Webinar Series

Why 4th graders are struggling with reading – and what we can do

Current fourth grade reading test scores show the lowest reading proficiency rates for decades. The cause is unique to their generation.

The pandemic closed schools in the middle of their kindergarten year – a critical time for learning to read. Educators hurriedly switched to remote learning, but it was nearly impossible to recreate their in-person practice.

Today’s fourth graders who struggle with reading need interventions that address the specific shortfalls caused by emergency remote learning.

Heather Williams, LaSalle Elementary School Principal, joins Dr. Carolyn Brown, reading researcher, to discuss the science AND practice needed to help today’s struggling readers.

You will learn:

• What the research says about these struggling readers
• What assessment data can tell us about students’ foundational reading skills
• The types of instruction and interventions that support students lacking foundational reading skills
• The professional learning educators need to support students with this type of reading challenge

The Science of Reading fluently:
What comes after systematic phonics instruction?

Systematic phonics instruction is a key component to an effective literacy program, but not the only component necessary to help students read with fluency and comprehension. Teachers and administrators often observe that many of their students are not reaching fluency and ask “what do we do next”? Evidence shows that a different form of structured practice that builds automatic word recognition is the next step in preparing students to read fluently for comprehension. Join Dr. Carolyn Brown to discuss the research from cognitive science about how students become skilled readers.

Make the Science of Reading Stick: Leverage the Science of Learning

Findings from the science of reading have clearly demonstrated that learning phonics through explicit and systematic instruction is an essential starting point for early readers. However, many students continue to struggle with reading fluency and comprehension because they don’t have the skills and experiences necessary to transition their knowledge to flexible, automatic and fluent use.

Just as beginning readers need systematic and explicit phonics instruction supported by the Science of Reading, many students also require systematic practice to “make learning stick” and to prepare them for the increasing complexity they encounter on the learning journey that takes them to fluency and comprehension. By leveraging well-established learning principles, students learn to discern, derive, and internalize the regularities and irregularities of the grapho-phonemic and orthographic systems resulting in flexible and automatic word recognition.

What you will learn?

• The specific roles of explicit and implicit learning strategies to support reading development;
• The principles of learning that drive retention, retrieval and use;
• How to apply these principles to the development of automatic word recognition; and
• Evaluate whether current reading instruction promotes automatic skill development necessary to reach fluency and comprehension.

Target the “missing link” to prepare students for fluency – a discussion with administrators about student success with WordFlight

Carolyn Brown and administrators Janie Eischen and Dr. Robert Davis share how to integrate WordFlight into your reading instruction to help your students become fluent readers.

WordFlight is an evidence-based program built on a decade of research and development that helps diverse learners fill in the missing link between phonics and fluency.

What you will learn?

• Determine if your students have the foundational reading skills that are essential to fluency,
• Utilize WordFlight’s patented assessment to make students’ strengths and weaknesses visible,
• Evaluate the capacity of instructional tools to develop automatic word recognition – the missing link between phonics and fluency, and
• Use a new learning approach that helps students acquire, use and generalize their decoding knowledge—critical to becoming a fluent reader.

Making your current reading curriculum more accessible and effective

Dr. Carolyn Brown and guest panelist educators Jennifer Abramson and Lisa Phillips share how to use this new evidence-based online reading tool with all reading programs.

Decades of research in cognitive science and learning offer proven approaches to building the automatic, expert skills required for proficient reading. WordFlight activates these foundational skills and ensures that students get the most out of their current reading programs and tools. This assessment and instruction system supports any reading program by preparing your students to reach reading fluency.

What you will learn?

• Identify the missing links that prevent students from progressing
• Conceptualize the development of foundational skills in a way that leads students to generalize and transfer skills to new contexts
• Use a new learning framework to personalize lessons to each student’s needs.