Hanford’s early discoveries:
- Working on a piece on students that end up in remedial programs in college, Hanford discovered that many of those students happened to lack a strong literacy foundation that should have been developed when they were younger. Many of these students also had unidentified/underidentified learning disabilities that were not effectively addressed in their early literacy instruction.
- Many people are able to get by without really knowing how to read effectively; however, they will (and are) disadvantaged in many areas of their lives.
What problem are many students facing?
- All kids are not being consistently taught in a way that will lead them to become good readers. Too much of their success is left to chance because literacy instruction in the U.S. is ungrounded.
Why does this problem exist?
- Many teachers, to no fault of their own, lack a holistic understanding of what reading is, how it is developed, and what happens to those students that struggle because they themselves have not been taught. When teachers are finally exposed to the science of reading, they have this “aha” moment, finally understanding why they were not as effective with their students as they would have liked to be.
- There is so much to learn in the science of reading, and the teacher preparation system that the country has in place is not set up to teach teachers well enough or for long enough.
- A significant amount of curriculum development does not align with the science of reading.
Why is it so important to fix how teachers teach their students how to read?
- Many kids are solely dependent on what their school can do for them. A large number of struggling students cannot afford or do not have access to any additional help or resources, which makes early literacy an important social justice issue.
What can be done to fix this problem?
- Currently, the debate on the science of reading has wrongfully focused on phonics. Teachers feel like they are “against phonics” or “for phonics.” However, this argument has distracted people from the real debate: what the holistic process of early literacy should look like. Phonics is only one part of the puzzle. Teachers, parents, administrators, policymakers, etc. need to shift their focus to include how teachers are teaching as a whole: how the individual pieces of early literacy are being integrated in instruction (i.e. how one skill leads to another).
- A large body of research has shown that direct and explicit teaching is the most effective. This is a universally-accepted concept; however, the U.S. education system is not as fond of explicit teaching. Rather, discovery and exploration is the focus. Yet, someone who is a novice at something needs to know the basics in order to discover or explore. The basics act as a launchpad. Not all students need direct teaching, but many of them do.
- Ultimately, the chance of literacy success comes down to teacher knowledge about reading and how to teach reading. Teachers should be given more support and guidance in the science of reading.
For more information, listen to this podcast episode (“Interview w/ Emily Hanford”) by The Reading League.
