Resources for Educators Who Want to Put Aside the Reading Wars and Focus on Helping Kids

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Lessons from the Science of Reading

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I developed this site to establish a common ground for discussion and to provide support for teachers, school leaders and parents who have no desire to see schools torn apart by the so-called “reading wars" and who want, instead, to center again on the kids. 

–Lucy Calkins: Author/co-author of Teaching Writing Well and of Units of Study in Reading, Writing and Phonics, Founding Director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and of Mossflower Reading and Writing Project, and the Robinson Professor of Literacy at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For those who want to learn more about Balanced Literacy, the Science of Reading, phonics instruction, and responses to the media, I’ve created a bibliography with links to essays, research articles, and editorials from thought leaders and scholars in education.

We'll update this section often so as to provide you with a continuing supply of resources that can help you shift the balance of your instruction. These resources will also help you communicate with families.

We're excited to organize small, supportive study groups that will meet 3-5 times over zoom (and will, of course, be renewable.)  As the site evolves, we'll also provide sparks to ignite conversation, access to free seminars on related topics, and support via a Help Desk. 

  • “I am, like you, struck by the degree to which people are willing to invoke a literacy crisis, when the data do not support anything like a literacy crisis. NAEP scores, aside from the pandemic then-- but NAEP scores, over the last 10, 15 years have grown-- slowly, but they have gotten better in literacy. And it's deeply puzzling to me why we have all of this public discourse about a literacy crisis. If I were deeply cynical, I would say it's probably a useful technique for companies that are trying to sell their programs to get people to buy those programs, if parents and some school districts are very agitated about the so-called literacy crisis.”

    Harvard EdCast: To Weather the "Literacy Crisis," Do What Works

    Catherine Snow

    John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education

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  • The "lack of success for Reading First was not because it taught phonemic awareness and phonics/decoding, but because it neglected to teach reading and writing at the same time.”

    What Really Matters in Teaching Phonics Today: Laying a Foundation for Reading

    Jim Cunningham

    Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, member of the Reading Hall of Fame

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  • “Worth noting, too, is that what gets called the “science of reading” is in no way analogous to the science of climate change, where 97% of scientists agree. Nearly 57% of education professors favored balanced literacy in a recent survey, with only 22% favoring systematic phonics. The press should be asking why buy-in by researchers is so low rather than accepting on faith that the minority position is the research-based one; few journalists appear to be doing so.”

    The Science of Reading and the Media: Does the Media Draw on High-Quality Reading Research?

    Maren Aukerman

    University of Calgary

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  • “On the surface, few people would disagree with the idea that teaching should be informed by science, decisions should be based on research, and various tools and materials should have clear evidence supporting their use. However, what counts as the most relevant science, research, and evidence seems to depend on who you ask. For example, a content analysis of the references and citations found in the standards for reading teachers prepared by the International Dyslexia Association and the International Literacy Association demonstrated no overlap in the research that was cited (Gabriel & Weir, 2018). Research studies were often drawn from the same journals (see Table 1); however, the evidence used to support the two sets of standards was different.”

    The Future of the Science of Reading

    Rachael Gabriel

    Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Connecticut

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  • “The treatment of PA in the ‘science of reading’ –the idea that a certain level of PA is prerequisite for reading, and that PA training should continue until the student becomes highly proficient at PA tasks regardless of how well they are reading–is emblematic of problems that have arisen within the SoR approach. It is an overprescription that reflects a shallow understanding of reading development, yet has become a major tenet of the ‘science of reading’. The PA situation and other developments suggest to me that the SoR is at risk of turning into a new pedagogical dogma, consisting of a small set of tenets loosely tied to some classic but dated research, supplemented by additional assumptions that are ad hoc and ill-advised.”

    About the science in “The Science of Reading”

    Mark Seidenberg

    Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin

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  • “The Washington Post has bought into the SETTLED SCIENCE position put forward by ardent phonics advocates. What we can say is that the phonics approaches consistently produce a small to moderate statistically significant advantage on measures that require students to read nonsense words and/or highly predictable real words on isolated lists, but they rarely produce an advantage on measures of comprehension."

    Facebook post in response to Washington Post opinion article “Cut the politics. Phonics is the best way to teach reading.”

    P. David Pearson

    Professor Emeritus, School of Education, University of California at Berkeley

    (often referred to as the “Dean of Reading”)

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  • In 2012, England instituted mandatory phonics-first instruction. In a 10-year review of that policy, Wyse and Bradbury concluded that no measurable progress had been made as a result of the program.

    Reading wars or reading reconciliation? A critical examination of robust research evidence, curriculum policy and teachers' practices for teaching phonics and reading

    Dominic Wyse and Alice Bradbury, University College London

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  • "At a time when information spreads quickly and, sadly, too many important issues have become oversimplified and polarized, it is irresponsible to reduce the teaching of reading to phonics instruction and nothing more. To imply that other approaches are not just wrong, but money-making schemes, is reckless. Teachers and students will not benefit from biased storytelling and finger-pointing, especially when so much is at stake."

    A Call For Rejecting The Newest Reading Wars

    The Hechinger Report

    Fifty-eight educators say "Sold a Story” podcast series sells incomplete story about reading instruction

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