How to make reading instruction truly effective: insights from experts

Teacher preparation in America is such a mess. “NCTQ’s analysis revealed that 40% of teacher prep programs are still teaching two or more practices that are incompatible with scientifically based reading instruction. There is a spectrum of programs, from those that are fully aligned to scientifically based reading to those that are fully wedded to debunked reading methods. And there is variation—and confusion—in between. For example, we identified over 200 programs that teach at least three of the five core components of scientifically based reading instruction right alongside at least one contrary practice.” Heather Peske https://lnkd.in/eWxqr4-i

The state of additional support needs and services in English schools ✍️ The second of our blogs exploring the challenges impacting schools at the start of the new academic year looks at how pupils and teachers are being supported in the post Covid-19 era, and how senior leaders are responding. The blog, written by Researcher Gustavo Henndel Lopes and Research Director Jenna Julius, draws on over 1,150 responses from school senior leaders to our recent Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey. Read the blog in full 👉 https://bit.ly/4gOPaJm

I’m excited to share that my review of Malia Hollowell’s The Science of Reading in Action has been published in Education Review! Read it here: https://lnkd.in/esYa7YTX In this piece, I try to highlight the need to connect evidence-based reading approaches with culturally sustaining and justice-oriented teaching.

Understanding the challenge of developing pedagogical reasoning in initial teacher education: Theorising as practice‐focused research - Morrison‐Love - 2025 - British Educational Research Journal - Wiley Online Library https://lnkd.in/e4_rxiBz David Morrison-Love

Modern pedagogical concepts in Plutarch's "On Listening Lectures".   A valuable manual for teachers and students of pedagogical and theoretical sciences. importance of active listening, cultivating critical thinking, forming moral character

📚 Is reading comprehension a focus area in your school improvement plans? We’ve just updated nine strands of our Teaching and Learning Toolkit — including our reading comprehension strand, which draws on 40 new studies. 🔍 The evidence is stronger than ever: effective approaches to teaching reading comprehension can boost pupil progress by up to seven months — up from the previous estimate of six. These updates bring the latest research into sharp focus, translating it into practical, accessible summaries for teachers and leaders. Explore the Toolkit: https://ow.ly/Hwn150WkYrU

Phonics? Nailed it. Across the country, schools have transformed early reading — decoding is fluent, automatic, and secure. Now comes the real challenge: helping children understand what they read. The new EEF guidance report and toolkit dig deep into what truly drives strong reading comprehension — from vocabulary and explicit teaching to the art of questioning and discussion. If phonics built the foundation, this is about building the meaning on top. https://lnkd.in/eq85z8Z2 #EEF #ReadingComprehension #Literacy #PrimaryEducation #EvidenceInformedPractice

Great to see another round of updates to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Teaching and Leaning Toolkit following from the update in May of this year. Nine more strands have been updated. Positive impact remains for: * Reading comprehension strategies (impact up from +6 to +7, was 141 studies now includes 184) * Phonics (was 121 studies now includes 228) Small positive impacts and limited evidence remains for: * Reducing class size * Performance pay Unclear impact and insufficient evidence remains for: * Aspiration interventions * Learning styles * Outdoor adventure learning * School uniform Negative impact remains for: * Repeating a year 🚨 These are just the headlines - it is critical we look behind the headlines to the details to understand the implications for practice. Each strand has additional detail (as well as additional studies included where applicable). 🔗 Find out more at https://lnkd.in/g7FevK6b Dr Simon Breakspear Tim Wilson Susannah Schoeffel Ryan Dunn PhD

Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Reading comprehension strategies — high impact (+7 months) at very low cost; teach strategies explicitly with modelling and metacognitive talk; plan progression to independence; choose suitably challenging texts and apply across subjects; short targeted interventions (≤9 weeks) effective; whole-class sustained teaching helpful; diagnose decoding/vocabulary issues for strugglers; evidence base 184 studies (security moderate→high)

Great point about the need to focus not just on content, but more foundationally on critical thinking skills. Simply teaching strategies as such doesn’t get to the more important point: for deeper thinking, we need back and forth discussion and debate. #teaching #education #earlyed #parenting #debate