Science Is Finally Beating Covid. Now Let’s Give It a Chance to Help Kids Read.

Before the pandemic, approximately one million children, year in and year out, ended fourth grade at best barely able to read. It’s anyone’s guess what that number looks…

Let’s Stop Worrying and Lean on What Works in Early Reading

Should we worry about whether our earliest readers are learning to read, during the pandemic? Some point to concerning evidence of widening gaps in reading…

AOC Is Tutoring a First Grader

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is highlighting an old, but never out of fashion, kind of public service: Tutoring kids.  The second-term congresswoman tweeted that…

You Don’t Just ‘Raise’ A Reader, You Have to Teach Kids to Read, Too

When I give presentations about dyslexia, I often illustrate how neurodiversity works by showing a chessboard. Some people can easily see all the patterns of…

How to Help Beginning Readers During the Pandemic

Before the pandemic, many American children struggled to read well. Now, the pandemic has thrown early elementary teachers a curve ball in teaching reading; they…

I Was There When Lucy Calkins Shifted Toward Cognitive Science

In October, national media reported on the remarkable shift toward phonics and away from 3-Cueing now under way for noted reading curriculum leader Lucy Calkins…

COVID Can’t Stop Ms. Gutierrez From Nurturing Her Students’ Love of Reading

Many students are looking to escape the harsh realities of COVID-19. Online learning, social distancing, closure of many businesses and recreation areas, and the struggling…

If You Want Justice, Teach Kids How to Read

In 1990, I was a brand-new teacher in an unusual environment: a Chicago alternative high school where teens and young adults could earn their diplomas…

Leveled Texts Are ‘Exhibit A’ for the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

The scene occurs daily in classrooms across the United States. Students, grouped by reading ability, come to the teacher’s table to read their leveled readers—books…

Here’s How Remote Learning Could Help Struggling Readers

While we grapple with the COVID-19 health crisis and the many social ills our country is facing, we cannot overlook the fact that one root…