Fact-checking the Science of Reading, Rob Tierney and P David Pearson

Rob Tierney and P David Pearson explore the validity of claims associated with the Science of Reading as they have appeared in social media, the popular press, and academic works.

The book offers a comprehensive review of these claims—analyzing the evidence, reasoning, assumptions, and consequences associated with each claim—and closes with ideas for moving beyond the debates to greater consensus or accommodation of differences. The book is a must read for educators involved in teaching reading, as well as parents, policy makers, and other stakeholders.

EVALUATING THE SETTLED CHARACTER OF KEY SOR CLAIMS

CLAIM 1

Explicit systematic phonics instruction is the key curricular component in teaching beginning reading

CLAIM 2

The Simple View of Reading provides an adequate theoretical account of skilled reading and its development over time

CLAIM 3

Reading is the ability to identify and understand words that are part of one’s oral language repertoire

CLAIM 4

Phonics facilitates the increasingly automatic identification of unfamiliar word

CLAIM 5

The Three-Cueing System (Orthography, Semantics, and Syntax) has been soundly discredited

CLAIM 6

Learning to read is an unnatural act

CLAIM 7

Balanced Literacy and/or Whole Language is responsible for the low or falling NAEP scores we have witnessed in the U.S. in the past decade

CLAIM 8

Evidence from neuroscience research substantiates the efficacy of focus on phonics-first instruction

CLAIM 9

Sociocultural dimensions of reading and literacy are not crucial to explain either reading expertise or its development

CLAIM 10

Teacher education programs are not preparing teachers in the Science of Reading

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See Also

Schools are using research to try to improve children’s learning – but it’s not working, Sally Riordan