A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend about working with older students who are still struggling to decode words. Suddenly, her face brightened. “I know!” she said. “Teach them Dr. Seuss. His books are great for budding readers.”
I patiently explained that while Dr. Seuss does help with building reading comprehension skills through contextual vocabulary in the early years, the problem I had encountered was located on the other part of Scarborough’s reading rope. The students in question were still struggling to turn letter sounds into words.
More people than we realize are much like my friend in that they are unaware of the finer points of reading instruction. It is therefore important that everyone understands that when kids get to middle school and are still struggling readers, the specific challenges they face must be accurately diagnosed and then treated with the correct reading intervention process. In addition, knowing the fundamentals of reading instruction is another vital step to ensuring that all educators and student advocates are equipped to be helpful in the road to increased growth in literacy.
When children enter kindergarten, their education in foundational literacy skills begins. These skills include learning the alphabet, developing phonological awareness (how letters and words sound), and building fluency. For some kids whose caregivers have begun reading to them early or who spend a lot of time around books, these early literacy skills may develop more quickly and with less struggle. However, not all children have the opportunity or access to literacy that is ideal, and foundational skills are therefore explicitly taught as part of an early elementary education. As students learn how to decode words and become more fluent readers, they cement their skills on the bottom half of Scarborough’s reading rope. However, if students do not receive any instruction in the foundational elements of literacy, they are not able to become skilled readers. For example, students who were enrolled in grades K-2 when the pandemic hit are now in grades 5-7, and they are demonstrating slower gains in reading than groups who are both older and younger.
When anybody reads out loud, they offer a window into what silent reading sounds like in their heads. Fluency is defined as the ability to read with accuracy, expression, and without struggle. Fluency can be internal (silent reading) or external (oral). It is not uncommon for students to read slowly or hesitantly out loud, but sometimes, they struggle to read anything at all. Ultimately, if someone can only read 80% of the words in front of them or fewer, they do not have the fluency to comprehend what they are looking at. Ideally, students should read at or above 95% accuracy to access grade-level text. If we do what is known as an Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) assessment by listening to students read for one minute and then calculating the percentage of words they read correctly, we will have a better idea of whether they need a reading intervention that addresses the bottom half of Scarborough’s reading rope.
Experienced readers often forget that reading is a complex code that must be solved. If students learn to decode text in their early elementary years, they are far better equipped to advance to the upper level of Scarborough’s reading rope, which is based on language comprehension. However, if students have not undergone the important process of learning how phonemes (or sounds) form words, or how those phonemes form patterns in how words are constructed, they cannot move forward into more advanced reading skills. Without decoding, students are also unable to develop phonemic awareness, which teaches them how letters and sounds correspond with one another. Therefore, before moving into any kind of reading support for comprehension, teachers must diagnose student fluency to determine whether they struggle with decoding because the interventions are different for each part of Scarborough’s reading rope. If students need a reading intervention, the goal should be to move them out of this support as soon as data indicates measurable growth.
Most of us take for granted that when we read a block of text, we can understand it, even if it takes a little effort. For many kids, unfortunately, that outcome is not yet possible without targeted support. The second part of Scarborough’s reading rope reflects skills that students develop after their foundational years, when learning to read transitions and becomes reading to learn. As kids get older and reading becomes more complex, comprehension can be a struggle even if they are fluent readers, particularly if more support is needed with vocabulary, background knowledge, or understanding of language structure. Many of these skills can be addressed in content-specific courses. However, when students have more serious comprehension needs, they can participate in a reading intervention class that is geared toward sharpening those skills, once again with the understanding that the goal is to exit as soon as possible once measurable improvement has been reached.
For so many of our older students, becoming more proficient in reading is not as simple as providing more opportunities for reading time. Minutes spent with eyes on the written word is certainly important, but too many kids are missing the foundational components that make independent reading a reality. To support students who have fallen behind, all teachers need to be aware of what can be addressed in core content classes, and what students might need extra help with during an intervention period. That way, we can help students increase their growth in literacy in a way that is knowledgeable, targeted and effective.
Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer
Miriam Plotinsky is an instructional specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has taught and led for more than 20 years. She is the author of several education books with W.W. Norton and ASCD. She is also a National Board-Certified Teacher with additional certification in administration and supervision. She can be reached at www.miriamplotinsky.com or via Twitter: @MirPloMCPS
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