Science of Reading: Why Publishers Must Pay Attention

Kevin Schroeder   0:07
Hello, I’m Kevin Schroeder, senior director, K12 Learning solutions at MRCC and with me today I have Jennifer Cole, our director, product development.
Today, we’re going to talk a little bit about the science of reading and go over a little bit about what’s changing, what’s new in in that realm.
So Jennifer, welcome.
Can you tell me a little bit about your background and what excites you about?
Literacy today.

Jennifer Cole   0:36
Yeah. Hi, Kevin.
It’s nice to be here.
Thanks for having me.
So my background, I’ve been working in educational publishing and Ed Tech for about 25 years now.
I came into the industry through literacy and I’ve really enjoyed watching as trends have shifted as educational practices have become refined and clarified and as data has.
Taught us a lot more about how do students actually acquire language?
And that’s where the science of reading comes in.
And how that the science of reading, as we’ve learned, you know, it’s much more than a trend.
It’s really.
A significant shift towards evidence based change, and that’s what I’m pretty excited about right now.

Kevin Schroeder   1:25
Great. Yeah, that, that definitely is exciting. And we’re gonna talk a little bit more about the science of reading.
You work closely with companies in the US and internationally on a wide variety of projects.
What do you see as the biggest challenges that they face in literacy today?

Jennifer Cole   1:45
Interesting question. A lot of the clients that we’ve worked with have struggled to align curriculum successfully with research based practices as well as.
Ensuring that we’re not teaching only the standards, only the surface level of the standards, but that we’re really getting to something deeper with literacy, where we’re building understanding of of how words are made, where sounds come from linking together.
Word meaning with comprehension and vocabulary and those are some of the things that I’ve worked with companies to help clarify in either existing products or in new product.

Kevin Schroeder   2:29
Very interesting.
Very interesting.
Yeah, that those definitely are some key areas that we seem to be hearing a lot of with clients.
Science of reading is everywhere right now, but it’s not always clear what it actually means.
In your words, what does it mean and and why should we all care?

Jennifer Cole   2:47
What a great question.
You know, I’m I’m certainly biased as someone who has has spent most of their life working on literacy product, although here at MRCC I work on all of the content areas and I have for a number of years.
Literacy is still going to be my my first love.
A really important thing about the science of reading is that when we talk about it, you know, even when I visualize it, it’s that it’s the capital science of.
Capital reading the science of reading.
It’s it’s not a program.
It’s not something that you find in a box.
It really is a body of research and it’s it’s data and information that has been a master over the years that has been studied by some really amazing folks.
To help bring clarity on what works in literacy instruction, how to teach reading more effectively.
It’s it’s more than just phonics. I know a lot of folks initially say, oh, the science of reading.
This must be balanced. Phonics is certainly.
A piece of it.
But it’s it’s about merging various skills.
One of my favorite visualizations for the science of reading reading is.
Scarborough’s doctor Scarborough’s reading rope, where Doctor Scarpot did this great thing and this was this was in the late 90s, early 2000s, where they they provide this visual.
It’s so beautifully encompasses that the science of reading is the merging and the.
Blending.
Of all of these key features of reading, it’s of decoding.
It’s a phonics.
It’s phinemic awareness.
It’s a phonological awareness.
It’s fluency, it’s vocabulary, it’s comprehension all merged together. Because, as we’ve learned reading, it’s not a natural thing, right when when you look at little kids, kids learn to walk, kids learn to speak by by listening to their their parents and by the effects of their environment.
There are certain things that we do really naturally reading is not a natural thing.
It has to be learned.
It has to be taught and it has to be explicitly taught so that we really are connecting the the sounds that we speak to the letters to the written symbols that we read.

Kevin Schroeder   5:09
Very interesting.
So it’s it’s based in science and it’s it’s really.
A based on best practices and what evidence tells us, I think that’s that’s great to have that background.
Can you give an example of what effective reading instruction looks like using these principles?

Jennifer Cole   5:32
For sure it’s systematic.
It utilizes a lot of the the types of materials that we’ve seen in classrooms for years.
So, for example, decodable texts, small group instruction, explicit phonics, instruction comprehension, really enriching vocabulary materials for for students and materials for teachers that help teachers apply practices in their classroom.
In not only the most effective.
Way possible, but especially for teachers who may have come up through school learning.
Some some other types of teaching practices to to really be able to reframe their classroom in this evidence based and effective effective way.
Yeah.

Kevin Schroeder   6:23
Yeah. So you mentioned a couple terms there. I’d like to.
Dig into a little further.
Hear a lot of talk about decodable text structured literacy.
What do those terms actually mean?
Can you provide more information on those?

