Battles of Students vs Curriculum-Based Instruction

Every day of the school year, educators are faced with battling student needs as well as demands of the curricular placed on them by the administration. Many quickly become overwhelmed as they push through the curricula but also see that their students need more than the allotted time to fully understand a concept being presented. The pressure then builds as peers are moving their classes on in curricula along with students and teachers both exhibiting stress over all that is expected to be covered in short periods of time. Often there is a split between teachers who throw up their hands and say, “My students come first;” and teachers who say, “We have to get this done.” All this does is lead to teaching frustration for everyone: students, teachers, parents, and administrators. Have you been there or seen this? The common denominator is that everyone is there for the students and wants them to have a complete understanding of the materials. Everyone involved can be coming at the instruction from a different pedagogy. Understanding your pedagogy and your students’ needs will possibly release some of this stress. 

What is your pedagogy?  Is your instruction “student-focused or curriculum-focused?” Gaining a better understanding of each of these forms of instruction along with knowing your students’ learning styles will possibly provide you some stress relief.  Starting with student-focused instruction, the teacher or instructor evaluates what the students need to understand the material and be able to apply it in life or outside the classroom. Some of the students may need additional support, more time, or need to look at the information from a different instructional approach. The student drives the timeline and the theory behind this is that they build a stronger foundation. Skills that are added later should not need as much time to master because they are able to use their applied knowledge. If you are more “curriculum-focused” the instruction is driven by the publisher? There are variables built into most curricula to deal with a large range of different instructional situations. Classroom sizes can vary from a few students to 30+ students in a class. Also, curricula may be designed for 60-minutes but schedules may only allow for 30-minutes of instruction. The real question is what is driving instruction during the day. Often teachers have one pedagogy but are working in a building where expectations are set based upon a different philosophy without them even realizing it.

When talking with teachers, the majority would probably say they are teaching because they want to help children learn. Even though that was their main reason for entering the profession, many have become very frustrated without really understanding why. Sometimes this might be because they themselves did not fully understand all the different philosophies that exist in teaching. Some might even truly believe they teach using one philosophy when really it is a completely different one. One way to find out what is driving your instruction is to STOP and LISTEN to yourself when you talk at lunch about how your class did in the morning lessons.  

Which of the following sounds the most like you?

#1 - “What a morning; we made it through the lesson. I have one group that is going to need a little more practice but the other groups seemed to be doing okay. I really liked how they were able to do a couple of problems with computers. Once we got them going the kids breezed through that center.” 

#2 - “What a morning; my class would not be quiet and listen! We needed to get that workbook page completed and I only had two students start it. They just wouldn’t listen! I’m not going to finish this unit by Friday. I do not know why they would think these students need to do problems on computers. Mine can’t even load the page.” 

Teachers who keep their focus on what the students are accomplishing and not stressing about what lesson they need to be on by Friday most often are more student-focused. They tend to be looking for better ways to serve their students and help them be successful.

Teachers who bring their frustrations about their class to the teacher’s room or to meetings tend to be curriculum focused and feel the pressure put on by the administration to have their students at a certain point by a specific date. Not realizing it, they are pushing the curriculum and their students’ behaviors digress due to lack of understanding. These teachers feel the curriculum must roll on and they hope students catch it when it spirals around again like the publisher says it will. 

Both groups would say they are there for the students. One group celebrates students’ learning while the other blames the administration for their students not learning. In many cases, teachers who change how they talk about their students with peers toward what students learn tend to have higher student success and are more positive leaders on their teams and in their buildings. The subconscious is very impactful of student learning. 

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Behavior - Discipline - Teach

Many teachers and schools struggle with student behaviors and discipline problems. This is not something new and there is really no magic answer. But you can possibly diminish teacher and administration struggles and frustrations with a few simple steps involving where you place your focus of instruction. There is no question that there are special students who bring challenges to our schools and classrooms in which special arrangements might need to be implemented for the safety of the student, other students, and staff.  What we are looking at is discipline disruptions and annoyance behavior that takes away from instructional time in the classroom during such things as lining up, washing hands, and other transitional activities. With a few simple steps, many of these frustrations and loss of instructional time may be relieved, therefore relieving some personal stress on staff.

