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Parent Resources for Literacy

  • ReadOhio Tip Sheet · Science of Reading

    The Science of Reading: Tips for Families and Questions for Schools

    The Science of Reading — What is it, and why does it matter?

    The National Center on Improving Literacy explains that the Science of Reading is research about how kids best learn to read. Teaching methods using this research focus on the 5 Big Ideas of Beginning Reading, which are part of Ohio’s Learning Standards for English Language Arts from kindergarten through grade 12.

    To become good readers, children need to develop skills in these areas:

    1. Phonemic awarenessAbility to identify and play with individual sounds in spoken language.
    2. PhonicsThe relationship between the individual sounds in spoken language and the letters we use to represent them in written language.
    3. FluencyAbility to read accurately, with expression, at a rate that supports comprehension.
    4. VocabularyKnowing what words mean and how to say and use them correctly.
    5. ComprehensionThe process readers use to understand what they read — this is the goal of reading!

    Effective reading instruction is both systematic and explicit

    Systematic Instruction

    Teaching follows a predefined scope and sequence with frequent reviews. Systematic instruction has a logical and specific plan for what should be covered and in what order, from simple to most complex.

    Explicit Instruction

    The teacher shows students what they need to know, giving them guided practice (with feedback) and independent practice with each skill. The teacher does it first, teacher and student do it together, and the student does it independently.

    How do you know your child is getting good reading instruction?

    All children deserve quality reading instruction that is based on research and best practices.

    Families need an answer to this question, because children who don’t learn to read well in first and second grade are unlikely to catch up later. What should you ask your child’s teacher? What are the signs that your child may not be receiving the instruction needed for later school success? And what should you look for in reading instruction?

    Core instruction and high-quality instructional materials

    Questions to ask What to look and listen for
    • What are the core skills my child needs to work on to read proficiently?
    • Where can I find the scope and sequence of skills that will be taught throughout the year?
    • What instructional materials do you use to teach my child to read?
    • Listen for elements of core instruction focused on the five components of reading instruction described above.
    • Skills should be taught explicitly and systematically, in sequence from simple to most complex.
    • “We use [program name] selected from the Department’s Approved List of Core Curriculum and Instructional Materials.”

    Assessments and progress monitoring

    Questions to ask What to look and listen for
    • Which reading assessments were given this year, and how did my child perform?
    • How are you monitoring my child’s reading progress?
    • Is my child reading at, above, or below grade level? How do you know?
    • May I see my child’s progress monitoring data, so I know what they have mastered and what they still need to work on?
    • Listen for an assessment from the Department’s approved list of reading diagnostic assessments and/or tier 1 dyslexia screeners.
    • “I frequently give short benchmark assessments to see what skills I need to reteach.”
    • Students who are below grade level (or at risk) need interventions and ongoing progress monitoring.
    • “You could practice this skill at home with your child to reinforce what we are working on at school.”

    Support and intervention

    Questions to ask What to look and listen for
    • What reading supports did the school give my child this year, and what progress has my child made?
    • What intervention programs does the school use? How often does my child receive reading intervention?
    • What resources, tutoring programs, or other afterschool programs are available for my child?
    • Students who are deemed “not on-track” receive additional supports for specific areas of need — such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
    • Listen for programs from the Department’s approved list of intervention programs.
    • Listen for a provider from the list of tutoring programs recognized by the Department for their high quality and potential to accelerate student learning in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.

    Teacher training

    Questions to ask What to look and listen for
    • Which training(s) have my child’s teachers completed to refine their reading instruction and support all learners, including students who are not “on-track”?

    Listen for the completion of one or more of the following professional learning options:

    • The Department’s Science of Reading Professional Development course
    • The Department’s Dyslexia Professional Development course
    • A similar course from the Department’s approved list

    Did you know?

    Your child’s reading skills have the potential to substantially impact other academic subject areas. Strong reading skills enable your child to access, interpret, and engage with the curriculum effectively. Listen for examples of how your child is performing reading tasks across different content areas:

    Mathematics

    Reading comprehension is essential for understanding word problems, instructions, and mathematical concepts presented in text form.

    Science

    Proficiency in reading enables your child to grasp scientific texts, follow experimental procedures, and understand complex concepts and vocabulary.

    Social Studies

    Good reading skills help in comprehending historical texts, analyzing primary sources, and understanding geographical and cultural information.

    Support your child’s literacy development at every age

    Boosting early literacy at home

    • Recite nursery rhymes, sing songs, use your hands for shadow plays, and have conversations together.
    • Speak (and read) to your child in your home language.
    • Notice words that sound the same and play rhyming games together.
    • Notice and read environmental print — restaurant signs, traffic signs, grocery store labels.
    • Read aloud to your children, and point to and talk about the print.
    • Talk about letters and the sounds they make using alphabet cards and magnetic letters, tracing letters in salt, forming letters with modeling clay, and other activities.
    • Play word games, talk about the meaning of words, and use interesting words while speaking.
    • Model different kinds of writing daily — label household objects, make grocery lists, write notes. (Encourage scribbling and drawing for younger children!)
    • Allow children to explore and create using a variety of materials — scissors, crayons, markers, glue, and modeling clay. Talk about their creations.

