National Reading Panel

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The National Reading Panel (NRP) was a United States government body. Formed in 1997 at the request of Congress, it was a national panel with the stated aim of assessing the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read.

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The panel was created by Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health, in consultation with the United States Secretary of Education, and included prominent experts in the fields of reading education, psychology, and higher education. The panel was chaired by Donald Langenberg (University of Maryland), and included the following members: Gloria Correro (Mississippi State U.), Linnea Ehri (City University of New York), Gwenette Ferguson (middle school teacher, Houston, TX), Norma Garza (parent, Brownsville, TX), Michael L. Kamil (Stanford U.), Cora Bagley Marrett (U. Massachusetts-Amherst), S. J. Samuels (U. of Minnesota), Timothy Shanahan (educator) (U. of Illinois at Chicago), Sally Shaywitz (Yale U.), Thomas Trabasso (U. of Chicago), Joanna Williams (Columbia U.), Dale Willows (U. Of Toronto), Joanne Yatvin (school district superintendent, Boring, OR).

In April 2000, the panel issued its report, "Teaching Children to Read," and completed its work. [1] [2] The report summarized research in eight areas relating to literacy instruction: phonemic awareness instruction, phonics instruction, fluency instruction, vocabulary instruction, text comprehension instruction, independent reading, computer assisted instruction, and teacher professional development. The final report was endorsed by all of the panel members except one. Joanne Yatvin wrote a minority report criticizing the work of the NRP because it (a) did not include teachers of early reading on the panel or as reviewers of the report and (b) only focused on a subset of important reading skills. Timothy Shanahan, another panel member, later responded that Dr. Yatvin had received permission to investigate areas of reading instruction that the panel could not address within the limited time provided for their work. Shanahan noted that she had not pursued additional areas of interest despite the willingness of the panel to allow her to do so.

In 2001, President George W. Bush announced that the report would be the basis of federal literacy policy and was used prominently to craft Reading First, a $5 billion federal reading initiative that was part of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

Phonemic awareness

The NRP said results from phonemic awareness (PA) instruction were "positive" and helped students in kindergarten and grade one to improve their reading, spelling and comprehension, regardless of their socioeconomic status (SES). However, disabled readers did not benefit in spelling. [3]

The report clearly specified that the most effective manner of teaching PA was to include it with letters and the manipulation of phonemes (i.e. segmenting and blending with phonics), rather than limiting it to speech. [4] [5]

Phonics instruction

The NRP reviewed 38 studies on the teaching of phonics and found that teaching children the relationship between letters and spelling patterns and pronunciation and how to decode words improved reading achievement. Young children who received such instruction did better with decoding words, nonsense words, spelling, fluency, and reading comprehension. Older disabled readers also benefited from such instruction in terms of improvement in decoding, but without commensurate gains in spelling or reading comprehension. Systematic phonics instruction — that is instruction based on a planned curriculum — was found to be superior to more opportunistic versions in which teachers tried to teach what they thought students needed. There were no statistical differences between synthetic phonics programs in which each letter sound is taught versus analytic phonics that analyzes the sounds within complete words. [6]

Finally, the panel emphasized that "phonics should not become the dominant component" and "should be integrated with other reading instruction to create a balanced reading program". [7]

Oral Reading Fluency

The NRP analyzed 16 studies showing that teaching oral reading fluency led to improvements in word reading, fluency, and reading comprehension for students in grades 1–4, and for older students with reading problems. Instruction that had students reading texts aloud, with repetition and feedback led to clear learning benefits. [8]

Encouraging Students to Read

The panel analyzed the published research on the effects of encouraging students to read. Most of the studies of this focused on the practice of sustained silent reading, in which teachers makes books and time available for students to read on their own without interference, interruption, or teacher involvement. There is a widely held belief that if teachers encouraged students to engage in voluntary reading it would lead to better reading achievement. Unfortunately, the panel found that research "has not clearly demonstrated this relationship". In fact, the few studies in which this idea has been tried "raise serious questions" of its efficacy. [9]

