Reading research ready to go

NEA Today, Jan 1999 by Gutloff, Karen

Two new reports from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences offer the latest research on how to turn children into effective readers: Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, and a companion guide for parents and educators, Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children's Reading Success.

Catherine Snow, professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, chaired the committee that produced the reports. She spoke recently with NEA Today's Karen Gutloff about the findings.

What's the most significant conclusion you've reached? That preventing reading difficulties starts at birth and is crucial during the preschool years.

We need environments where children have adequate health care, warm and loving parental care. It's important that oral language skills and an enthusiasm for reading are encouraged at home and in preschool. Another preventive method is having excellent reading instruction in school.

We tend to associate reading difficulties with kids from certain kinds of families, as though it's a disease that only certain kids get. It's not a disease. Reading difficulty is a likely part of growing up if kids don't have access to excellent instruction.

How should educators begin to improve reading instruction?

Starting Out Right takes the best research we found about what works and translates it into specific activities for parents and educators.

The book lays out activities you can use to improve reading with your fouryear-old or with a class of six-yearolds. It's all research-based.

Educators should use the suggested activities as a basis for comparison with what they're doing in the classroom now. After reading the book they should ask, "Does my classroom replicate these recommendations?"

Should schools of education change the way they train teachers to teach reading?

Yes. Schools of education need to recognize that the breadth of knowledge required to be an effective teacher of reading can't be acquired through one or two courses on reading pedagogy.

Pre-service teachers need courses on linguistics and language structure, and they need to know how to apply what they learn to individual children. We don't expect doctors to practice without understanding the intricacies of organic chemistry. Teachers should be taught how language works.

Is the phonics vs. whole language war over?

I sure hope so. I think people are really sick of the level of controversy about that. We now know what works. The best educators have been just closing their doors and doing what they know needs to be done. They analyze the needs of individual children and tailor their instruction to meet those needs.

Now that we have solid research, what happens next?

I hope schools will use the research to create coherence in how students are taught to read. Too often, one teacher is doing one thing, while a colleague next door has a different approach. Kids need consistency. The reading specialist, ESL teachers, tutor, and teacher's aide need to get in a room together and talk to see how they can use the same methods of enforcing reading skills.

Are kids spending enough time reding?

Having kids read a lot is one of the crucial components of becoming a good reader. Young readers need to become practiced at recognizing letters and sounds. The only way to get good at it is to practice.

The more kids read, the better they'll do at it. That's why NEA's Read Across America program is a great step in the right direction.