Speaking as the parent of a toddler here, educational materials for parents imply a much larger effect. There is also so much focus on coaching parents on child-directed speech, which the paper notes in passing isn’t really evidence based.

This is very cool

Such an important study. @florinaerbeli.bsky.social is doing phenomenal research.

Here is a newish paper about a full class reading intervention in upper elementary, with Sounds Write. Not sure what to make of the strong relative performance on standardized tests vs modest gains on normed assessments. But it looks pretty good: www.cmjpublishers.com/wp-content/u...

“A one-time meeting and a box of materials won’t cut it. [Teachers] need learning opportunities, resources and in-class coaching. And they should not have to spend their own time and money seeking out training.” @j-metsala.bsky.social macleans.ca/the-year-ahe...

Did you know that Julia Donaldson - of The Gruffalo, etc - wrote a series of delightful decodeable readers? They are my favourites. This one is mostly consonant digraphs: www.amazon.ca/Read-Oxford-...

So are we going to apply this standard to Orton Gillingham too? Because the evidence there is not great, as I understand it.

A class-action lawsuit filed today claims that the educational publishing company Heinemann falsely advertised its products as “research-backed” and “data-based.” www.apmreports.org/story/2024/1...

I’m still thinking about this defense of balanced literacy from one of North America’s biggest school boards.

Wishing had made this its own thread, so bumping it up here. It doesn’t matter how great your program is if teachers can’t get through it in the time available.

I’ve been collecting examples of how increased awareness of SOR has led to surface/incomplete understandings that get translated into sub-optimal (though well-intended) instructional practice. Do you have any examples to share?

Hmm: “As it has developed so far, the ‘science of reading’ approach […] too has been developed by educators with little background in cognitive science and marketed to other educators with even less.” seidenbergreading.net/2024/11/21/c...

Is there a best practice for assessing speech in bilingual children when it's not clear which language is stronger? My quick google suggests ideally they would be assessed in both languages. I am curious about some articulation differences, phonemic awareness and receptive vocabulary.

I use a linguistic literacy program, and in general we talk about sound spellings and not silent letters. I'm not aware of any research on this pretty fine distinction but here's one interesting case study. 1/

Another parent once told me in a hushed tone that teaching her own child with 100 Easy Lessons “kind of fixed my own reading.”

So how is this going for TDSB students? Well on page 20, we see that 50% of first grade students were at grade level last year. There is no assessment mentioned, but I gather they are using DRA.

The Toronto District School Board is the largest in Canada, and one of the largest in North America, with ~238,000 students. They recently published a new literacy strategy. Let's read it together. You can follow along here: www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/lite...

The Toronto District School Board is the largest in Canada, and one of the largest in North America, with ~238,000 students. They recently published a new literacy strategy. Let's read it together. You can follow along here: www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/lite...

This puzzles me. A skilled, fluent reader cannot stop themselves from reading a word they have mapped when their eyes fall on it. Just try to look at any word in this sentence without reading it. If motivation is required to decode, doesn't that suggest the student still needs support?

This is a great episode - I leap at any opportunity to learn from @trttricia.bsky.social. Too much to summarize here, but I appreciate her commitment to developing tools that non-experts can use. podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/e...

"Teaching three-cueing is a bad idea. I agree with that. Students shouldn’t be taught to use pictures, meaning, context, or syntax to guess at the words. They should be taught to decode words. But that doesn’t mean banning three-cueing is sensible."

**New paper** in Nature Human Behaviour shows that pupils in low- and middle-income countries #LMICs are failing to acquire the most basic skills needed for reading comprehension. Evidence-aligned #phonics instruction needed to meet global literacy goals #SDGs www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A new social network is a good excuse to post one of my favourite videos of real life reading instruction, from Ann Sullivan of Phonics for SEN. Imagine if all students with complex needs had access to this kind of instruction: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mB2...