If we are working in schools everyone in the building is a “teacher”  in some form or way. Therefore, if we are all teachers we need to remember that teaching children how to behave is part of our jobs. Telling someone what to do is only part of teaching. As educators, we know other elements need to be added such as modeling, practice, and sometimes review. Many times we assume the students know, but do they actually know exactly what you are expecting? If as teachers we assume they do not know then we can teach the expected behavior. To achieve this when a disruption occurs instead of stopping and talking with the student about it, “teach” the students what you expect to be occurring. If this disruption is something you have taught already, stop and give a reminder by using a question such as, “Is this the way we wash our hands?” If that statement doesn’t change their behavior it is time for a reteach.  

Looking deeper into this process, assessments are a daily part of education. Therefore use questioning as a form of formative assessment with the students. When you see a student running, asked them, “Did I see you running?” That’s it, and see what they do. Some will drop their heads, others will start walking, while others will go back to the end of the hall and walk. This puts the responsibility on the student and removes the school staff from disciplining to educating. With consistent efforts and reteaching when necessary, the simple question, in most cases, turns to behavior back to positive. 

Quite often it seems many problems that arise in classrooms, cafeterias, playgrounds, and school hallways are due to assumptions. We assume the student knows not to run in the halls, which is a common one. There are other routines we can assume the students should know how to do from year-to-year, such as checking out library books, paying for lunches, using the restrooms, turning in papers, and the list goes on. By changing our focus from discipline to teaching we change the words we use and turn the negative into a positive. Students come from all over the world into our building and at one time we could assume when they came to school all would know how to use the restrooms. This is no longer the case in the world we live in today. Therefore it becomes important as a school that we put everything into teaching mode and not assume they know how things are done. We should not discipline a person for dropping the toilet paper on the floor after using the restroom. We do not know if that child has ever been taught that in most cases in America it is okay to flush the toilet paper. Many places have a garbage for you to drop the toilet paper in, and there was not a garbage can so they left it on the floor. This may seem to be an extreme example yet it is observed in many buildings especially with younger students. 

As teachers, we are not there to discipline students but to teach. Only we often forget that teaching social behaviors is part of the instruction process. There is no question that many years ago there were social norms and expectations and the majority of families and schools and classrooms leaned on the leadership from the homes to develop those. Today we find a multitude of cultures and backgrounds coming into our classrooms therefore it becomes key we teach school and classroom expectations so everyone has the understanding and the ability to be successful. Often there are children who are “disciplined” for actions they had no idea were considered inappropriate. Now the question becomes who is in the wrong, student or teacher because we should not impose a punishment on something the person has no idea is wrong or unacceptable. Therefore it becomes our responsibility to include lessons on expected behaviors in our schools and classrooms.

By changing our focus from discipline to teaching we change the synergy in our teaching which then impacts the atmosphere in the building positively. By taking simple steps of examining the behaviors you struggle within your school or classroom you can then begin to develop instruction to address those situations and focus more on teaching concepts. Classrooms will have more time to focus on academics and not spending energy on the negative impacts of discipline.  

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Grouping for Small Group Reading Instruction Using Data

Grouping for reading instruction can be an interesting task. There are many questions to ask about each student along with how you feel or think they are improving in their reading development. Often reading groups are created based on a student being a good reader, or one...who does okay but is slow, and then one, well who is just not getting it. Then the students move along happily in their groups for the year. 

What if there was a better way of grouping for reading instruction? A systematic way of looking at skills students are missing and then providing instruction so they understand the skill and are able to apply it during their reading. Luckily, there is a systematic way, but it is not easy and takes time to perfect. It consists of three steps which involve assessment, analysis, and action. The same three steps can be found in the medical field as well. 

Start with universal screener for reading to identify whether the students are successful and at their appropriate reading level. There are several available, and a common one is DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). Once you have administered the screener to all your students then you will be able to place the students in three general instructional groups: Benchmark, Strategic, and Intensive.

Benchmark (Tier I) students need to continue on with grade-level content and skills and should be able to remain at grade level with strong instruction. Their monitoring should come from the reading curriculum for reading instruction. Most reading curricula have an end of unit test. This test is most often overlooked but can provide a great deal of information on how your students will score on most state tests. These tests are an implied test. They cover many skills taught prior and then have the students apply those skills as they will in the state tests. Teachers often overlook these because it appears they are not testing what was just taught in the unit they have been teaching. If you want to know how well your students are able to apply the information then this is your way of monitoring your students’ ability to process the material for the state tests. This group of students should now be further grouped by how they score on the unit test. You will be able to group them into three groups.

Group 1: This is our goal for all students. These students are able to apply and analyze what they have read. They are scoring 90% or higher on their unit tests or theme tests.

Students in Group 1 still need strong instruction in the same areas that the Group 2 students need. They also need the opportunity to expand. In most cases, fluency is not an issue. Therefore, that time may be used to move the students to the synthesis level of comprehension. These students will exceed most often on state testing, as they are able to apply the information they read. 

Activities/Lessons:

• Many of the same activities from Group 2
• Vocabulary applied and expanded
• Writing
• Give information and the students create their own story.
• Use information from different stories and write a new story. An example would be taking the setting from one story, characters from another story, problem from another, and then creating their own story. They can then share and discuss the stories with peers.

Group 2: These students have met their fluency benchmark and are able to pass the themes tests or end of unit tests with a score of between 70% and 89%. Truly these students are on their way to becoming good readers and have fair comprehension. They will meet the expectation of the state tests. 

For the most part, these students have a good understanding of the knowledge level of questioning and are fairly strong on comprehension. They need to work toward the application and analysis of what they read. This group should have no problem passing the state test. The goal is to move them to fully applying what they read.

Activities/Lessons:

• Practice in fluency is still important so they don’t lose it.
• Lessons can be taught and they can work independently on workbook pages or worksheets that match lessons.
• Story Maps
• Retell the story in written form.
• Vocabulary
• Applied vocabulary (replace words with synonyms)
• Crazy Professor (YouTube)
• Guided comparisons / Venn Diagrams
• Guided comprehension skill application moving toward independent application.
• Rewriting or telling the story explaining if the characters made a different choice

Group 3: These students have met their fluency benchmark but are unable to pass the theme or end of unit tests.

Students in this group are using less cognitive energy when decoding text. This will now free up some cognitive power to build on comprehension. They are still at the knowledge level and very concrete. An example might be if the student read: “The dog ran very fast. When he got to the dish it was empty.” Then if you asked the question, “What did the dog run to?” they could not make the connection between the two sentences. They can tell you that the dog ran fast and that the dish was empty, but wouldn’t connect that the dog was running to the dish. Often these are the students' teachers who will say, “They have no problems reading but do not remember a thing!” They need to be taught how to apply information and to read for understanding. 

Activities/Lessons:

• Students still need to practice reading to keep their fluency up.
•  Lessons need to be guided, with comprehension worksheets and workbook pages done together.
• Vocabulary and word use needs to be instructed and practiced orally. Point out vocabulary in the text during guided reading. (Make them look at the word in the text so they don’t just read over it.)
•  Story Maps
• Retell what they have read in their own words. (Orally)
• Crazy Professor parts 1, 2, &3 (YouTube)

Strategic (Tier II) students who fall in the mid-range of the screener, often are able to be split into two groups. They also may require additional diagnostic screening to identify specific areas of instruction needed. In most cases, this group of students can be split into two groups. Group 4 of our student groups are students who are not fluent but are accurate. What this shows us is that they are fairly strong on their phonic/structure skills but it is just not quite automatic, and they are having to take additional time to decode their words. The area of instruction for these students would be fluency. If they are not accurate this is where additional diagnostic screenings are needed (Group 5). There are several available and most reading curriculums have them though you may have to reach out to a primary teacher as they are usually not in the upper-grade curriculum supplies. Upper grades should first check to see if these students are missing single-syllable words or multisyllabic words. Often upper-grade students are just struggling with multisyllabic words and need additional support. 

Group 4: These students are strategic and have passed all parts of a phonics diagnostic screener and are reading passages with 95% accuracy.

These students are on their way to becoming readers. They are currently using their cognitive energy to decode words. They need to work to train their brains so that reading is automatic and they don’t have to think about decoding the words. Comprehension will come when the reader is no longer using their cognitive energy to decode. Comprehension will be stressed in Learning Groups 3,2, and 1.

Activities/Lessons:

• Practice reading orally materials that are at their independent reading level.
• Read Naturally
• Up-Up-Up Reading Activity
• Read word lists to activate the working memory
• SuperSpeed 1000 (Chris Biffle)

Note: These students should be taking the core reading program skills tests and/or unit check-outs. If they are able to pass the skills tests at the exceeds level (90% or higher) you may need to evaluate to see if they have any physical problems holding them back from making the fluency benchmark. They may just be slow-moving or have a speech problem. If this is the case they need to be placed in learning group 1. Caution, they must read the test with none of the material being read to them. It is true that they may be able to process the material at a higher level auditorily, which is great, but the goal is that they are reading and processing themselves. If you focus on their processing ability alone, you are missing the goal of the student becoming a reader.

Group 5: These students are at the strategic reading level and have not passed phonic diagnostic screeners.

The phonics diagnostic screener will direct the instruction of  the student. Once they are able to pass all the tasks, then the student should be ready to move to Group 4.

Grades K-1: Need instruction on specific phonics and language skills.

Grades 2-5: learning group 5 is in two parts.

5A has not passed the first part of the phonics diagnostic screener. Their instruction needs to be driven by the skills identified during leveled skill group time.

5B have passed everything but multisyllabic words. Students in learning group 5B need the majority of their instruction during leveled skill group time in multisyllabic word decoding.

  

Learning group 5 is a hard area for leveled skill group instruction. The instructional focus comes from the missing skills, but uses the materials for the theme that is being taught. Working with these groups requires that teachers understand the spectrum of reading skills to be able to adapt materials to meet students’ missing skills as indicated by the diagnostic screener.

Intensive (Tier III) students make up the last group for the classroom teacher. They are the students who are way below the benchmark goal and are struggling. The first step is to check to see if there is any type of IEP or reading struggle identified in their file. If there is then that file will drive their instruction and you need to follow the plan that was developed. If you are not able to locate anything in their file, then the first place to start is with the diagnostic screener to identify skills they are lacking and need to develop. If they continue to struggle you need to check with your school's referral processes and present data to help develop a plan for those students.  

Group 6 (two groups)

6A - students are in the CORE reading program and are working on basic skills they have not passed on the phonics diagnostic screener. If a student at this level has not moved in three learning group reviews you need to start some deeper evaluations. (Most often these are students who move into your classroom who are below grade level.)

6B - students are working in a Title I program or have an IEP. Their instructional focus should still be what is listed in 6A, but also making sure any previously developed plan in the student file is being followed. 

Using this processing of evaluating students learning strengths and needs and teaching to their specific gaps will allow them to gain a better understanding of the reading process and become successful readers. Though the process is not simple and there are many steps, meeting the students' gaps will allow them to become fluent readers at a quicker rate than just moving through a curriculum hoping they will learn. 

Time to Think About the First Day of the School Year!

Fall is in the air and that means it is time to start thinking about the first-day of school with your new class. So many meetings! So much information! It is hard to know what to set as your priorities for the start of the new year. No matter what the curriculum or your district requirements, setting your routines and expectations needs to be of top importance.  

It is key that you take time to map out your routines and the expectations you have of your classes so you know what your plan is when the students do not comply with something. This is often the biggest misconception in student behavior because the students do not do what you might expect and then you are left to react rather than having a planned response for their interpretation of your expectations. 

Many classrooms have “Classroom Rules.” Think about dropping the word rules and replacing it with expectations. When there is a rule that someone does not follow it usually results in some form of consequence. Schools are an environment of learning and practicing, therefore using the word expectations goes along with our pedagogy of learning and practicing. If we do not meet an expectation we are able to step back and try again without consequences. 

Taking the time in the first few days to set expectations such as those for lining up, washing hands, and using the restroom will provide additional instructional time later in the year. Students want to know what is expected of them and if it is left to them there is a high chance they will assume incorrectly and you will then spend the next few months trying to correct their interpretation. 

Help set your students up for success. Phrase things in questions. This takes the responsibility off of you and puts it on the students. An example might be instead of telling the student to put their name on their paper because you see it is missing, ask them, “Is your name on the paper?” This puts the responsibility on the student in a positive way with the same outcome. 

You also might consider listing some of your expectations on a poster in the classroom. You will find the poster will save your voice. That way when you take a quick glance at the student’s work you can just say, “You need to check number 4.” You have now put the responsibility onto the student without telling them to go put their name on their paper. It can also be used if you have listed work at a whisper voice with your partner and they are at the shouting volume. All you have to say is please review number 5. This will cut down on your teacher talk in the classroom and put the responsibility back on the students. There is no question that at some point you are going to ask them to comply with one of the expectations and you may have to stop the class and provide a short lesson to reteach what is expected, but even so you are providing the students with the opportunity to take control of their own behavior. 

Set your expectations high and make sure your students know what is expected and you all will achieve your goals. Enjoy this school year. 

