CHRISTMAS BEADS 1

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The Reading Deficit

L iteracy is an essential skill needed to participate in today’s world. Whether we are reading a ballot, a map, a train schedule, a driver’s test, a job appli- cation, a text message, a label on a medicine con- tainer, or a textbook, reading is required to fully

function in our society. Unfortunately, an enormous proportion of young citizens cannot read well enough to adequately func- tion or to expand their knowledge about the world. This situ- ation is especially distressing because we now know that the majority of students can learn to read regardless of their back- grounds (Lyon 2002).

The State of Reading Today The focus on learning to read has never been greater. The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicates that fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores are abysmally low. According to the achievement-level results in reading, 63 per- cent of fourth graders and 64 percent of eighth graders scored at or below the basic level of reading achievement.

Where the press is free and every man is

able to read, all is safe. — T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

NAEP Achievement Levels basic

partial mastery of knowledge

and skills fundamental for profi-

cient academic performance

proficient

solid academic performance

advanced

superior academic performance

NAEP Overall Achievement-Level Results in Reading

GRADE Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced

Grade 4 32% 31% 28% 9%

Grade 8 24% 40% 32% 4%

National Center for Education Statistics 2017.

The Big Picture

Excerpted from Teaching Reading Sourcebook, Third Edition. Copyright © 2018 by CORE. All rights reserved.Excerpted from Teaching Reading Sourcebook, Third Edition. Copyright © 2018 by CORE. All rights reserved.

Common Core State Standards The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers 2010) are the culmination of an extended, broad-based effort to create the next generation of K–12 standards to help ensure that all students are college and career ready in literacy no later than the end of high school. The Standards aim to be research and evidence based, aligned with college and work expectations, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked. Until now, most states have had their own set of English language arts standards, meaning public education students at the same grade level in different states have been expected to achieve at different levels. It is believed that common standards will provide more clarity about and consistency in what is expected of student learning across the country. They will allow states to share information effectively and will help provide all students with an equal opportunity for an education that will prepare them to go to college or enter the workforce, regardless of where they live.

What’s Not Working? With all this focus on reading and education, one might won- der why scores have not dramatically changed for the better. Research suggests that using ineffective teaching methods along with instructional strategies that are without “enough research evidence” limit student mastery of essential skills and new concepts (Rosenshine 2012; Moats 2007; Sweet 2004). For example, even though extensive research clearly shows that students, regardless of their learning difficulties, reach higher and faster achievement with systematic and explicit instruc- tion, this type of instruction is still not always used (Gill and Kozloff 2004).

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

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Sources of Reading Failure Neurological factors

(brain metabolism)

Familial factors (environment)

Socioeconomic factors (poverty)

Instructional factors (teaching)

Educational standards help teachers ensure their

students have the skills and knowledge they

need to be successful by providing clear goals for

student learning. — C O M M O N C O R E

S T A T E S T A N D A R D S

I N I T I A T I V E , 2 0 1 2

CC S S

Online Source Common Core State Standards

Initiative

ô www.corestandards.org

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

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The Brain and Reading

Brain research is an area of scientific investigation looking for the best ways to teach students how to read. Functional mag- netic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology has allowed scien- tists to track brain activity. Researchers have discovered that the brain activation patterns of students with dyslexia and other poor readers are different from those of good readers.

Brain Geography The brain is made up of two mirror-image sides, or hemispheres. Each hemisphere of the brain is divided into four lobes, or sec- tions: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital. The left hemi- sphere of the brain is associated with speech, language processing, and reading. Within the left hemisphere, the frontal lobe con- trols speech, reasoning, planning, regulating emotions, and consciousness; the parietal lobe controls sensory perceptions as well as links spoken and written language to memory; the temporal lobe is involved in verbal memory; and the occipital lobe is important in the identification of letters (Hudson, High, and Al Otaiba 2007; Shaywitz 2005).