    Enhancing your older child’s literacy at home

    • Talk about school, hobbies, newspaper or magazine articles, and current events.
    • Model joyful literacy by reading and writing daily in front of your older reader!
    • Provide a wide selection of reading materials to choose from. Offer a variety of fiction and non-fiction, and include topics of interest. Visit the library together.
    • Encourage your readers to ask and answer curious questions before, during, and after reading to build background knowledge.
    • Incorporate technology! Listen to audiobooks together in the car or on a walk. Talk about the story.
    • Play word games together like Scrabble, Boggle, or Wordle. Have a competition and make it fun!
    • Focus on vocabulary. Talk about interesting words and use distinctive words while speaking.

    Tools and resources for families

    Adapted from the ReadOhio Tip Sheets, Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.

    Question guidance cited from Reading Rockets, Reading 101: A Guide for Parents (2024), “Reading Instruction at Your Child’s School.”

  • The Basics for Families · March 2025

    What is the Science of Reading?

    The basics

    The science of reading is a growing collection of information from research that shows how people’s brains best learn to read and write.

    Scientists of all kinds — education, neuroscience, speech-language, and more — have explored how people learn to read and tested the best way for teachers to teach reading and writing.

    How does the science get used within schools?

    Schools in Ohio are required to select from a set of approved materials to teach reading that are based on this collection of research. When students are struggling with reading, there are additional materials and strategies that schools can use to support them.

    Want to know more? Read Ohio Revised Code 3313.6028, and find the list of approved English language arts core curriculum and instructional materials on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s website.

    What do students need to be taught, according to this research?

    • To hear the sounds and syllables in spoken words
    • Letter names, how to write letters, and letter-sound relationships
    • How to sound out words
    • How to use the sounds within words to spell them
    • How words are used to build sentences (grammar)
    • How ideas can be organized in paragraphs and longer readings and writings
    • Word meanings using word parts (prefixes, bases, suffixes)
    • Unfamiliar words, to boost vocabulary
    • Ways to get the most meaning out of longer readings

    Structured Literacy

    To be fluent readers and writers, students should be taught reading and writing directly from the teacher, in an ordered way that teaches basic skills first. New skills for reading should be introduced one at a time, with lots of chances for students to practice the skills they have already learned. We call this way of teaching reading and writing Structured Literacy.

    Why is reading a challenge for some kids?

    Learning to speak is natural for most of our brains — it happens without specific teaching. Our writing system is an invented code, and it is not natural for our brains to learn. Our writing system uses letters as symbols to represent the sounds in speech. We must be taught how the symbols, when put together, build words and represent meaning.

    Good reading instruction helps connect the spoken language areas of our brain to the areas that identify symbols (letters) in the visual area. With enough practice, a network forms in the brain that allows us to see a written word and rapidly know both its meaning and how it is pronounced.

    Learn about dyslexia, which can affect learning to read for up to 1 in 5 people.

    Why does everyone supporting reading need to pay attention to this?

    In the past, colleges and universities did not teach all teachers the science of reading. They often taught teachers to provide reading instruction using other methods, like Balanced Literacy or Whole Language. Some large companies writing curriculum for schools also told schools to use materials that were not based in science, for many years. As a result, many families had to pay for expensive tutoring and testing outside the school system to figure out why their children could not read — especially if their child was dyslexic.

    In Ohio and most other states, laws and policies have been put in place so that schools will teach reading based on the science of reading. Teachers are provided with training and resources to make sure they are following the science when they teach reading, in all subject areas. But there are still many materials and teaching methods being used that do not follow the science.

    What the science of reading is not

    • Just a fad or trend that will come and go, or fade away
    • A particular program or curriculum
    • Limited to phonics or letter-sound relationships

    Signs that the science of reading is not being used

    • A school is not using a structured approach to teach specific reading and writing skills over time, with lots of chances for students to practice.
    • Telling a child to read a word based on pictures, or the story, or the first letter only.
    • Asking students to read with cues such as “Does it look right?” “Does it sound right?” “Does it make sense?” “Does the word look like another word you know?”
    • Assuming a child will figure out how to read and spell through reading more on their own, or being read to, without teaching them how to read words.
    • Drawing shapes around words.
    • “Brain-based” exercises such as “crossing the midline.”
    • Vision therapy and using colored overlays.
    • Telling a child to memorize whole words.
    • Testing a child’s reading skills with tools that rely on the three-cueing system, such as running records or reading records.
    • Focusing on “loving reading” without teaching a child how to read.
    • Having students read books with unscientific “levels” (sometimes called Leveled Readers) instead of books they can practice reading based on the exact skills they have already learned.

    Ways to learn more

    1. Watch a science of reading video
    2. Ask your school specific questions and advocate
    3. Find more resources for parents on the Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center’s website
    4. Email your questions about this information to ReadOhio@education.ohio.gov

    Tools and resources for families

    The Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center partnered with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and Ohio families to develop this information. March 2025.

    Original: What is the Science of Reading?, Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center.