This educator's Science of Reading toolbox provides strategies for teaching systematic phonics instruction within the classroom, including letter-sound correspondence, regular word reading, and word building.

The article by Vaughn and Fletcher discusses how a supportive, integrated general and special education system can be implemented within a multi-tiered system of support. Six steps that teachers can implement in their classrooms to support students with reading difficulties or with mild to moderate disabilities or dyslexia are provided.

The National Reading Panel (2000) identified phonemic awareness as one of the pivotal pillars in teaching students to read. Over two decades have passed, and children still experience difficulty with learning to read. This is especially true for many African American students who are more likely not to reach proficiency on literacy measures. This article details key phonological features of African-American English and provides teachers with practical classroom applications for phonemic awareness instruction so all students can demonstrate success.

This video features an extended interview with Tim Shanahan, Ph.D., and includes descriptions of research-based recommendations from the What Works Clearinghouse about how to teach literacy to young students.

The purpose of this document is to increase the capacity of practitioners and educational leaders to support a broad range of learners who need more literacy supports to become skilled readers and writers by identifying a set of essential practices that are research-supported and should be the focus of professional development throughout the state. These practices for intensifying literacy instruction apply to those learners with significant and persistent reading and writing challenges who have not responded when provided with instruction aligned with state academic standards, regardless of disability status.

This video shows kindergarten students during an introductory lesson utilizing word sums and matrices. He models adding suffixes including <-s>, <-ed>, and <-ing> to base words from a text.

Reading expert Linda Farrell works with Aiko on a common letter reversal — confusing the letters ‘b’ and ‘d’. Ms. Farrell coaches Aiko to look at the letters during b/d practice and to look at the words while she works with Aiko to read short vowel words accurately.

Reading expert Linda Farrell works with Reese to master the name of every letter. She helps Reese sing the alphabet song clearly and with no mistakes. She teaches him to look carefully at letters as he names them. Ms. Farrell also helps Reese identify every letter of the alphabet accurately, including differentiating between letters that look similar (in Reese’s case, ‘y’ and ‘v’). Learning the name of every letter is a critical pre-reading skill.

Two biliteracy specialists from Amplify, Ana Torres and Alestra Menendez, "discuss the importance of K-8 biliteracy instruction and how the Science of Reading helps to leverage biliteracy learning" (Amplify, 2023).

This video from REL Midwest discusses the most effective evidence-based practices for identifying and assisting struggling readers.

Dr. Louisa Moats, an expert in the area of improving literacy and elementary education, discusses how nonsense words can help students learn word structure.

The International Dyslexia Association Georgia and The Reading League Georgia partnered to host Dr. Anita Archer as a presenter in their Structured Literacy Webinar Series. Dr. Archer details the necessity of teaching practices aligned in the Science of Instruction. When implementation of the Science of Instruction is consistent and effectively implemented, particularly for instruction aligned with the Science of Reading, improved student outcomes result.

Reading expert Linda Farrell works with Calista, an early stage reader, on short vowel sounds, blending and manipulating sounds, reading whole words, and fluency. Ms. Farrell starts by making sure Calista has a strong foundation in short vowel sounds by teaching her hand motions to remember those sounds more easily. After Calista demonstrates she knows short vowel sounds, Ms. Farrell teaches her to change one sound in a spoken word using manipulatives. Finally, Ms. Farrell helps Calista move from sound-by-sound reading to whole word reading.

Reading expert Linda Farrell helps Michael master the ‘silent e’ pattern to help him become a more accurate and ultimately more fluid reader. She begins with making sure that Michael can distinguish between short and long vowel sounds in spoken words, then teaches him a multi-sensory way to recognize the short vowel and ‘silent e’ long vowel patterns in written words. Ms. Farrell emphasizes the need to practice each skill to the point of mastery.

Teachers already know the importance of maximizing every minute of the literacy block. This webinar considers the benefits and costs of whole-group and small-group instruction and explores how data informs whether targeted interventions are needed in a whole-group or small-group setting. The webinar also examines scheduling options for maximizing the benefits of small-group instruction and provides practical comparisons of targeted small-group lessons versus generalized small-group lessons.

This quick reference draws on What Works Clearinghouse™ practice guides to identify research-based instructional practices for supporting beginning readers, along with the level of evidence behind the practices and core literacy skills to target for early screening and progress monitoring.

This journal article details the four phases that children move through on their way to becoming confident readers.

Watch Dr. Louisa Moats, reading expert and consultant, demonstrate activities for teaching segmentation and connecting sounds to letters.