Personalized Reading for All

Best practice in reading has flipped between phonics and balanced literacy over the past 50 years. Most recently, Lucy Calkins and her Unit of Study strategy, created at Columbia University’s Teachers College, was criticized for not emphasizing the science of reading (phonics) enough.

Now, it seems science of reading strategies are facing criticism. As The 74 (1/28/26) reported this week,

“Four school districts in major urban areas using the science of reading found while students are grasping basic literacy skills, limitations toward deeper comprehension still exist, according to a new study.”

“The ‘Robust Reading Comprehension’ report, conducted by nonprofit research organization SRI, examined literacy instruction in districts in Texas, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia that have been using materials rooted in the popular phonics-based literacy approach for at least five years.”

“Through numerous classroom observations, teacher surveys and interviews with district officials in Aldine Independent School District, Baltimore City Public Schools, Guilford County Schools and Richmond Public Schools, researchers found a majority of reading lessons lacked ‘depth’ – meaning foundational skills were mainly limited to working on single words rather than reading them in sentences.”

“Comprehension lessons in later elementary grades also mainly focused on completing a task, such as identifying a main character, rather than using a text for discussion and understanding its purpose.”

Here’s guessing that most districts, including the four that participated in the SRI study, decide to continue with science of reading curricula. Science of reading is a favorite of the Make America Great Again crowd and the Republican Party. Besides, it appears to be better than balanced literacy in preparing kids to do well on standardized tests, at least in the elementary and middle school years.

The whole idea of making a curriculum decision about how kids – all kids – will learn to read is just so archaic. We now have the technology to personalize reading instruction for every young learner. Why are we still expecting students to fit into one district-wide curriculum?

When we ran our personalized learning lab school, every young learner built their own reading plan, with guidance and support for a literacy expert. Some used a phonetical approach. Others used primarily a balanced literacy or whole language approach. Some mixed and matched.

The point was that every learner received learning instruction and support that was right for them – as individuals. And that is something our K-12 system either doesn’t understand, or if they do, chooses to ignore.

Til tomorrow. SVB