The Science of Reading: A Principal’s Guide to Understanding & Implementing Evidence-Based Instruction
OnYourMark Education
A virtual tutoring intervention that gives children a critical boost in their learning-to-read journeys.
The “Science of Reading” has become a common phrase in the education field, and for good reason. And despite becoming an education buzzword, it's not a trend. It's the key to early literacy instruction.
The biggest benefit to understanding the “Science of Reading”—the body of research that exists about how children best learn to read—is that educators and caregivers alike can start to see patterns in what works in literacy instruction and, just as importantly, what doesn’t.
What Is The Science of Reading??
Based on the research, there are five accepted pillars of the Science of Reading for early literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.?
Science of Reading: 5 Pillars
Phonemic awareness requires that a child can identify—and manipulate—certain sounds in words. For example, a child who can recognize that the words “cat” and “hat” have similar sounds has phonemic awareness. This is where the genius behind Dr. Seuss’s book The Cat in the Hat becomes clear. Just by having a student read this short title, a teacher can identify whether the student has phonemic awareness.?
Now, while “phonemic” and “phonics” may sound similar, they have distinct meanings. Phonics instruction centers on how individual letters and groups of letters form sounds and spelling patterns. An important distinction here is that phonics includes the use of print, whereas phonemic awareness can be practiced without print. With phonics instruction, students get opportunities to practice decoding texts by sounding out words. For example, children are taught how to pronounce the word “dog,” and then they are given this sentence to read: “The dog in the fog saw the frog.”?
As students continue to practice, they build fluency, and it will be easier for them to decode text. The more that children read, the more vocabulary words they will learn and eventually, through context cues or other means, be able to comprehend the text. The Science of Reading sees students naturally progress from one stage, or pillar, to the next.?
Our Learning About Literacy Learning
It’s important to note that the Science of Reading is exactly that: a science. More than 50 years of research into the Science of Reading has culminated in an enormous body of evidence proving that this is how children learn to read best. It is, however, important to keep current on the research. Science is a study, and therefore is ever-changing. To paraphrase Maya Angelou: When we know better, we do better.
As educators continue to study reading strategies, the body of research will grow, and one or more new pillars may emerge. In one study, for example, researchers argue that there should be a sixth pillar , namely knowledge development[JR2] . Whether this proposed sixth pillar—or even another—becomes generally accepted later based on additional research remains to be seen.
The Science of Reading and “Struggling Readers”
Some children will continually progress through these five accepted pillars in the Science of Reading. But others will earn the label of “struggling reader” at one or more points during the process of learning to read. These struggling readers are missing one or more essential literacy skills.
To help these students, educators should enroll them in a literacy intervention program. Given what we now know about the way that children learn to read and comprehend text, any interventions used must be based on the Science of Reading.?
Tier 2 Supports
In Tier 2, the focus is providing students with targeted group support. There are a variety of activities that make learning essential reading skills fun for students. For example, students can play games in small groups to assist them with blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds. In addition, educators can provide opportunities for multi-sensory phonics activities so that children can incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning to help them build reading skills. For example, they might use Elkonin (sound) boxes to represent the sounds in words through the use of manipulatives, engaging all three of these learning skills.
Tier 3 Supports
Whereas Tier 2 focuses on groups, Tier 3 focuses on students who require intensive, individualized support. Tutors working with a student on this tier create individual tutoring and use specialized interventions designed for each student.?
While many Tier 3 students receive intervention services outside of Tier 1 instruction, these may not be enough to close literacy gaps. Teachers and other interventionists in schools, having already full plates, need help. Schools may rearrange master schedules to create remediation time or turn to adults in the community for volunteer reading groups, tutors, etc. to get these students more practice time. Or, they may consider a high-impact (also referred to as “high-dosage”) tutoring solution for their students.
For a detailed list of activities your team can use to support reading at every tier, click here .
High-impact Tutoring
The idea of “high-impact” tutoring is relatively new, but it makes sense. According to the National Student Support Accelerator , the characteristics of high-impact tutoring include:?
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The OnYourMark Model for Early Literacy Support
OnYourMark Education offers a research-driven, high-impact virtual tutoring model that uses the Science of Reading as a guide to help students build their reading skills. Rather than punishing struggling readers by enrolling them in after-school tutoring, tutoring occurs during the school day, for 20 minutes a day, four days each week. The sessions occur over the course of 20 school weeks.?
OnYourMark Works: Here’s How We Know
The success of this model speaks for itself. Students who received OnYourMark tutoring improved their reading skills more than those who did not have access to this tutoring .
Curriculum Alignment
One reason for OnYourMark’s virtual tutoring program’s success is that it aligns with the Science of Reading. As a result, schools using Science of Reading-based curriculum materials in conjunction with OnYourMark give their students multiple opportunities to engage with the curriculum—and learn more effectively. At the same time, it helps educators see specific skills students struggle with when they may not have access to these specifics due to the number of students in a classroom.??
Equitable Minutes, Equitable At-Bats
Another way that the OnYourMark program helps students is found in their motto: “Equitable minutes and equitable at bats for ALL students.” In other words, not only are all students receiving the same amount of tutoring time (which is high-impact and high-dosage) but they are also receiving the same number of opportunities to practice necessary reading skills during each pillar in the Science of Reading. These repeated opportunities to be “at bat” and practice “hitting” by reading a variety of words and text, to stay with the same sports analogy, is indeed a game changer.?
In a randomly controlled trial of a virtual early literacy tutoring program in 2023, researchers discovered that OnYourMark tutoring offered 24 extra days of learning letter sounds for kindergarten students and 51 days in word decoding for students in first grade. Therefore, it should be no surprise that students reading on grade level increased by 23% throughout the year while receiving tutoring from OnYourMark. Similarly, 41% of students scored above average or well above average composite growth on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Certainly, these are notable improvements for those students who engaged in regular tutoring.
The first randomly controlled trial (RCT) of a virtual early literacy tutoring program, conducted by the National Student Support Accelerator (NSSA) at Stanford University in October 2023, found that:
Regular Assessment and Feedback
In addition, one of the staples of the OnYourMark program is that individualized feedback matters. When educators closely monitor student learning, they can provide personalized and relevant feedback to students.?
One of the challenges for traditional classroom teachers is trying to find the “middle ground”—the space where above average students aren't bored and struggling students aren't left behind. With individualized or even small group tutoring during the school day, tutors can use Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development to determine where students are in their literacy journey. From there, they can teach strategies to help students master the next stage in the Science of Reading.?
And, this close work with students fosters strong student-tutor relationships, with tutors ready to cheer students on as they master each reading skill.
High-Quality Tutors
Of course, a tutoring program is only as good as its tutors. OnYourMark tutors receive 20 hours of training before they ever host a tutoring session of their own. What’s more: OnYourMark provides ongoing professional development and coaching from tutor mentors.? By providing this regular oversight and training, OnYourMark ensures the quality of their tutoring sessions.
Conclusion
Matching students with dedicated tutors who are knowledgeable about the Science of Reading sets them up for the first of many “home runs” in their lives.?
Not only do they master an essential skill, but some also develop a true love of reading and look forward to challenging themselves to read harder books in the future. And, they have another person on their team, cheering them on, and investing in their success.
If you'd like to learn more about OnYourMark's high-impact tutoring program, let us know. We're ready to help your students thrive.?