Vocabulary and Comprehension Strategy Instruction

Comprehension instruction includes several factors including vocabulary instruction which is a key to learning the connection between oral speaking, reading and writing, and comprehension. The NRP concluded that a variety of vocabulary instruction methods can be effective, although it was unable to recommend any single method. However, it suggested that vocabulary instruction should be both direct and indirect, and include repetition, exposures in different media, and rich contexts. [10]

It was also evident that teaching students how to think about the ideas in text can improve reading comprehension. Particularly powerful in this regard were teaching students to summarize the information that they had read, or having them ask (and answer) questions about the ideas. Additionally, it was also beneficial to guide students to do the following, a) monitor their comprehension, essentially paying attention to whether they were understanding during reading and taking some kind of action if they were not, b) use their prior knowledge, c) visualize the information described in text, or d) think about the structure of a text through story mapping. [11]

The NRP suggested there is a need for greater emphasis in teacher education on the teaching of reading comprehension. [12]

Computer Technology and Reading Instruction

Of the hundreds of studies including computer technology, only 5% met the standards of the NRP so they concluded that more research is required before they can make any recommendations. [13]

Related Research Articles

Whole language

Whole language is an education method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Great Britain in the 1980s and 1990s despite there being no scientific support for the method's effectiveness. It is based on the premise that learning to read English comes naturally to humans, especially young children, in the same way that learning to speak develops naturally.

Phonics Method to teach reading and writing of an alphabetic language

Phonics is a method for teaching people how to read and write an alphabetic language. It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language (phonemes), and the letters or groups of letters (graphemes) or syllables of the written language. In English, this is also known as the Alphabetic principle or the Alphabetic code.

Reading for special needs has become an area of interest as the understanding of reading has improved. Teaching children with special needs how to read was not historically pursued due to perspectives of a Reading Readiness model. This model assumes that a reader must learn to read in a hierarchical manner such that one skill must be mastered before learning the next skill. This approach often led to teaching sub-skills of reading in a decontextualized manner. This style of teaching made it difficult for children to master these early skills, and as a result, did not advance to more advanced literacy instruction and often continued to receive age-inappropriate instruction.

Sustained silent reading

Sustained silent reading (SSR) is a form of school-based recreational reading, or free voluntary reading, where students read silently in a designated time period every day, with the underlying assumption being that students learn to read by reading constantly. While classroom implementation of SSR is fairly widespread, some detractors note that the data showcasing SSR’s effectiveness is shaky at best, and that SSR alone does not craft proficient readers. Despite this, many maintain that successful models of SSR typically allow students to select their own books and do not require testing for comprehension or book reports. Schools have implemented SSR under a variety of names, such as "Drop Everything and Read (DEAR)", "Free Uninterrupted Reading (FUR)", or "Uninterrupted sustained silent reading (USSR)".

Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest mental units of sound that help to differentiate units of meaning (morphemes). Separating the spoken word "cat" into three distinct phonemes,, , and, requires phonemic awareness. The National Reading Panel has found that phonemic awareness improves children's word reading and reading comprehension and helps children learn to spell. Phonemic awareness is the basis for learning phonics.

Phonological awareness is an individual's awareness of the phonological structure, or sound structure, of words. Phonological awareness is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has, therefore, been the focus of much research.

Reading comprehension Ability to read single words, sentences and whole texts fluently and to understand them in context

Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows. Fundamental skills required in efficient reading comprehension are knowing meaning of words, ability to understand meaning of a word from discourse context, ability to follow organization of passage and to identify antecedents and references in it, ability to draw inferences from a passage about its contents, ability to identify the main thought of a passage, ability to answer questions answered in a passage, ability to recognize the literary devices or propositional structures used in a passage and determine its tone, to understand the situational mood conveyed for assertions, questioning, commanding, refraining etc. and finally ability to determine writer's purpose, intent and point of view, and draw inferences about the writer (discourse-semantics).

