The Science of Reading

By Erin Stewart and Tiffany Erickson, Deseret Morning News
Thursday, June 1, 2006

Stacy Hurst wants children to love reading rather than run away frustrated from literacy.

That goal, however, often runs up against an unexpected obstacle — teachers.

As the literacy specialist at South Elementary School in Cedar City, Hurst spends her day training teachers how to help students read. While many teachers cling to old-school methods of waiting for reading to develop naturally, the latest research shows the most-effective tactic is a five-pronged scientific approach including phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and phonemic awareness.

"I think they need more scientific meat. They really need to understand the reasoning behind the methods," Hurst said.

Many teachers in training aren't getting enough of that "meat," according to a recent report released by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Of 72 colleges and universities surveyed nationwide, only 11 taught all five of the basic tenets of the "science of reading" to prospective teachers. Nearly a third of the surveyed institutions made no reference to reading as a science in any of their reading instruction courses.

In addition, the report found that college literacy textbooks most commonly used are not founded in scientific research and that many college courses for prospective teachers are more fluff than substance.

If teachers did use the scientific approach to reading instruction, the reports estimate the current reading failure rate of 20 percent to 30 percent could be reduced to 2 percent to 10 percent.

"Our findings suggest that some college professors may not be teaching the science of reading, not just because they are ideologically opposed to the science, but because they may be reluctant to teach what they themselves do not know," the report states.

Southern Utah University was the only Utah institution cited in the report, faring relatively well among other schools with four out of five of the scientific components taught.

Verlinda Angell, associate professor of literacy at SUU, said she's not sure where SUU fell short, but she believes the four required reading instruction courses for teaching majors cover each of the five literacy topics. The study may not have been able to see that, however, because it only looked at syllabi and not at lecture notes and reading materials, she said.

Getting up to speed with the latest research was a concerted effort by SUU's School of Education. Before its most recent accreditation, Angell said school leaders pushed to make sure all five topics were stressed in a balanced approach.

"In the schools there's lot of myth and mythology that's passed down year after year, but then you realized there's no scientific research behind it," she said. "Now they're looking at things a little differently. If it's not research, you're going to have to defend it in some way."

At South Elementary, Hurst is using her education from SUU to help teachers get on track with the science of reading. Most of the teachers coming into the workforce straight from Utah colleges buy into the science of reading, but many still need help implementing the research into everyday teaching, she said.

The biggest obstacle, however, is getting longtime teachers to open up to the idea of a structured approach to reading, she said.

"A lot of teachers just don't have time to keep up with the research on their own," Hurst said. "That makes my job more critical to get that information out to them."

Sylvia Read, assistant professor in elementary education at Utah State University, said professors at USU are also turning toward the "science of reading," making sure teachers in training are equipped with the latest data before they get into a classroom.

In particular, the curriculum is focused on the two most recent and most often forgotten components of reading science — fluency and phonemic awareness.

Phonemic awareness is the precursor to phonics, emphasizing how sounds work together instead of individual sounds and letters. Fluency has also been a relative newcomer to reading instruction with a focus on rate plus accuracy and expression.

Fluency was only taught in about 7 percent of the surveyed institutions, while more traditional methods like phonics were taught in 16 percent.

"Reading is not a natural act. It does have to be taught explicitly," Read said. "Teachers need to teach kids to understand their own fluency level. If every word's a struggle, then you hate reading, so you avoid it."

Although all colleges may not be stressing the science of reading, Read said Utah schoolchildren are fortunate that the state stresses continued education while in the classroom. Reading endorsements offered by school districts and training workshops can help teachers stay up to date.

Barbara Gallagher, a reading specialist at Mountain View Elementary School, said she was taught all five components at the University of Nebraska Omaha, but with a little less emphasis on fluency.

Her school district sent her to fluency training to gain more background.

"For me personally, my background is well founded — I feel really comfortable and confident in all of those areas, plus I feel like I have a pretty good diagnostic testing background," Gallagher said. "(The coursework) is not fluff — it's really hard work."

This story appeared in The Deseret Morning News.