenging because each developmental process--oral language development and literacy…

Many reading problems are caused by using the wrong teaching methods. This article advocates using a reading style inventory and matching the teaching method to the student's reading style. The author holds copyright to this article. (Contains 3 figures.)

Phonics and fluency have been identified as two essential elements in the effective teaching of reading. Although normally considered two distinct elements of the reading curriculum that are separate, through the use of rhyming poetry both phonics and fluency can be taught in a synergistic and authentic manner. In this article, the authors explore…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 created the Reading First program to help ensure that all students could read at or above grade level by the end of grade 3. The program promotes practices recommended by the National Reading Panel for early reading instruction, highlighting essential components of reading instruction. As required by the…

Many students continue to display reading difficulties beyond the elementary grades. Among these, a disproportionate number are students of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. Teaching foundational literacy skills is necessary to impart to these students that which they missed in the early grades. By combining best practices…

Literacy scholars appear to have reached consensus that a balanced approach to reading instruction holds the greatest promise for improving reading achievement among students. Following the lead of the National Reading Panel (2000), curricular manifestations of a balanced reading program include instructional components in phonics or word…

Children listen, act out and recite nursery rhymes and thus learn about rhyming words, absorb the rhythm of English language, and begin to develop speech sound awareness in an interactive and fun way, which can further enhance reading achievement. Encouraging children to dramatize the rhymes leads to role plays which uses basic vocabulary sight…

A teaching technique that leads to auditory conceptualization--the ability to determine the number and order of sounds embedded within syllables--shows promise of measurably improving the reading proficiency of children of all ability levels. Based on C. and P. Lindamood's published technique, "Auditory Discrimination in Depth," the…

The argument between advocates of the whole language approach and the phonics approach threatens to become so polarized and politicized that agreeing on a middle ground seems at times impossible, and the voices of reason and experience are drowned out. The debate erupted anew in California after alarming news stories about reading scores ranked…

Describes the evolution of a phonics-basal elementary reading program in a rural New Mexico school district and the resulting improvement in reading. Notes the conditions in which changes initiated by the district and the Follow Through sponsor occurred. Explains monitoring and evaluation advances. (SB)

Responding to a call to action by California's state leaders to make reading instruction in the early grades a top priority in the public schools, this booklet discusses California's new K-3 reading program. It begins with a discussion of what prompted this new focus on reading, and then discusses the four major elements of a balanced reading…