Literacy Blogs

Teacher question: It seems there is currently a focus on intervention solely for the word recognition side in the early grades. The explanation is that most students who struggle, struggle with decoding, and I of course agree. However, I would add that many of those also struggle with language comprehension, with language development deficits that are measurable and observationally apparent in conversation with them as preschoolers, kindergartners, and first graders. The district’s current assessment model pretty much excludes them any assessment of language comprehension. I was told that one of the main reasons that children struggle later with reading comprehension is from ...

Teacher question: I wonder if you could comment on your blog about this crazy idea that the reading specialists should change the program every 12 weeks if a student is not showing growth on the one-minute reading fluency measure. I have second grade student who reads 80 wcpm with 97% accuracy. She made great growth in the fall but has leveled out this winter. She is being removed her from my “program” to Wilson because an outside evaluator said that is what she needs. What do you think? Shanahan response: One thing is clear: No matter how I answer this question, somebody is going to be mad at me. That’s okay ...

Great report about beginning reading achievement in the most recent issue of Educational Researcher. D’Agostino & Rodgers show that, beginning literacy skills have improved annually from 2002 through 2013. Beginning first-graders have steadily improved in letter identification, phonemic awareness, concepts about print, writing vocabulary, word reading, and text reading. These gains were not just evident for the average or typical student, but for the relatively low achieving ones—though the gains for the latter have lagged those of their more advantaged peers. The researchers suggest—though do not claim to prove—that these data reflect an increased emphasis on literacy instruction in preschool and kindergarten, probably due to the reports of the ...

This week’s challenging question: I had a question from some schools people that I’m not sure how to answer. I wonder if anyone has data on what progress can be expected of students in the primary grades getting extra help in reading. Let’s assume that the students are getting good/appropriate instruction, and the data were showing that 44% of students (originally assessed as “far below”) across grades 1-3 were on pace to be on grade level after 2 years of this extra help. Is this expected progress for such students or less than what has been shown for effective early reading interventions? Shanahan’s ...

Blast from the Past: I've received several notes during the past weeks challenging my advocacy for early reading instruction. Some have related horror stories about how children are being emotionally crushed by being taught to read. I took another look at the research -- this piece has been out for quite a while. There are many more studies now supporting my position: correlational studies showing a the close relationship between kindergarten reading attainment and high school success; studies showing the powerful early payoffs from kindergarten reading instruction; studies showing the retention of these benefits through 3rd and 4th grade, especially ...

Lots of interest, all of a sudden, in full-day kindergarten… I’ve had several questions about that scheme during the past few days. I’m not sure why, but it is well worth discussing yet again.              What I’ve been asked has varied, but it always seems to come back to, “Is full-day kindergarten better than half-day kindergarten?” I get why that is being asked, and I’m too polite to sneer openly, but what a silly question.              Should we set your salary at $50,000 or $25,000? Could I pour you a half-glass of wine (or, if the waiter were optimistic, a half-full glass)? Would you ...