1. TEACHING READING REALLY IS ROCKET SCIENCE. IT IS AN ENORMOUSLY-
COMPLEX ACT.
Donald N. Langenberg, Chair
National Reading Panel
Chancellor, University of Maryland

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

3. “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

4. High Home Support
Low Home Support
Consistent High Quality
Classroom Support Instruction
100%
Mixed Classroom Support
25%
Consistent Low Classroom Support
60% 0%

5. The Simple View of Reading
R = D x C
(Phil Gough)

6. Word Recognition & Comprehension
Fluency
Word Recognition & Comprehension

7. What are the Essential Components?
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Vocabulary development
Reading fluency
Reading comprehension
The Fab Five!

8. Classroom organization
Matching pupils and texts
Access to interesting texts, choice, and collaboration
Writing and reading

9. What are the Major Findings?
Most children need explicit instruction in decoding and comprehension.
While fluency isn’t 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.

10. Chall’s Stages of Reading Development

12. Changing Emphasis of Big IdeasK 1 2 3
Phonological Awareness
Alphabetic Principle
Automaticity and Fluency with the Code
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Letter Sounds
& Combinations
Multisyllables
Listening
Reading
Listening
Reading

13. The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on Reading Growth/Academic Achievement16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
High Oral Language in Kindergarten
5.2 years difference
Reading Age Level
Low Oral Language in Kindergarten
(Hirsch, 1996)
Chronological Age

14. Children must become accurate readers as a first step toward becoming fluent readers.

15. An accurate, fluent reader will read more.

16. The Failure Cycle

17. The Reading Gap Target Actual
Target: % 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.

18. Importance of Independent Reading

19. 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 --

20. Reading rate is strongly correlated with comprehension.

21. Reading rate (fluency) is causally related to reading comprehension.

22. Reading rate is correlated with many other student characteristics that also influence reading comprehension.
Vocabulary = .99
% F/R Lunch = .97
% Minority = .97
% ELL = .96

23. How much fluency (rate) is enough to facilitate good reading comprehension?
DIBELS Norms
H & T Norms
Aimsweb Norms
1st
45 wpm
43 wpm
2nd
91 wpm
79 wpm
85 wpm
3rd
110 wpm
96 wpm
102 wpm

24. Oral Reading Fluency Goals
Grades 1 – 2
2-3 words per week
Grades 3 – 5
1½-2 words per week

25. The role of vocabulary becomes increasingly important as students progress in school.

26. Kindergarten vocabulary (PPVT) is closely related to later reading comprehension
End of Grade One
End of Grade Four
End of Grade Seven
The relationship of vocabulary to reading comprehension gets stronger as texts become more complex (Snow, 2002)

27. Comprehensive Vocabulary Development
Wide reading
Direct teaching of important words
Teaching word learning strategies
Fostering word consciousness

28. Magic Number = 1,000,000 words read per year
For a child who reads 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

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

30. Tier Two:
High-frequency words for mature language users
Instruction adds productivity to an individual’s language ability
Examples: coincidence, absurd, industrious

31. 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

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

33. Types of Prior Knowledge
Topic knowledge
Text structure and organization
Vocabulary

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

35. Mary Lou’s 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!

36. Today’s 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.

37. 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

38. Three Major Strategies to Teach Comprehension
Reading a lot
Strategic reading
Deep discussions about books or articles

39. Two Approaches
Competent reader strategies
Text structure strategies

40. The Big Five Predict and Infer Self-Question Monitor and Clarify
Evaluate and Determine Importance
Summarize and Synthesize

41. Narrative Structure (Story Grammar)
Expository (Informational) Structure

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

43. An explicit description of the strategy and when and how it should be used.
Teacher and/or student modeling of the strategy in action.
Collaborative use of the strategy in action to construct meaning of text.
Guided practice using the strategy with gradual release of responsibility – scaffolding by the teacher.
Independent use of the strategy.

44. 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.