Article by Joseph Bilas, TPT Staff Writer

The Problem

The nation’s reading crisis has been quietly brewing for some time. While 95% of all people have the ability to become proficient readers, only 54% of Americans age 16 to 74 can read at or below a 5th grade level. Moreover, 93 million Americans read at or below the basic levels needed to contribute to society—despite the fact that according to an EAB research briefing, “most living-wage jobs require proficient readers.”

Not only are we leaving behind adults, we are failing to equip the next generation of Americans to succeed. In November of 2022, ProsperityforAmerica.org reported that only 35% of 4th graders in public schools have developed proficient reading skills—a grim fact, as most students unable to read proficiently by third grade “never reach reading proficiency in future grades.” This means that at best, only about half of today’s 4th graders will have proficient reading skills by the time they enter the job market.

As future employment remains questionable, the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation reports that 2/3rds of children who can’t read proficiently by the end of 4th grade end up in jail or on welfare. In fact, 70% of those in prison are not able to read above a fourth grade level. Even the Department of Justice acknowledges the association between “academic failure and crime.” When reading rates suffer, so do crime rates, and so does our economy. Even though all seems lost, the Science of Reading lights the way.

In this article, we’ll first explain a common misconception which may shed light on why our nation has a reading crisis, then we’ll understand how the brain learns to read, and how teachers can enable our brains to read. Once we connect all the dots, we’ll bridge the gap between today’s crisis, and tomorrow’s solution. Let’s get started.

*Photo via We Are Teachers/Getty Images*

A Common Misconception

While many people believe reading to be a natural skill we can learn on our own—like walking—this is not accurate. Although it’s true that our brains have naturally evolved to speak like we learn to walk, this is the result of spoken language being around for over 200,000 years—plenty of time for our brains to evolve. Systems of writing, however, have only been around for the past 5,500 years, only a small fraction of the time spoken language has existed. Reading isn’t a natural skill. Instead, it must be taught and preserved, similar to how we build and maintain muscle.

How do we learn to read?

Neuroscience has found there to be no one part of the brain that can perform all functions required to read; instead, there are four distinct regions responsible for these tasks. First is the visual cortex which recognizes letters and words. Think of this as the cameraman of the brain. Next is the auditory cortex which processes what we hear. Think of our ears as the microphone, and our auditory cortex as the sound technician operating the microphone.

Then we have the angular gyrus whose main task is to associate words and letters with sounds. Think of this as the editor responsible for putting both sight and sound together. Once combined, the fourth region of the brain—the frontal lobe—processes it. Think of it as the director, as its main function is to understand the previously combined sight and sound. Not only does most reading comprehension take place in the frontal lobe, it also controls our reading fluency, which is the rate at which we take in and process sights and sounds. All four of these regions must be connected for us to read.

Two Skills

Only reading the words is not enough; at its core, the goal of reading is to understand. This is called reading comprehension, and it’s the result of two main skills: our ability to decode, and our ability to apply a vast knowledge of linguistics. Both must be developed simultaneously.

The skill of decoding, according to ReadingHorizons.com, is “the process of translating print into speech by rapidly matching a letter or combination of letters to their sounds.” Essentially, reading words. To be proficient readers, we must reach the level of skill required to properly read words we’ve never seen before.

The second skill in reading comprehension is linguistics, which refers to a wide range of abilities including but not limited to: our ability to recognize words by sight, understand the meaning of a text, engage in meaningful discussion about it, develop and use a broad vocabulary, understand grammar, and synthesizing prior knowledge with new knowledge gathered from a text. Essentially, it’s our ability to extract meaning from the words and build this new knowledge into our larger understanding of the world.

What’s important to note is that proficient readers are strong in both decoding and linguistics. A weakness in one category cannot be made up for by a strength in another. This means you could be the world’s best decoder, but if your linguistics are lacking, your decoding skills don't matter.

Now, in order for students to develop their decoding skills and build their linguistic knowledge, teachers must first build connections between those four regions of the brain we talked about. To do this, teachers must use explicit and systematic instructional practices.

Explicit and Systematic Instruction

Let’s break down what “explicit and systematic instruction” means and why it’s important. First, explicit instruction means that content is, according to the Literary Nest, “clearly explained and defined.” Moreover, teachers must model these skills by providing demonstrations themselves, and other examples. From a student’s perspective, there should be no room for guessing.

Second, systematic instruction means lessons and activities are broken down into manageable pieces, and taught in a sequence that moves from simple skills to more complex ones. Oftentimes, in order to develop the more complex skills, students must first learn the many smaller skills. This is why the order in which kids take in and understand new information is important.

Although not stated, successful explicit and systematic instruction includes a third component: opportunities for kids to practice. Not only does this help students solidify these skills, it provides time for teachers to identify areas of progress as well as struggle. As a result, teachers can then tailor future reading instruction to meet each individual student's needs—ensuring everyone develops the full skill set required to read.

In summary, we can think of teachers as part of the construction crew responsible for building the infrastructure that transports information from one region of the brain to another. When all four of these regions can work together, children can learn to read.