Within and between these lobes, there are areas that are espe- cially important for skilled reading: Broca’s area, the parieto- temporal area, and the occipito-temporal area (Shaywitz 2005). Broca’s area is important for the organization, production, and

parieto-temporal area

Broca’s area occipital lobe

cerebellumtemporal lobe

parietal lobe

frontal lobe

L E F T H E M I S P H E R E

O F T H E B R A I N

D Y S L E X I A

a specific learning disability

that is neurobiological

in origin; characterized by

difficulties with accurate

and/or fluent word

recognition and by poor

spelling and decoding

abilities

occipito-temporal area

Online Source IDA: International

Dyslexia Association

About Dyslexia

ô www.dyslexiaida.org

manipulation of language and speech (Joseph, Nobel, and Eden 2001). The parieto-temporal area analyzes words by pulling them apart and linking the letters to their sounds—conscious, effortful decoding (Shaywitz 2005). The occipito-temporal area identifies words rapidly and automatically on sight, instead of analyzing them sound by sound.

How the Brain Reads In her research, Shaywitz (2005) found that the parieto-temporal and occipito-temporal areas in the back of the brain are espe- cially important to skilled reading but have different roles. The parieto-temporal system’s slow, analytic, step-by-step decoding function seems to be relied upon more by beginning readers. In contrast, the occipito-temporal area is the “express pathway to reading.”

According to Shaywitz (2005), during brain imaging skilled readers show the highest level of activation of the occipito- temporal area. It is the hub where, for example, all the relevant incoming information about a word—how it looks, how it sounds, and what it means—is tightly bound together and stored. After a reader has analyzed and correctly read a word several times, then he or she forms a neural model of that specific word that is then stored permanently in the occipito-temporal area. After that, just seeing the word in print immediately activates the neural model and all the relevant information about that word. This all happens automatically, without the reader’s con- scious thought or effort.

As they read, good readers activate the back of the brain and also, to some extent, the Broca’s area in the front of the brain, an area that helps in slowly analyzing a word. On the other hand, poor readers underutilize the areas in the back of the brain. Evidence-based reading instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics can change brain activity in struggling readers and assist in the activation and use of the areas in the back of the brain (Shaywitz et al. 2004; Aylward et al. 2003).

At all ages, good readers show a consistent

pattern: strong activation in the back

of the brain with lesser activation in front. — S H A Y W I T Z , 2 0 0 5

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

The Big Picture

Sources Overcoming Dyslexia

Overcoming Dyslexia (2005) by

Sally Shaywitz, M.D. New York:

Vintage.

Proust and the Squid

Proust and the Squid: The Story

and Science of the Reading Brain

(2007) by Maryanne Wolf. New

York: Harper Perennial.

Scientific Approach to Reading Instruction

The term scientifically based reading instruction was first defined in the Reading Excellence Act of 1998 as “the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain valid knowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruc- tion, and reading difficulties.” According to Stanovich and Stanovich (2003), reflective teachers use scientific thinking every day—they “inquire into their own practice and . . . examine their own classrooms to find out what works best for them and their students.”

How to Recognize Effective Research Educators can use three simple questions to distinguish between research that confirms the effectiveness of an instructional practice and research that does not: (1) Has the research been published in a peer-reviewed journal? (2) Have the research results been replicated by other scientists? (3) Is there a con- sensus that the research findings are supported by other studies?

I N D E P E N D E N T P E E R R E V I E W Articles published in peer-reviewed journals have gone through a process of review. This process of quality control exposes ideas and experimenta- tion to examination and criticism by other scientists in the same field.

R E P L I C A T I O N O F R E S U L T S B Y O T H E R S C I E N T I S T S

To be considered scientifically based, a research finding must be presented in a way that enables other researchers to reach the same results when they repeat the experiment. True scientific knowledge is public and open to challenge.

C O N S E N S U S W I T H I N T H E R E S E A R C H C O M M U N I T Y

Scientists do not simply evaluate data from a single study; they evaluate data from many studies. Research findings are most often accepted after the scientific community agrees that suffi- cient evidence has converged to support one finding over another.

Research—when it is based on sound

scientific observation— provides reliable

information about what works and why and

how it works. — R E Y N A , 2 0 0 4

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

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Has the research been published in a peer-reviewed journal?

Have the research results been replicated by other scientists?

Is there a consensus that the research findings are supported by other studies?

Essential Components of Reading Instruction

Charged with conducting a rigorous and comprehensive review of reading research, the National Reading Panel (2000) pro- duced a report for Congress focused on five essential compo- nents of reading instruction: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. In addition to these components, the Sourcebook covers instruction in print aware- ness, letter knowledge, irregular words, and multisyllabic words.

Print Awareness Print awareness is knowing about the forms and the functions of print; it is a child’s earliest introduction to literacy (Gunn, Simmons, and Kame’enui 1998). Awareness of the forms of print includes knowledge about the conventions of print—conven- tions that govern the physical structure of written language and text organization. Students with print awareness know how to handle a book, where on a page to begin reading, and the dif- ference between a letter and a word. Awareness of the functions of print includes knowing that print is a communication device.

Letter Knowledge Letters are the components of written words. They represent sounds systematically in the spelling of words. Learning letters requires becoming familiar with 26 uppercase and 26 lowercase letter shapes and associating these letter shapes to their letter names. Handwriting practice helps young students to learn and recall letter shapes (Ehri and Roberts 2006; Berninger 1999).

Phonological Awareness Phonological awareness is an umbrella term that includes the awareness of the larger parts of spoken language, such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes—as well as the smaller parts, phonemes. A phoneme is the smallest unit of spoken language that makes a difference in a word’s meaning. For example, the phonemes /s / and /f / are different; the meaning of the word sat is different from the meaning of the word fat.

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

The Big Picture

SECTION II: EARLY LITERACY

Chapter 3: Print Awareness

Chapter 4: Letter Knowledge

Chapter 5: Phonological Awareness

S E E A L S O . . .B

Foundational skills . . . are necessary and important

components of an effective comprehensive

reading program designed to develop

proficient readers with the capacity to

comprehend texts . . . . — C O M M O N C O R E

S T A T E S T A N D A R D S , 2 0 1 0

CC S S

READING STANDARDS

Foundational Skills

Print Concepts

Demonstrate understanding

of the organization and basic

features of print. (RF.K-1.1)

Phonological Awareness

Demonstrate understanding

of spoken words, syllables, and

phonemes. (RF.K-1.2)

CC S S

According to the National Reading Panel (2000), phonemic awareness instruction is most effective when students are taught to use letters as they manipulate phonemes.

Phonics Phonics is a method of instruction that teaches students the systematic relationship between the letters and letter combina- tions (graphemes) in written language and the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken language and how to use these relation- ships to read and spell words. Phonics instruction—which is intended for beginning readers in the primary grades and for older students who are struggling to read—can help students learn how to convert the printed word into its spoken form (National Reading Panel 2000). This process, called decoding, involves looking at a word and connecting the letters and sounds and then blending those sounds together. Phonics instruction also helps students to understand the alphabetic principle— written letters represent spoken sounds. In other words, letters and sounds work together in systematic ways to allow spoken language to be written down and written language to be read.

Irregular Word Reading Not all words are regular or can be read by sounding them out. An irregular word contains one or more sound/spelling correspondences that a student does not know and therefore cannot use to decode the word. Within a reading program, there are basically two types of irregular words: words that are permanently irregular and words that are temporarily irregular (Carnine et al. 2006). Some of the most common words in English are irregular. These high-frequency words appear often in printed text and therefore are crucial for comprehension.

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

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SECTION III: DECODING AND

WORD RECOGNITION

Chapter 6: Phonics

Chapter 7: Irregular Word Reading

Chapter 8: Multisyllabic Word Reading

S E E A L S O . . .B

READING STANDARDS

Foundational Skills

Phonics and Word Recognition

Know and apply grade-level

phonics and word analysis skills

in decoding words. (RF.K-5.3)

CC S S

Multisyllabic Word Reading While phonics instruction gives students the basic tools to decode most single-syllable words, explicit instruction in rec- ognizing syllables and morphemes gives students additional strategies for reading longer multisyllabic words. To read words in text fluently and accurately, the brain’s orthographic proces- sor must learn to “see” common letter patterns and recurring word parts (Moats 2005). In multisyllabic words, these multi- letter patterns, or “chunks,” may be syllables, affixes, or phono- grams (Ehri 2002).

Fluency According to Hudson, Lane, and Pullen (2005), reading fluency is made up of at least three key elements: “accurate reading of connected text at a conversational rate with appropriate prosody or expression.” Each of these elements—accuracy, rate, and prosody—has a clear connection to reading comprehension. Differences in reading fluency distinguish good readers from poor; a lack of reading fluency is a good predictor of reading comprehension problems (Stanovich 1991). Teachers can think of reading fluency as a bridge between the two major compo- nents of reading—decoding and comprehension.

Vocabulary Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. It occupies an important position both in learning to read and in comprehending text (National Reading Panel 2000). According to Michael Graves (2000), there are four components of an effective vocabulary program: (1) wide or extensive independent reading to expand word knowledge, (2) instruction in specific words to enhance comprehension of texts containing those words, (3) instruction in independent word-learning strategies, and (4) word consciousness and word-play activities to motivate and enhance learning. Not surprisingly, vocabulary development is especially important for English-language learners (ELLs).

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

The Big Picture

SECTION IV: READING FLUENCY

Chapter 9: Fluency Assessment

Chapter 10: Fluency Instruction

S E E A L S O . . .B

SECTION V: VOCABULARY

Chapter 11: Specific Word Instruction

Chapter 12: Word-Learning Strategies

Chapter 13: Word Consciousness

S E E A L S O . . .B

READING STANDARDS

Foundational Skills

Fluency

Read with sufficient accuracy

and fluency to support compre-

hension. (RF.1-5.4)

CC S S

LANGUAGE STANDARDS

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

Determine or clarify the meaning

of unknown and multiple-mean-

ing words and phrases. (CCR.4)

Demonstrate understanding of

figurative language, word rela-

tionships, and nuances in word

meanings. (CCR.5)

Acquire and use accurately a

range of general academic and

domain-specific words and

phrases. (CCR.6)

CC S S

Comprehension Reading comprehension is the process of extracting and con- structing meaning from written texts. It has three key elements— the text, the reader, and the activity and related tasks (RAND Reading Study Group 2002; Snow 2003). Good comprehen- sion instruction requires teachers to consider all of these factors. More important, it involves showing students how these factors affect their understanding when reading. Recent innovations in comprehension instruction have been built on a foundation of what good readers do. Research has shown that the effective reading processes, or strategies, of good readers can be explic- itly taught and that doing so improves comprehension (National Reading Panel 2000).

Reading Assessment

Scientifically based research studies have repeatedly demon- strated the value of regularly assessing students’ reading progress (e.g., Fuchs and Fuchs 1999; Shinn 1998). Reliable and valid assessments help monitor the effectiveness of instruction. An assessment is reliable if it provides a dependable, consistent mea- surement of a particular trait or ability; it is valid if it actually measures that trait or ability (Torgesen 2006).

Types of Assessment There are basically four types of assessments—screening, progress monitoring, diagnostic, and outcome. Screening assessments identify those students who are at risk for reading difficulty. If screening results indicate a potential difficulty, the student is usually provided with additional support and increased progress monitoring. In cases where screening results indicate a severe reading problem, immediate diagnostic evaluation may be warranted. Diagnostic assessment is usually reserved for stu- dents who, according to progress monitoring, fail to respond to additional support (Hosp, Hosp, and Howell 2007).

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

The Big Picture

SECTION VI: COMPREHENSION

Chapter 14: Literary Text

Chapter 15: Informational Text

S E E A L S O . . .B

MTSS for Reading Success, p. 743

S E E A L S O . . .B

READING STANDARDS

Literature • Informational Text

Key Ideas and Details

Craft and Structure

Integration of Knowledge and

Ideas

Range of Reading and Level of

Text Complexity

CC S S

T E X T C O M P L E X I T Y

the inherit difficulty of

reading and comprehending

a text combined with reader

and task variables

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

The Big Picture

Reading Assessments

T Y P E

Screening

Progress Monitoring

Curriculum Embedded

General or External

Diagnostic

Outcome

P U R P O S E

• To identify students who are at risk for

reading difficulty and may benefit from

additional support

• To determine the most appropriate

starting point for instruction

• To determine whether students are

making adequate progress

• To determine whether instruction needs

to be adjusted

• To measure the extent to which students

have learned the material taught in a

specific reading program

• To measure critical reading skills

(phonological awareness, phonics,

fluency, vocabulary, or comprehension)

in general

• To predict success in meeting grade-

level standards by the end of the year

• To pinpoint a student’s specific area

of weakness

• To provide in-depth information about

students’ skills and instructional needs

• To provide a bottom-line evaluation of

the overall effectiveness of a reading

program

A D M I N I S T R A T I O N

• To elementary students, three

times a year (e.g., fall, winter,

spring)

• To secondary students, at the

end of the previous school year

• To students reading at the

expected level, three times a year

• To students reading below the

expected level, monthly or

bimonthly

• To students reading significantly

below the expected level,

weekly or biweekly

• Only after other forms of assess-

ment reveal that an individual

student is reading below the

expected level or not making

sufficient progress

• To all students, at the end of the

school year or semester

�

Comprehensive Assessment Plan Assessment not only directs students’ reading development, but also supports educators by helping them to make instructional decisions and monitor program implementation (Diamond 2005). According to Torgesen (2006), a comprehensive assess- ment plan is “a critical element of an effective school-level plan for preventing reading difficulties.” The plan has four main objectives which correspond roughly to the types of assess- ment: (1) to identify students at the beginning of the school year who are at risk for reading difficulties and who may need extra support or intervention, (2) to monitor students’ progress during the school year to determine whether the at-risk students are making adequate progress and to identify any other stu- dents who may be falling behind, (3) to collect student assess- ment data that inform instruction, and (4) to assess whether instruction is sufficient enough to ensure that all students achieve grade-level expectations.

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is an assessment tool that usually includes a set of standard directions, a timing device, a set of passages, scoring rules, standards for judging performance, and record forms or charts (Hosp et al. 2007). With CBM students are tested on the curriculum they are being taught. Because CBM emphasizes repeated measurement over time, it is often used for progress monitoring. Reading CBM consists of oral reading fluency (ORF) and maze passage read- ing. In ORF CBM, students read aloud from a passage for one minute. In Maze CBM, students read a passage silently for one minute. In the passage, every seventh word has been replaced with a word choice. As they read, students choose the one out of three words that makes sense within the sentence context.

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

The Big Picture

Chapter 9: Fluency Assessment

S E E A L S O . . .B

MTSS for Reading Success, p. 743

S E E A L S O . . .B

Downward Spiral of Reading Failure

Early assessment is one of the best ways to prevent the down- ward spiral of reading failure; it serves to identify students who need extra help in reading before they experience serious failure—or “catch them before they fall” (Torgesen 1998). The sooner an intervention occurs, the more likely students will regain ground (Torgesen 1998, 2004). Studies show that students who are poor readers at the end of first grade almost never acquire average-level reading skills by the end of elementary school (Francis et al. 1996; Shaywitz et al. 1999; Torgesen and Burgess 1998). This delayed development of reading skills affects students’ exposure to text. Having less exposure to text prevents readers from fully developing language, vocabulary, and back- ground knowledge, therefore adding to the downward spiral in which students have a difficult time ever catching up (Stanovich 1986, 1993). Stanovich calls this phenomenon the “Matthew effects,” in which students who learn to read early continue improving and thus get “richer.” But students who do not learn to read early continue to struggle, faced with harder and harder text, and so become “poorer” and increasingly distanced from the students “rich” in reading ability. The term refers to a Bible verse in the Book of Matthew.

The Fourth-Grade Slump According to Jeanne Chall’s stages of reading development (1983, 1996), reading is a process that changes as the reader becomes more able and proficient. Generally, Stages 1 and 2 (Grades 1–3) are characterized as a period when students are “learning to read,” and Stages 3–5 (Grades 4 and above) are characterized as a period of “reading to learn.” In the learning-to-read stage, students typically read simple texts containing familiar words within their oral vocabularies and knowledge base. In the reading-to-learn stage, students read increasingly more demand- ing academic texts containing challenging words and complex concepts beyond their oral vocabularies and knowledge base. In the critical transition period, from Stage 2 to Stage 3, from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” teachers have often

Stumbling Blocks to Becoming a Proficient Reader

Difficulty learning to read

words accurately and fluently

Insufficient vocabulary, general

knowledge, and reasoning skills

to support comprehension of

written language

Absence or loss of initial

motivation to read, or failure to

develop a mature appreciation

of the rewards of reading

Snow, Burns, and Griffin 1998.

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

M A T T H E W E F F E C T S

A term used to describe a

negative spiral in which good

readers get increasingly

“richer” in reading ability,

while nonproficient readers

get increasingly “poorer.”

The Big Picture

noticed an apparently sudden drop-off in reading scores, par- ticularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged students (Chall and Jacobs 2003). This phenomenon has been referred to as the “fourth-grade slump.” To combat the fourth-grade slump, Chall and Jacobs (2003) recommend focusing on vocabulary development to expand students’ word knowledge along with reading fluency and automaticity.

Motivation and Interest in Reading There is often a decline in motivation and interest in reading in students who at first had difficulty in learning to read (Eccles et al. 1993; McKenna, Kear, and Ellsworth 1995). According to Torgesen et al. (2007), this lack of motivation has “two unfor- tunate consequences, both of which have a direct impact on the growth of reading proficiency in adolescents.” The first con- sequence is that students with low motivation and interest in reading do not read as much. The second is that students who are less motivated to read are usually less interested in fully understanding what they are reading (Guthrie et al. 2004).

Anderson (1996) suggests that “reading books may be a cause, not merely a reflection, of students’ level of reading proficiency.” In a study of fifth graders, Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding (1988) found a positive relationship between the amount of students’ out-of-school, independent reading and measures of reading comprehension, vocabulary, and reading speed. The table on the facing page shows staggering differences in fifth graders’ reading habits; students in the 90th percentile spent more than 200 times as many minutes reading than students in the 10th percentile.

Academic Language

Dutro and Moran (2003) define academic language as “the lan- guage of texts, of academic discussion, and of formal writing.” It is the advanced form of language needed to communicate successfully in formal, often academic, situations. Many skills

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

Section V: Vocabulary

S E E A L S O . . .B

Fundamentals of Comprehension, p. 609

Motivation and Engagement with

Reading, p. 695

S E E A L S O . . .B

The Big Picture

One of the most compelling findings from recent reading

research is that children who get off to a

poor start in reading rarely catch up.

— T O R G E S E N , 1 9 9 8

are wrapped up in the concept of academic language. Compo- nents of academic language include vocabulary knowledge, syntax (sentence architecture), and rules of grammar. Academic vocabulary consists of both specialized, content-specific words such as phoneme or morpheme and highly utilized terms such as cognitive or diagnostic.

In terms of exposing students to new academic vocabulary, speech is far more limited than written language. According to an analysis by Hayes and Ahrens (1988), students are more likely to encounter a word outside their academic vocabularies from a printed text than from a television show or a conversa- tion with a college-educated adult. In fact, the text of a chil- dren’s book contains more rare words than does any kind of oral language. The table on the following page shows selected statistics from Hayes and Ahrens’ analysis.

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

The Big Picture

To be successful academically, students

need to develop the specialized language

of academic discourse that is distinct from

conversational language. — F R A N C I S E T A L . , 2 0 0 6

Variation in Amount of Independent Reading

Percentile Rank a Minutes of Reading per Day Words Read per Year

B O O K S T E X T b B O O K S T E X T b

98 65.0 67.3 4,358,000 4,733,000

90 21.2 33.4 1,823,000 2,357,000

80 14.2 24.6 1,146,000 1,697,000

70 9.6 16.9 622,000 1,168,000

60 6.5 13.1 432,000 722,000

50 4.6 9.2 282,000 601,000

40 3.2 6.2 200,000 421,000

30 1.8 4.3 106,000 251,000

20 .7 2.4 21,000 134,000

10 .1 1.0 8,000 51,000

2 0 0 0 8,000

a Percentile rank on each measure separately. b Books, magazines, and newspapers. Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding 1988.

Differentiated Instruction

Students come to school with a wide variety of skills, abilities, and interests as well as varying proficiency in English and other languages. Some students struggle, while others are right on level or even above it. Diverse learners demand instruction that supports their special needs. This differentiated instruction meets the needs of students with reading difficulties, students with disabilities, advanced learners, and English-language learners.

Common Profiles of Reading Difficulties Struggling readers are not all exactly alike. According to Louise Spear-Swerling (2015), research on different types of reading diffi- culties suggests that three broad profiles of reading problems are common to students learning to read English: specific word- recognition difficulties (SWRD), specific reading comprehension difficulties (SRCD), and mixed reading difficulties (MRD).

