With each new study on the impact of the pandemic on K-12 education, a more complete picture develops as to the state of literacy in the United States. Spoiler alert: it’s terrible! The lowest scores in 30 years, to be precise. Studies have revealed that students in grades K-3 during the pandemic felt the greatest impact and experienced the highest difficulty with online learning. These also happen to be the grades where students learn foundational literacy skills– phonics, decoding, vocabulary, and building a base of general knowledge that students access for reading comprehension. Four years out, there is a cascade effect. Those 2020 K-3 students are now 4th-7th graders facing the potential risk of the worst learning outcomes due to gaps in their core reading education.
Enter the Science of Reading
In response to these dramatically low scores, educators and learning specialists have returned to the drawing board to examine best practices when teaching reading. While the pandemic may have been the final straw that broke the camel’s back, it’s only because reading scores had been dropping long before school closures and online learning. New educational reforms and legislation are now reverting to methods used to teach previous generations of students to read based on scientific evidence from decades of reading research studies. Ironically, to understand how the science of reading informs best practices in literacy instruction, we need to look at reading like a math equation. Reading research has determined that reading comprehension (RC) is achieved by effective decoding (D) of words and language comprehension (LC) through prior knowledge.
In other words, RC = D x LC.
How is this achieved?
A convergence of evidence across tens of thousands of studies provides a blueprint for the necessary base components of effective early literacy instruction: phonics and decoding, vocabulary and word recognition, reading out loud, and metacognition. But what do these concepts look like in practice, and how do they impact early literacy?
Parents of intermediate and middle school students may notice reading difficulties in this age group, especially compared to older siblings. That difficulty may result from a gap in foundational reading skills due to the pandemic, and it won’t go away on its own without intervention. Assessing reading ability is critical to ensure that reading comprehension struggles aren’t part of a larger problem. If unrelated to an undiagnosed learning disorder, that assessment will help identify gaps in reading skills, creating the struggle. The good news is that it’s never too late to learn how to read effectively.
LTWN 360 and Readers classes reinforce literacy skills through in-depth book studies and vocabulary building. Read-aloud and class discussions allow students to practice reading aloud with support from their teachers, who can provide context, meaning, and analysis of their text to strengthen comprehension. If your middle or intermediate students struggle with reading, they may be missing core literacy skills needed for academic success. Check out our catalog pages for the 360 and Readers classes for more information on how these classes may help your students fill the gap in their literacy skills.
Some people are born naturally argumentative. Not in the confrontational way we associate with the word "argument." Instead, they seemed primed to be lawyers from a young age, turning every conversation into a debate. Certain personalities exhibit an innate understanding of the logic, critical thinking, and nuance of argument. Those with this keen sense of argumentation exhibit natural persuasiveness but also better grasp pattern recognition, relationships between ideas, and problem-solving.
When asked, nearly 60% of Gen Z students report they would like to be social media influencers. Interestingly, give those same students the chance to opt out of presentation in class, and they will jump at the opportunity. So why would a generation bent on seeking an audience avoid standing up in front of a classroom to practice public speaking skills? It’s a conundrum that vexes educators. While the chances of attaining influencer stardom are as slim as becoming any celebrity, public speaking and strong oral communication skills are coveted in the workplace.
Despite the ever-increasing influence of technology in the classroom, more studies reveal it has limitations on long-term learning. Certainly, technology makes learning more accessible when distance learning or helping students with learning disorders close gaps, but some things are better done by hand, such as note taking. Research supports the claim that handwriting provides more effective learning outcomes than typing the same material. When taking notes, handwriting may be slower than typing, making it the superior method.