A Roundup of Reading Research

Get the facts when you’re teaching a child how to read.

I have a child with dyslexia and one of my biggest ambitions is to help my children love reading. Mrs. Grace Adkins in our learning lab is an invaluable help in this way and sent me some links to current research on the topic. I may not be an official “reading” teacher but I am my child’s reading teacher.

I cried this summer when my fourth grader became so fluent that he’s poured through one of the Chroncile of Narnia books and is now on his second book. He reads every night with me – we take turns and he’s nailing it. I really wondered if I’d ever see the day. We’ve done multisensory everything, spent summers, extra help, whatever it takes. Reading opens up the world and is dear to my heart. I love it and I want my children to love it too!

A book recommendation from Mrs. Adkins
Mrs. Adkins just sent me a note recommending this book: Ready to Read: A Multisensory Approach to Language-based Comprehension Instruction  and also sent some other resources across my desk for looking at the research behind teaching reading.

Read up on Reading Research
You don’t have to be the expert to read what the experts say and break it down into practice. As I”ve shared before, it is appalling that so few people like to read and how many never pick up another book after high school or college. (See my post Time to Get Angry About Reading.)

I’ve got a whole list of reading resources I’ve pulled from the web in a Diigo list, so please take a look, but here is a list of some great PDF’s that you’ll want to read.

Round Up of Reading Research

Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading International Dyslexia Association

This guide is from Dr. Louisa C. Moats and the International Dyslexia Association. It bridges research into practice to create a “research-based tool for practitioners.” These are the standards used by the IDI to guide teachers of reading, spelling, and writing.

the Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read

The updated 2006 copy of the National Reading Panel teacher’s guide to give a framework for using the findings of the 200 national Reading Panel in the classroom. This is another guidebook for teachers and curriculum directors.

Teaching Reading: Report and Recommendations, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy

This December 2005 report talks about best practices in teaching literacy. For those of you who like to review best practices from around the world, this came in from the International Dyslexia Association in their Summer 2011 Perspectives on Language and Literacy “Global Perspectives” column.

Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading : The Department for Education

Here is another study for literacy people. This report from the UK talks about effective teacher training and good teaching methods but interestingly talks about early reading instruction and the debates surrounding whole language and constructivism.

Remember your noble calling, teacher. Take time to read and learn — you expect your students to do it too!