New study suggests phonics overdose with little “real” reading
Plus why middle school readers aren’t advancing in reading, the "decoding threshold," and more
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Public Notice is back after a little summer hiatus! Today, we’ve got a lot of literacy news:
Red flags for early literacy: new research suggests too much classroom phonics, not enough “real” reading
How the “decoding threshold” holds older students back from fluent reading comprehension, with policy analyst and The 74 author Chad Aldeman
Where’s the plan for middle school literacy? Most districts don’t even know where to start: an interview with former Louisiana State Superintendent and Great Minds CEO John White
A question for readers about the concept of students who are “bad test-takers”
How do you use decodables and uncontrolled texts? Take the new survey:
K-3 teachers and reading interventionists: The Curriculum Insight Project and Science of Reading Classroom want to know how you use decodables versus uncontrolled texts in your classrooms! Help us out by responding to this brief survey.
News
We may have overdosed on phonics
Educators, journalists and experts started worrying back in the spring that U.S. classrooms might be overdosing on phonics in early elementary classrooms, at the expense of getting to the important reason for the whole exercise: actually reading words in the context of a sentence, paragraph or story.
New research from SRI International puts some data to this idea, revealing it’s more than a feeling:
