TEACHING READING

REALLY IS
ROCKET SCIENCE.
IT IS AN
ENORMOUSLYCOMPLEX ACT.
Donald N. Langenberg, Chair
National Reading Panel
Chancellor, University of Maryland

Speaking and listening come

first. But learning to read is,
without question, the top priority
in elementary education.
Boyer, 1995, p.69

Yes, parents may have the greatest

impact on how their children come to
us. But we have the greatest impact
on how they leave us.

Superintendent, North
Carolina

High Home
Support

Low Home
Support

Consistent High Quality

Classroom Support Instruction

100%

100%

Mixed Classroom Support

100%

25%

Consistent Low Classroom Support

60%

0%

The Simple View of

Reading

R=DxC
(Phil Gough)

Fluency

Word Recognition &

Comprehension

What are the Essential

Components?

Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Th
Fa e
Vocabulary development
Fi b
ve
Reading fluency
!
Reading comprehension

Classroom organization

Matching pupils and texts

Access to interesting texts, choice, and

collaboration

Writing and reading

What are the Major Findings?

Most children need explicit instruction in decoding and

comprehension.

While fluency isnt sufficient for comprehension, it is

absolutely necessary for good comprehension.

Assessment and instruction are inextricably linked.

Writing, spelling, and reading are highly related,

especially in the early stages of learning to read.

Children should spend more time independently reading

and writing.

Children not reaching benchmarks benefit from daily

intensive instruction.

Challs Stages of Reading

Development

Changing Emphasis of Big

Ideas
K

Phonological
Awareness
Alphabetic
Principle

Letter Sounds
& Combinations

Multisyllables

Automaticity
and Fluency
with the Code
Vocabulary
Comprehensio
n

Listening

Reading

Listening

Reading

The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language

on Reading Growth/Academic Achievement
16

High Oral Language

in Kindergarten

Reading Age Level

15
14
13

5.2 years difference

12
11
10
9

Low Oral Language

in Kindergarten

8
7
6
5

10 11

12 13 14 15

Chronological Age

16

(Hirsch, 1996)

Children must become accurate

readers as a first step toward
becoming fluent readers.

An accurate, fluent reader

will read more.

The Failure Cycle

Percentage of youngsters in
the school who can read
grade level material

The Reading Gap

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Target

The Reading Gap

Actual

PreK

Target: 85-90% of students can handle grade level

material.
Actual: Where schools say they are.
The difference between the Target and Actual levels is the Reading Gap that can
only be closed by comprehensive literacy strategies at the school level.

Importance of Independent
Reading
100%

Percentile Rank

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
0.0

1.0

4.3

9.2
Minutes Per Day

16.9

33.4

76.3

Importance of Independent
Reading
Percentile
Rank

Minutes/Day
(Books, Magazines,
Newspapers)

Words/Year

98th

67.3

4,733,000

90th

33.4

2,357,000

70th

16.9

1,168,000

50th

9.2

601,000

30th

4.3

251,000

10th

1.0

51,000

2nd

0.0

--

Reading rate is strongly

correlated with comprehension.

Reading rate (fluency) is

causally related to reading
comprehension.

Reading rate is correlated with

many other student characteristics
that also influence reading
comprehension.
Vocabulary = .99
% F/R Lunch = .
97 = .97
% Minority
% ELL = .96

How much fluency (rate) is enough to

facilitate good reading comprehension?
DIBELS
Norms

H&T
Norms

Aimsweb
Norms

1st

45 wpm

43 wpm

45 wpm

2nd

91 wpm

79 wpm

85 wpm

3rd

110 wpm

96 wpm

102 wpm

Oral Reading Fluency Goals

Grades 1 2

2-3 words per week

Grades 3 5

1-2 words per

week

The role of vocabulary

becomes increasingly important
as students progress in school.

Kindergarten vocabulary (PPVT) is closely

related to later reading comprehension
End of Grade One -- .45
End of Grade Four -- .62
End of Grade Seven -- .69
The relationship of vocabulary to reading
comprehension gets stronger as texts
become more complex.
(Snow, 2002)

Comprehensive Vocabulary
Development
1.

Wide reading

2. Direct teaching of important

words
3. Teaching word learning
strategies
4. Fostering word consciousness

Magic Number =

1,000,000 words
read per year

For a child who reads 15-200 words per

minute, reading 20 minutes per day will yield
1,000,000 words read in a year.
Anticipated vocabulary growth:
1,000 4,000 new words learned

Tier One:
The most basic words
Rarely require instruction in
school
Examples: happy, bed, school

Tier Two:
High-frequency words for
mature language users
Instruction adds productivity
to an individuals language
ability
Examples: coincidence, absurd,
industrious

Tier Three:
Words whose frequency of
use is quite low, often limited
to specific domains
Best learned when needed in
a content area
Examples: isotope, lathe,
peninsula

Prior Knowledge . . .
Better than I.Q. for predicting
success on inferential
comprehension.

Types of Prior Knowledge

Topic knowledge

Text structure and

organization
Vocabulary

The punter kicked the ball.

The baby kicked the ball.
The golfer kicked the ball.
How did the ball change?

Mary Lous heart was pounding

as she stood on the highest
portion of the platform, flanked
by a Japanese and a Rumanian.
The last two years had been
worth it!

Todays Cricket
The batsmen were merciless against
the bowlers. The bowlers placed
their men in slips and covers, but to
no avail. The batsmen hit one foul
after another with an occasional six.
Not once did a ball look like it would
hit their stumps or be caught.

Proficient comprehension of text is

influenced by:

Accurate and fluent word reading skills

Oral language skills

Extent of conceptual and factual knowledge

Knowledge and skill in use of cognitive strategies

to improve comprehension or repair it when it
breaks down.

Reasoning and inferential skills

Motivation to understand and interest in task and

materials

Three Major Strategies to

Teach Comprehension
1.

Reading a lot

2.

Strategic reading

3.

Deep discussions about

books or articles

Two Approaches
1.

Competent reader strategies

2. Text structure
strategies

The Big Five

Predict and Infer

Self-Question

Monitor and Clarify

Evaluate and Determine

Importance
Summarize and Synthesize

Narrative Structure (Story

Grammar)

Expository (Informational)
Structure

The effectiveness of
instruction in comprehension
strategies depends critically on
how they are taught,
supported, and practiced.

1.

An explicit description of the strategy and when and

how it should be used.

2. Teacher and/or student modeling of the

strategy in action.
3. Collaborative use of the strategy in action to
construct meaning of text.
4. Guided practice using the strategy with
gradual release of responsibility scaffolding
by the teacher.
5. Independent use of the strategy.

Engaged Readers

Meaningful conceptual content in reading

instruction increases motivation for reading and
text comprehension.

Giving students choices of texts, responses, or

partners during instruction.

Have an abundance of interesting texts

available at the right reading level for every
student.
Allow students the opportunity to work
collaboratively with ample opportunities for
discussion, questioning, and sharing.