LETRS and Teacher Knowledge

State-mandated trainings on the Science of Reading, whether through LETRS or other learning modules, can help teachers build a broad base of complex phonics knowledge. But is teaching teachers phonics enough to increase student reading achievement?

According to the largest study to date on LETRS that was conducted by What Works Clearinghouse, which included 270 teachers and 5000 students across 4 different states dates, the answer is no.

In 2 of the research groups, teachers received 8 days of reading instruction training based on selected modules from the LETRS curriculum, modified for purposes of the study. Training was offered in the summer and continued through the school year.

One of the two groups that received the training also received weekly one-on-one support from a specially trained instructional coach.

In the third research group, teachers received the district's standard professional development program.

So what did the LETRS study authors report?

Providing training based on the LETRS curriculum (with or without the instructional coaches) increased teacher knowledge of reading instruction techniques and their use of explicit instruction. However, it did not increase the reading test scores of their students.

The authors estimated effect sizes on reading scores that ranged from 0.03 to 0.08, which were not statistically significant.

Knowledge is Power

If knowledge is power, then wouldn't increasing teacher knowledge about phonics improve their ability to to teach it to their students? It's one thing to effectively teach college-educated adults about syllable types and r-controlled vowel sounds, but impacting student achievement relies on teachers' ability to transfer that knowledge on to their students. Knowing something doesn't mean "knowing how to teach it."

Should it start with teacher-knowledge? YES!
​But what knowledge, how much knowledge, and for what purpose? ​
Is the purpose to get kids reading as soon and as fast as possible?
It should be, according to Dr. Mark Seidenberg.

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​Providing "Easily Deliverable Buckets" for Complex Phonics Skills

The following question was recently shared in the Secret Facebook Group and it exemplifies what should be the ultimate goal of phonics instruction, which is to get kids reading.
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​Even in kindergarten, kids who know the /al/ Secret could easily "get" (decode) the word walk. And not only that word, but all other words with the /al/ phonics Secret—talk, chalk, also, almost, alright, fall, call, all, etc.—and without having to wait until the end of first grade or beginning of second for access.

If our goal is to truly to follow the science of reading, then we must prioritize reading as the ultimate goal of phonics instruction, which means giving faster access to more of the phonics code sooner to minimize memorizing words and actively decode them instead.

This is what Secret Stories do. They are neuroscience-based tools to help teachers activate phonics knowledge for easy and efficient delivery alongside a structured literacy curriculum or existing phonics program.

Neuroscience carves a clear path for faster delivery of complex phonics skills easier, earlier and faster. Research on early brain development gives access to "backdoor" learning pathways that enable automatic skill retrieval through schemas stored in long term memory. These existing schemas help students (and teachers!) to quickly and effortlessly access phonics information with minimal conscious effort, allowing immediate recall of phonics sounds based on established patterns and connections.

When I do professional development for schools and districts, I typically come either just before or just following LETRS (or other SoR-based) training to provide these "deliverable buckets" to help teachers organize and activate this phonics knowledge and quickly transfer it to students.

To this end, I've been working with a state trainer and district specialist (both certified in LETRS) on a "soon-to-be-released" blog post that we hope will be a "go-to" guide for teachers to help simplify "hard-to-teach" phonics concepts and and fast-track delivery to kids.

The pictures below are just a quick glimpse into what we will be fleshing-out in our upcoming post....

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And then there's the much-needed phonics FUN!!! 🎃 🔤 👻
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🩷Until Next Time, #DontHoldBackTheCode!

REGION 10 EVENT ​
PS Join me for a full day keynote at ESC Region 10 in Dallas on October 28, followed by a second day of break-out sessions on the 29th with me and some incredible and well-known literacy experts! Use the link or the QR code to get more information and to register. This event is open to everyone, even those outside of the state of Texas. The registration deadline is October 25th!