Vocabulary, the Key to Comprehension

Language is our main form of communication, and with language comes vocabulary. Simply put vocabulary is the persons’ understanding of words being used to communicate. Vocabulary building starts at birth by the child responding to caregivers. Caregivers of young children quickly learn what different sounds and gestures that the baby makes indicating their needs. At the same time, the child is building their communication understanding and their brains continue to develop their personal vocabulary.

If you’re around young children, two to three years old, you begin to realize that many have an understanding even though their spoken vocabulary is still very limited. They are able to complete simple tasks such as, “Get your cup,” yet they are unable to say those words. This is because much of our environmental vocabulary is absorbed and applied as we experience the interaction with the activity or object. As our brains develop the skills of inference and application develop allowing our vocabulary to expand and out ability to communicate with others.

We know there is a large vocabulary gap between socioeconomic classes (Hirsch, 2003). Sparks (2013) showed that low-income children’s vocabulary entering school was between 500 and 600 words. The old school approach of teaching vocabulary by introducing the words as they are presented in the curriculum has shown that struggling students were not able to retain or use those words later in the year (Sparks, 2013). Vocabulary is something absorbed and the student does not take ownership of the word until exposure and understanding along with the application are fully experienced.  

Vocabulary is first a language skill. It begins to develop at birth and continues throughout life. Every language has its own vocabulary which ultimately leads to comprehension. Vocabulary as a reading skill plays just as important a role as comprehension. The reader needs knowledge and a base vocabulary to be able to infer words from meaning in conversations prior to using reading to build vocabulary. There is a point with every reader when the fastest way to expand vocabulary is through reading rather than conversation. Until the student has mastered their decoding and use of language inference skill they will struggle with both vocabulary and comprehension. To keep this from happening the reader has to have strong language skills so that they can then transfer them to their reading.

Students who struggle with reading will often struggle when it comes to gaining vocabulary and comprehension from text and then applying it. If you have a reader who has this struggle, you need to step back and see how strong their ability to pick up the meaning of new words is from conversations. Just because they are able to read the word and pronounce it correctly does not mean they have the ability to decipher the meaning of the word from the context of the sentence. If this is the case the reader needs additional instruction and language support.

There is no question that vocabulary is a key element to reading. Knowing the sequence in which students develop vocabulary will provide the support your students need and lead to better comprehension in their reading. So the next time you have the opportunity to work with vocabulary, stop and quickly evaluate by asking yourself, “Am I providing the type of vocabulary instruction my students need?”

References:
Hirsch, E.D., Jr. “Reading Comprehension Requires Knowledge of Words and the World: Scientific Insights to the Fourth-Grade Slump and the Nationan’s Stagnant Comprehension Scores.” American Educator, Spring 2003, pp. 10-29

Sparks, S.D. “Students Must Learn More Words, Say Studies.” Education Week, February 5, 2013.

Understanding Reading Comprehension

Reading and comprehending what is read is the ultimate goal of every reader and teacher. Achieving this goal can often be a great struggle. There are several key skills which need to be in place before most students are able to fully have success in comprehending what they read. Often struggling readers have a hard time understanding what they read, while there are some good readers who also have difficulties. Identifying the skills used to accomplish reading understanding may assist you in identifying just where your students are struggling with mastering reading comprehension.

Comprehension is a natural skill that begins at birth when the child begins receiving responses which please them from caregivers (Knoph, 1986). As the child becomes aware of sounds (language) they begin building their language comprehension. Babies are able to understand words long before they are able to speak (Holinger, 2012). Many parents teach their children sign-language as a way to communicate prior to them speaking. These simple steps are building pathways of understanding in the brain which allows the child to express their understanding.

As the child develops and grows they are building their vocabulary. Vocabulary forms a foundation for comprehension (Robb, 2015). Vocabulary is a skill in which we mainly absorb the meanings of words. Therefore the more we are exposed to the language and use our language the better we are able to connect the dots to make meaning and understanding.  The first step in building vocabulary is hearing words and connecting them to objects or events. As we develop, we also gain information for context clues. When hearing a word we are unfamiliar with, we must determine the meaning of this new word. We use the information we have gathered to make a meaning determination. All of these steps happen prior to the child ever reading any words. Vocabulary, therefore, is a language skill which begins at birth and is a vital component to future reading comprehension ability.

As a person begins learning to read they are transferring their language skills to texts. Many children have no difficulty making this transfer. For others, it is not so easy. Listening and speaking is a natural skill whereas reading and writing are man created skills and often people struggle with mastering these skills (Moats & Tolman, ND). If a person is having difficulty picking up reading skills their language development and vocabulary levels may need to be checked. Building those skills will strengthen the foundation of their reading and comprehension.

