Author: By Nancy P. Sindle, Shirley Heim Middle School

Key points: I became a reading specialist in 2015, at which point our school’s previous reading specialist was already using an online literacy platform. This was right about the time a leading literacy vendor was rolling out its new literacy program for struggling adolescent readers, so the following year I … Read More

Key points: With a student population that’s roughly 85 percent Hispanic, our K-8 academy faces some interesting-but-not-insurmountable literacy challenges. Our main program is HMH Into Reading for younger students and HMH Into Literature for the older students. A few years ago, we also adopted the SIPPS program, which provides systematic … Read More

Key points: As a country, we are at a pivotal time. Recent national test scores found that our country’s eighth graders are still a full school year behind pre-COVID levels in their reading and math achievements. This is tough news to swallow, but I’m choosing to view this as motivation.  As the … Read More

Key points: When students reach middle or high school, their attention spans are short, screens are ubiquitous, and reading takes a backseat to many other responsibilities. This is unfortunate because reading truly is the cornerstone of academic success, and students who didn’t master the skill during their elementary years can … Read More

This post originally appeared on the Reading Horizons blog and is reposted here with permission. Key points: Could Harry Potter have defeated Voldemort without the skill and support of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley? Not a chance. Can you imagine Lucy without Ethel? It’s unthinkable. While main characters receive most … Read More

Key points: In school, many kindergarten and first-grade students are asked to memorize lists of common words, which are sometimes called “sight words.” This practice skips important steps. The idea that children learn to read by memorizing whole words is a misconception. Research shows that teaching students individual letter-sound correspondences … Read More

Key points: About two-thirds of American students fail to meet reading standards every year when tested in 4th, 8th, and 12th grades.1 Within this larger pool, a core group is considered to have a reading disability or dyslexia. This group makes up at least 20 percent of the general population.2 … Read More

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. I’m in my fifth year teaching science to fifth and sixth graders, but, like every other teacher at the K-8 charter school where I work, I also teach reading. Literacy is a foundational skill for learning … Read More