Additional Publications: White Papers

Much of science of reading training is designed for early grades. Should those same practices guide instruction in secondary classrooms?

Do you have any insights or research on what a developmentally appropriate expectation would be for kindergarteners to correctly read both irregular and decodable words?

Explicit, systematic phonics instruction isn’t a single, uniform approach. From print-to-speech to speech-to-print methods, key differences in how skills are taught may influence outcomes. Are popular approaches like Orton-Gilligham truly the gold standard? Or does the research tell a different story?

Impact happens when evidence meets implementation with rigor, equity, and urgency. Pat Roberts and Nancy Blair highlight AIM’s research-to-practice and practice-to-research partnerships and how districts nationwide use AIM to drive real gains in student reading achievement.

AIM was founded on the belief that research should guide practice and that practitioners’ questions should inform research. Nancy Hennessy reflects on how AIM has expanded access to knowledge and helped transform literacy education nationwide.

The NICHD/NIH Reading Research program led collaborative multidisciplinary scientific efforts to study reading. Hollis Scarborough Award recipient Dr. Reid Lyon reflects on the program and honors the teams that advanced the science of reading and improved the lives of children worldwide.

Sight word learning involves storing word spellings connected to their pronunciations, meanings, and syntactic functions in memory, so this information is activated automatically, enabling readers to comprehend text. Dr. Ehri explains how this learning is possible.

Teaching requires critical use of programs and differentiation to meet student needs. Drs. Katie Pace Miles, Pam Kastner, and Renata Archie discuss orthographic mapping and phase theory, highlighting common terminology, data-based decisions, and integrated instruction to build fluent word recognition.

English is difficult for developing readers because it’s quasi-regular: the relationship between orthography and phonology is systematic with inconsistencies. Dr. Compton shares research on complex word reading and introduces a new tool to help teachers select words.

Lasting literacy progress requires collective action. Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, MeQuel Bolden, Nancy Hennessy, and Kristen Wynn share takeaways, such as stronger collaboration and coherent, aligned reading and writing instruction that protects teachers’ limited time.