Legislative leaders and education advocates hash out an 11th hour measure that will enable schools to deploy the "science of reading" - as long as they're careful not to call it that. Sheesh.
Hi Sameth, Sorry for the confusion. The Science of Reading is a highly researched approach to reading instruction that includes teaching the foundational components that include phonics, in addition to print concepts, phonological awareness, word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary. This is a big step forward, and a completely different approach than what has been referred to as "balanced literacy," or the three-cueing method, that relied more on identifying words using pictures, guesswork, and contextual clues. Thankfully this "balanced literacy" approach has fallen out of favor with Science of Reading replacing it with good results where it's been implemented with fidelity, solid leadership and extensive support and professional development for educators and classroom teacher. It would be nice if we could actually call it what it is! Thanks for your interest.--Cheri Rae
I’m confused about what were some of the objections to phonics…?
Does teaching phonics mean that the old way, whole language or whatever it’s called, can’t also be included …somehow?
Hi Sameth, Sorry for the confusion. The Science of Reading is a highly researched approach to reading instruction that includes teaching the foundational components that include phonics, in addition to print concepts, phonological awareness, word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary. This is a big step forward, and a completely different approach than what has been referred to as "balanced literacy," or the three-cueing method, that relied more on identifying words using pictures, guesswork, and contextual clues. Thankfully this "balanced literacy" approach has fallen out of favor with Science of Reading replacing it with good results where it's been implemented with fidelity, solid leadership and extensive support and professional development for educators and classroom teacher. It would be nice if we could actually call it what it is! Thanks for your interest.--Cheri Rae