Jennifer Cole   6:40
So let’s do the second one first.
Structured literacy again.
Research based it’s an approach to reading instruction that really works well for the majority of students, including, and. This is something a little bit different, including students who might have reading difficulties.
So, for example, students with dyslexia, structured literacy can work really well for them too.
Again, it’s an. It’s explicit.
It’s the systematic teaching of skills.
So we’re talking again, phonics, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling.
And really, making sure instructor literacy, you’re really making sure that students understand on a deep level, how spoken language connects to written language.
We’re breaking down the reading process to clear, manageable steps in a logical order, really building on students.
Decoding and language skills.
So it’s a great way to support equity in literacy, structured literacy. Just it so far from what we’ve seen, it works really well.
You also asked about decodable texts.
I’ll let you in in a little secret. I love a good decodable text.
So many of them are written in such a wonderful way.
So what is a decodable text for any of our listeners?
Who? Don’t know, this is books or passages that are written specifically using phonics skills. Students have already been taught.
And the texts are designed to give students who are learning how to read.
And especially kids who who struggle.
Kids who may struggle.
The the chance to apply their skills in context using only what they’ve learned so far.
So this is, you know.
We’ve all probably had an experience where we’ve seen like the cat set on the mat, right? One of the most common letter combinations and one of the most difficult decodable texts to write is when really young students have learned or beginning reading.
Students have learned maybe 4 consonants and one vowel.
And you might have msct and a short A and you get.
The cat that on the mat.
Also, within decodable texts we’re talking about.
Words that have high frequency words that are commonly seen. So for example.
The which is the most common word in the English language, but really decodable texts are used to reinforce phonics instruction, to allow students to practice with success and with accuracy. We are not relying on pictures to gain meaning from words.
We’re not guessing at the words.
Certainly students are pronouncing and they’re checking pronunciation, and they’re checking.
Their their phonemic awareness against their phonetic reading and their pronunciation.
And that also decodable text with structured literacy. So decodable texts are a tool for effective and effective instruction. And as a practical application.
Of skills in the classroom.

Kevin Schroeder   10:14
Yeah, thanks for sharing.
That’s that’s great information and really.
Good description of of structured literacy and decodables and and thanks for sharing your fondness of decodable text as well.

Jennifer Cole   10:28
I really do like him. It’s.

Kevin Schroeder   10:31
So you mentioned something. I wanna. I wanna explore a little further reading and writing and and their connection.

Jennifer Cole   10:31
Yeah.

Kevin Schroeder   10:39
How can how can teachers use reading to support writing and and vice versa?
How can that take place?

Jennifer Cole   10:49
Yeah. So they really do go hand in hand, right when we’re we’re learning how to read and then a logical step is learning how to write.
So I had mentioned Scarborough’s reading group.
There is a complimentary writing group and that was developed by Joan Sedita and I I hope that I pronounced Joan’s name correctly there.
And it the the writing rope like the reading rope shows how skills are intertwined.
And how?
Ning depends on various elements like spelling, handwriting, text structure, the writing process, critical thinking.
So writing.
As a piece of instruction helps students process and personalize what they read and reading and writing are really reciprocal.
So strong reading supports strong writing development.
Writing helps deepen a student’s understanding of what they have read.
And again, this is not. There’s not like a one and done solution.
You can’t say. Oh well, my student has has mastered spelling, so they’re gonna be a really effective writer.
No, this takes explicit instruction.
It takes modeling.
It takes consistent practice and paired up between reading and writing using your reading instruction and your writing instruction as complements to one another is really a wonderful way.
To to enhance student.
Capabilities in general.

Kevin Schroeder   12:25
Interesting. Yeah, that that makes sense.
And it it definitely seems like they go very hand in hand.
So appreciate the further.
Explanation into that if somebody’s listening right now and wondering, where do I start? If they’re, if they’re looking at developing.
Content for a focus on science of reading or already have pre-existing content looking at.
Making it work within the context of science.
Of reading what would you?
What would you tell them?

Jennifer Cole   13:01
I would suggest to start with an audit of existing literacy or writing products.
Take a deep look.
Think about where is this instruction or where are these tools most effective in the classroom?
What are the small wins that we have here?
Perhaps we’re really great at at training for teachers that cannot be understated. The training the teachers need, the professional resources the teachers need.
Is of the utmost importance because again, science of reading science of writing, not something that comes out of a box, right?
We need products in the classrooms and we need training for teachers. In addition, decodable texts aligning your curriculum, making sure that.
Your if for example with writing that you’re really working on writing craft that you’re working on text structure, that your instruction is explicit instruction.
That you’re modeling what students should be doing and that you’re having consistent ractice.
Not I don’t know that there’s one product out there that encompasses all of those things. And I think that that’s great because again, we’re talking about ropes. We’re talking about building.
And strengthening skills through the use of various tools through the use of explicit instruction and and of course MRC.
You know, I would love to work with folks and and ask this question of where do I start.

Kevin Schroeder   14:37
Yeah, I love that. That’s.
A really I think some great next steps for folks that are listening and are interested in in pursuing work on their their their products or existing programs.
Where can listeners learn more about how MRCC can help them with their goals?

Jennifer Cole   15:00
Oh, check out our website.
Check out our MRCC Ed Tech site and we’re happy to talk to folks about tailored K12 Literacy solutions writing solutions.
We do so much more than that as well, but that’s a great place to start is to check out our website.

Kevin Schroeder   15:21
It’s great, Jennifer.
Well, I appreciate your time today and thanks for discussing science of reading and and delving into some of the key terms that are being thrown around and helping us gain an understanding and folks gain an understanding of what what it all is and what it includes. Appreciate it.

Jennifer Cole   15:40
Back at you.
Thank you so much for having me on the podcast and I look forward to our next discussion.