In a study examining the efficacy of Heggerty's Bridge to Reading program during the 2023-2024 school year, LXD Research measured the program's impact on kindergarten and first-grade students' reading outcomes on the NWEA MAP Reading Fluency assessment. Results indicated that first graders using the program demonstrated significantly greater…

In this historical analysis, we examine the context of debates over the role of phonics in literacy and current debates about the science of reading, with a focus on the work and impact of the late literacy scholar Jeanne Chall. We open by briefly tracing the roots of the enduring debates from the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on beginning…

In "Intentional from the Start: Guiding Emergent Readers in Small Groups," Carolyn Helmers and Susan Vincent take a concentrated look at the often-underestimated reading and writing work that occurs during the emergent reading stages of literacy development (PreA-D) and the seemingly simplistic books we use to teach them in small-group…

From phonological processing to brain research to orthographic mapping to self-teaching hypothesis, "Shifting the Balance" cuts through the rhetoric (and the sciencey science) to offer readers a practical guide to decision-making about beginning reading instruction. The authors honor the balanced literacy perspective while highlighting…

In Experiment I, I tested the effects of a vicarious reinforcement procedure on the establishment of conditioned reinforcement for observing books (CR+ for observing books) using a pre- and post-intervention embedded with a multiple probe design across two dyads. All four participants could textually respond to kindergarten or first-grade level…

Three-year-old children are seldom the focus in studies about supplemental early literacy instructional support. This study examines 3-year-old children's potential need for additional early literacy support, extending and replicating a previous investigation that identified prekindergarten children (i.e., 4-year-olds) in Head Start classrooms for…

Skilled reading requires the convergent brain network between spoken language and reading. Here, we examined the developmental changes in this convergent network between beginning and skilled readers. We used fMRI data from 41 adults (aged from 20 to 21 years) and 21 children (aged from 9 to 12 years) who performed a Chinese word sound matching…

This independent quasi-experimental study conducted by WestEd reported that Lalilo had a large significant positive impact on students' oral reading fluency skills. This is an important outcome because fluency is both a critical component of literacy and a strong predictor of later reading success. Effects were particularly strong for students…

Background: Recent research showed that cross-notation magnitude knowledge of fractions and decimals was related to better performance in fraction arithmetic, but it remains unclear whether it made an independent contribution to fraction arithmetic longitudinally when other cognitive variables are considered. Aims: To examine the extent to which…

Purpose: It is often assumed that phonological awareness only reflects children's phonological skill. However, orthographic representations have been found to be automatically involved during phonological awareness tasks, which we refer to as automatic orthographic activation. Although previous longitudinal neural studies have addressed how…

Preschool children considered at risk for future reading difficulties experience unique and complex combinations of risk factors. In this exploratory study, we used latent profile analysis (LPA) to investigate the underlying classifications of children identified as at-risk for reading difficulties (N = 281) along selected cognitive,…

Learning to read in most alphabetic orthographies requires not only the acquisition of simple grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) but also the acquisition of context-sensitive GPCs, where surrounding letters change a grapheme's pronunciation. We aimed to explore the use and development of simple GPCs (e.g. a [right arrow] /ae/) and…

The phonics screening check (PSC) was introduced in England in 2012 for children in Year 1. There have been criticisms in relation to its reliability and appropriateness as an assessment tool for early reading although supporters of the PSC see it as a valuable tool in securing progress in reading. The DfE-funded evaluation concluded, however,…

This systematic review investigated small-group Tier 2 interventions to improve oral language or reading outcomes for children during preschool and early primary school years. Literature published from 2008 was searched and 152 papers selected for full-text review; 55 studies were included. Three strength of evidence assessment tools identified a…

Phonological awareness and phonics instruction are necessary components of beginning reading instruction and require teachers to have specialized content, pedagogical, and pedagogical content knowledge. This includes knowledge about language structures; reading components, processes, and development; and effective instructional practices. In this…