RANK OF MEDIAN WORD RARE WORDS PER 1,000

1. Printed texts

Abstracts of scientific articles 4,389 128.0

Newspapers 1,690 68.3

Popular magazines 1,399 65.7

Adult books 1,058 52.7

Comic books 867 53.5

Children’s books 627 30.9

Preschool books 578 16.3

2. Television texts

Popular prime-time adult shows 490 22.7

Popular prime-time children’s shows 543 20.2

Cartoon shows 598 30.8

Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street 413 2.0

3. Adult speech

Expert witness testimony 1,008 28.4

College graduates to friends, spouses 496 17.3

Hayes and Ahrens 1988.

Selected Statistics for Major Sources of Spoken and Written Language (Sample Means)

MTSS for Reading Success, p. 743

S E E A L S O . . .B

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

The Big Picture

Source The Power of RTI and

Reading Profiles

The Power of RTI and Reading

Profiles: A Blueprint for Solving

Reading Problems (2015)

by Louise Spear-Swerling.

Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

In general, a SWRD profile is relatively more common in k–3 beginning readers, and a SRCD profile is more common in older struggling readers. For example, according to Leach and col- leagues (2003), approximately 49% of reading problems in Grades k–3 involved the SWRD profile, 6% involved the SRCD profile, and 46% involved the MRD profile. After Grade 3, the proportions of the profiles were similar with each constituting roughly one-third of the struggling readers.

English-Language Learners (ELLs) The U.S. Department of Education defines ELLs as “national- origin-minority students who are limited-English proficient.” The population of ELLs in public schools continues to grow.

The Big Picture

Common Profiles of Reading Difficulties

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

English-Language Learner

Common Profile

Specific Word-Recognition

Difficulties (SWRD)

Average or better listening

comprehension and oral

vocabulary

Specific Reading Comprehension

Difficulties (SRCD)

No history of word-recognition

or phonological difficulties

Mixed Reading Difficulties

(MRD)

Based on Spear-Swerling 2015.

Common Patterns

Nonalphabetic word

readers

Inaccurate word

readers

Nonautomatic word

readers

Nonstrategic

comprehenders

Suboptimal

comprehenders

SWRD

SRCD

Specific Patterns

• Limited phonological awareness

• Limited knowledge of letter sounds

• No ability to decode unknown words

• Some phonological awareness

• Some knowledge of letter sounds

• Lack fully accurate decoding skills

• Lack automatic word recognition

• Poor multisyllabic word reading

• Lack comprehension strategies

• Lack higher-order comprehension

skills (e.g., evaluating)

• Have comprehension strategies

• Nonalphabetic, inaccurate, or

nonautomatic word reading

• Areas of comprehension weakness

T H E B I G P I C T U R E

English-Language Learners

in Public Schools

Language Percentage

Spanish 77.1%

Arabic 2.3%

Chinese 2.2%

Vietnamese 1.8%

Hmong .8%

National Center for Educational Statistics 2016.

Acquiring reading skills in a second

language is similar to the process of acquiring

reading skills in a first language.

— F R A N C I S E T A L . , 2 0 0 6

The Big Picture

In school year 2014–15, 4.6 million students in the United States were ELLs, or 9.4 percent (National Center for Education Statistics 2016).

Educating English-language learners has become both a chal- lenge and a necessity across the country. The National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth (August and Shanahan 2006) published the following findings:

• As is for native English speakers, the essential components of effective reading instruction—phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension—have a positive influence on the literacy development of ELLs.

• Instruction in the essential components of reading is neces- sary—but not sufficient—for teaching ELLs to read and write proficiently in English. ELL students need more work in oral language development, vocabulary, and text comprehension than native English speakers.

• ELLs enter classrooms with varying degrees of oral profi- ciency and literacy in their first language. Tapping into first- language literacy can confer advantages to ELLs and can be used to facilitate literacy development in English.

Francis et al. (2006) make the following recommendations for planning effective reading instruction and interventions for ELLs: (1) build decoding skills through early, explicit, and intensive instruction in phonological awareness and phonics, (2) offer additional opportunities for the development of in- depth vocabulary knowledge, (3) provide the strategies and knowledge necessary to comprehend challenging literary and informational texts, (4) focus instruction in reading fluency on vocabulary and increased exposure to print, (5) supply sig- nificant opportunities for students to engage in structured, academic talk, and (6) ensure that independent reading is structured and purposeful, with good reader–text match.

ELL Index, p. 826

S E E A L S O . . .B