The Science of Reading

With all of this under our belt, we can finally connect the dots and define the Science of Reading—sort of. There’s actually no one way to define the Science of Reading. The main reason there’s no single definition is to ensure scientists, teachers, and other professionals take an open minded approach to new research. After all, science is an ever changing field. As a result, the best way to describe the Science of Reading is through three main points:

First, the Science of Reading encompasses research from four different areas: linguistics, education, psychology, and neuroscience. We actually began our conversation with a deep dive into part of this neuroscience, and it leads to the second main point, which is the understanding of 5 “key components” to reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Think of reading comprehension as the goal, decoding and linguistics as skills required to meet this goal, and the other 4 key components as part of what develops these skills. The third and final point is that teachers must use explicit and systematic instructional practices rooted in these 5 key components to aid kids in developing these skills.

In the classroom, lessons will vary depending on which key component teachers are focusing on. For instance, if phonics is the focus, teachers will work to link a letter, such as “E,” to its sound. The teacher will do this by showing students the letter and saying, “this is the letter E, and E says ‘eh.’” This is the explicit instruction we discussed. Then the teacher links this letter to a word such as “echo.” Next, the student writes the letter while saying the sound multiple times. This is done to connect those different parts of the brain which develops the students decoding skills. Lastly, the student will read different words containing the letter. While this is an extremely simplified version of what actually goes on in the classroom, it provides a general view of how reading is taught.

Now that we have an understanding of these three points, an example of how they play out in the classroom, as well as a good idea of how the Science of Reading works, we can now turn to address our current school system.

Today

As we discussed in the beginning, 95% of all children have the capacity to read. EAB’s Research Brief outlines this further: About 30% of children will learn to read regardless of instructional practices used; all that matters is that they’re in a classroom. The majority of kids, roughly 50%, will learn to read only through explicit and systematic instruction. 15% of kids have reading deficiencies and will require specialized reading instruction, sometimes from certified specialists, in a smaller setting. The most effective instruction is delivered one-on-one and could be both inside or outside of school. Many times, outside instruction is critical—I, myself, benefited greatly from afternoon tutoring at the kitchen table, and wouldn’t be here writing for you today if I hadn’t been tutored. Lastly, 5% of children are cognitively impaired, meaning reading will be a challenge throughout most of their life.

Our new understanding of how children learn to read leads us to two new questions we must be asking: One, “do our educators know how to teach reading?” And two, “do our schools have the capability to teach every child—regardless of what instructional practices they need—to read?”

In 2019, a poll conducted by Education Week revealed that 72% of teachers used a balanced literacy approach when teaching reading. Balanced literacy is a philosophy—not backed by evidence—in which teachers foster reading skills through a variety of different texts and teaching practices that, according to Fountas and Pinnell, “create authentic experiences in reading, thinking, talking, writing, and reflecting to realize what it truly means to live a literate life.”

The biggest issue with balanced literacy is that it teaches reading under the assumption that students already have the brain infrastructure—connections between different regions—they need to read. We know this assumption is false. At the same time, it’s important to understand this because it explains why our nation’s reading crisis has persisted for so long.

Where do we go from here?

The science is clear, so why are our schools still failing? One contributing factor is that 60% of teachers have never been trained in the Science of Reading. Another variable is the lack of resources schools have to assist kids with reading deficiencies who are falling behind. While these problems continue, some states have already begun to fix them.

For starters, as of July of 2022, 29 states have passed “Science of Reading” laws. All of these laws are different, but the main idea is to ensure teachers used evidence-based reading instruction in the classroom. For example, Arkansas’ 2017 law “requires K-6 teachers to demonstrate proficiency in scientific reading instruction and requires all other teachers, and administrators, to demonstrate ‘awareness’ of it.” In Colorado, not only are school districts required to “provide evidence-based reading curriculum and instruction,” the state requires every kindergarten through third grade teacher to “complete training based in the science of reading.”

While both of these examples are great, the most effective way to solve the crisis for good is to reframe how we educate our educators. California is doing exactly that in two ways. First, “colleges and universities must demonstrate that they're preparing teachers to deliver ‘foundational reading skills’ instruction, including for English learners.” Secondly, they’re updating teaching requirements so that “elementary and special education teacher candidates will have to pass a new credentialing assessment.” This means teachers will not be certified to teach in California unless they can sufficiently demonstrate their Science of Reading knowledge.

While 29 states is more than half, it's not all—there’s still more work to do. If you attend or know of a school with poor reading rates, inquire into whether they’re using the Science of Reading. If the response is, “yes, we’re using phonics,” (phonics is only one of five key components) ask if teachers have been certified in Science of Reading programs such as LETRS or Orton-Gillingham. If the answer is “no,” or “I don’t know,” it may be time to run for your local school board, or encourage someone else who can. At the end of the day, these schools are owned by the communities they serve. It’s up to us to ensure they’re operating at their best, so the next generation of Americans can operate at their best.

The views articulated in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official stances of The Progressive Teen or High School Democrats of America.

The Science to Solving the Reading Crisis