Synthetic phonics Teaching reading and writing by blending and segmenting the sounds of the graphemes (letters).

Synthetic phonics, also known as blended phonics or inductive phonics, is a method of teaching English reading which first teaches the letter sounds and then builds up to blending these sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of whole words.

Inventive spelling is the use of unconventional spellings of words.

Alphabetic principle Predictable and systematic relationship between letters and spoken sounds

According to the alphabetic principle, letters and combinations of letters are the symbols used to represent the speech sounds of a language based on systematic and predictable relationships between written letters, symbols, and spoken words. The alphabetic principle is the foundation of any alphabetic writing system. In the education field, it is known as the alphabetic code.

Guided reading

Guided reading is 'small-group reading instruction designed to provide differentiated teaching that supports students in developing reading proficiency'. The small group model allows students to be taught in a way that is intended to be more focused on their specific needs, accelerating their progress.

The Orton-Gillingham approach is a multisensory phonics technique for remedial reading instruction developed in the early-20th century. It is practiced as a direct,explicit, cognitive, cumulative and multi-sensory approach. While it is most commonly associated with teaching individuals with dyslexia, it is highly effective for all individuals learning to read, spell, and write. In the US, it is promoted by more than 15 commercial programs as well as several private schools for students with dyslexia and related learning disabilities.

High frequency sight words are commonly used words that young children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by sight, so that they can automatically recognize these words in print without having to use any strategies to decode. Sight words were introduced after Whole language fell out of favor with the education establishment.

Management of dyslexia

Management of dyslexia depends on a multiple of variables; there is no one specific strategy or set of strategies which will work for all who have dyslexia.

Balanced literacy is a theory of teaching reading and writing that arose in the 1990s and has a variety of interpretations. For some, balanced literacy strikes a balance between whole language and phonics and puts an end to the so called reading wars. Others say balanced literacy in practice usually means the whole language approach to reading.

Analytic phonics refers to a very common approach to the teaching of reading that starts at the word level, not at the sound (phoneme) level. It does not teach the blending of sounds together as is done in Synthetic phonics. One method is to have students identify a common sound in a set of words that each contain that same sound. For example, the teacher and student discuss how the following words are alike: pat, park, push and pen. Analytic phonics is often taught together with levelled-reading books, look-say practice, and the use of aids such as phonics worksheets.

Reading Taking in the meaning of letters or symbols

Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.

Smart Way Reading and Spelling

Smart Way Reading and Spelling is a commercial brand of reading instruction methodology and materials that was developed in 2001 by Bright Sky Learning.

A word sort is a developmental word study activity espoused by the Words Their Way curriculum as written by Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton, and Francine Johnston. The activity focuses students' attention on critical features of words, namely sound, pattern, and meaning.

Timothy Shanahan (educator)

Timothy Shanahan is an educator, researcher, and education policy-maker focused on literacy education. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Education, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Education, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, and he has held a visiting research appointment at Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was elected president of the International Literacy Association in 2004. He operates the popular informational website, Shanahan on Literacy. He was recently recognized as one of the top 2% of scientists in the world, according to a recent study published by Stanford University scholars.

References

  1. ↑ "Complete report - National Reading Panel" (PDF).
  2. ↑ "Findings and Determinations of the National Reading Panel by Topic Areas". Archived from the original on 2008-07-05.
  3. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, page 2-3, 2-30 and 2-40" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, page 2-22, 2-25" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "THE NATIONAL READING PANEL REPORT: Practical Advice for Teachers, page 9, Timothy Shanahan, University of Illinois at Chicago, Learning Point Associates 2005" (PDF).
  6. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, Chapter 2 Part 2" (PDF).
  7. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, page 2-97" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, Chapter 3" (PDF).
  9. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, page 3-27" (PDF).
  10. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, 4-3 & 4-27" (PDF).
  11. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, Chapter 4" (PDF).
  12. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, 4-126" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "National Reading Panel, USA, 6-6 & 6-7" (PDF).
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