An interesting little article about the scientific basis for teaching reading, from the Hoover Institution:
Because learning in most subjects depends on reading skills, reading proficiency can be considered the most important goal in the early grades. Yet a National Assessment of Educational Progress survey shows that only 29 percent of fourth graders are proficient in reading. Children who fall substantially behind in reading in the early grades are unlikely to catch up—meaning that the process of dropping out of high school often starts in the early years.
The problem is more acute for children who live in poverty. By age four, poor children are exposed to about thirteen million words used by their parents, mostly in simple sentences, whereas the affluent child is exposed to about forty-five million words, often in more complex sentences.
The proposed solution to this problem is apparently clear from the research:
Researchers have synthesized a great number of control-group studies that reveal scientific principles for effectively teaching reading. Preschoolers, for example, benefit greatly from talking with and receiving coaching from their parents, from whom they learn vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and a general knowledge of the world...
After mastering these elements, students need sufficient practice to gain fluency and meaningful oral reading...The more students read out loud and to themselves, the more they build their fluency as well as their vocabulary and the knowledge to understand new texts.
As readers progress, they learn "comprehension strategy"—the identification of questions or purposes—to guide their reading and measure their progress...
Wise teachers know the inefficiency of teaching students things they already know and things they are not yet able to learn...
Finally, students need to know how they are progressing. Conversations with teachers and parents, classroom discussions and quizzes, and formal examinations can provide useful information about students' mastery of texts and the strengths and weaknesses of their specific reading skills.
Emphasis mine (of course).
Posted by kswygert at January 25, 2004 02:02 PM