People who are struggling with reading may need to take time to focus on decoding and building their understanding of how our language is put into print. As these skills are presented to students in school, they are often presented several at a time, and some just get confused while others catch on without difficulty. If a student struggles to read, they are most likely going to struggle with writing. Some may have a strong language ability and be able to explain what they have heard, but may not have a strong understanding of word structure and most often won’t write well. This is an observation point. They are able to take and tell, but not read and write. The focus area for these students would be word structure (phonics).

Then, there are the students who have decoding down and have no problem reading but have absolutely no idea what they have just read. These students need assistance with reading comprehension. The first thing to check is language comprehension. Are they able to tell about an event or activity? Can they explain something that they watched? Can they retell something that has been read to them? If they are able to complete these tasks then chances are great they just need some support and guidance to transfer the language skill to their reading. If they are unable to do any of those tasks, step back and spend some time focusing on language comprehension.

Reading comprehension is a transferred skill from language comprehension. Prior to teaching reading comprehension, we need to check to make sure the students have an understanding of their language. Once they have language understanding, a strong vocabulary must be built. The next skill is to infer the meanings of unknown words from texts to build their vocabulary. Most students also need support and practice to retell events or passages read to them. Once they have mastered these skills, in most cases, the transfer to reading comprehension is smooth.

Do You Know the Facts About Dyslexia?

Science Jack 

Dyslexia is neurobiological in origin. The students are NOT being lazy.

People with Dyslexia often have difficulties inaccurate, and/or fluent word recognition along with poor decoding and spelling skills.

People with dyslexia have trouble with the sounds of language (phonology), yet will have average or higher cognitive skills.

Children who have a parent with dyslexia have a 50% chance of having a dyslexic brain. If both parents are dyslexic then the chance is closer to 100% that their children will be dyslexic.

Seeing letters backwards is not an indicator of dyslexia. Macdonald et al. (2017) found that 50% of educators and 76% of the general public felt that children seeing letters backwards was an indicator of dyslexia. Written communication is a man-created/designed form of communication using letters, in the case of English. Our brains are designed to see an object and remember that object, such as a cup. When we see a cup our brains know it’s a cup if it is on its side or upside down. We are also able to transfer that information we know about a cup if the cup is larger or smaller. A cup is a cup. When we move to learn about writing all of a sudden the rules change. The letter “b” is no longer a “b” when it is turned around. It is a “d.” Upside down it is  a “p.” Until the student is able to understand that letters do not operate the same as objects, all children might have reversal problems.

Dyslexia can have an impact on a student’s self-image and self-esteem. Students with dyslexia often end up feeling “dumb” and feel less capable than they really are. They often use distractions to get out of completing school activities.

Dyslexia is often classified as a learning disability when really it is a brain formation that close to 20% of populations are born with. It only becomes a disability when the learner does not fit into the education program in which they are placed. Students who have a dyslexic brain thrive in education when their instruction is provided in a format which aligns with how their brain processes information.

Because a child is born with a dyslexic brain, it is something they have for a lifetime. Dyslexics, with proper instruction, are able to learn to process and read and write well. We have also learned through science that dyslexia impacts the way a person processes information. If pathways are built in younger children they are able to transfer those processing skills. The key instructional time is between the ages of 3 and 7, therefore, waiting and allowing them more time has been disproven to be effective.  

If a child doesn’t read on grade level by the end of third grade, they have a four times greater chance of dropping out and a one in seven chance of becoming a reader as an adult.

Dyslexia is a neurological condition that causes the brain difficulty in processing information in the areas of reading, writing, and spelling. The National Institute of Health estimates that as high as 20% of the children in our schools are on some level of the dyslexia spectrum.

Many students with dyslexia remain undiagnosed. The way the system has currently established a percentage of students will not qualify for special services. General education teachers along with reading specialists and even special education teachers do not have enough training to provide the evidence-based instruction that these students need. Dyslexia is not overcome by a program because every student will need to have special skills addressed. Currently, students with dyslexia in public schools continue to fail to reach their potential, reaching frustration and not feeling misunderstood, which puts them at greater risk of dropping out. They live with frustration and continually ask themselves,  “Why can’t I read?”

How can you help?

Become aware of the characteristics of dyslexia, especially at the preschool age.

Educate yourself on scientific evidence-based early reading skills instruction.

Be proactive for each child’s education and instruction.