Evidence-Based Reading Instruction: Putting the National Reading Panel Report into Practice

Evidence-Based Reading Instruction: Putting The National Reading Panel Report Into Practice

In 2000 the National Reading Panel (NRP) completed the most comprehensive review of existing reading research to be undertaken in U.S. education. The findings were presented in the Report of the National Reading Panel: An Evidence Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction. The panel found that for children to become good readers they must be taught

phonemic awareness skills
phonics skills
reading fluency
vocabulary development
comprehension strategies

The Reading First legislation, part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, labels these topics the "five essential components" of reading instruction, and programs funded by Reading First must include these elements. Each state will receive funds that are proportional to the number and percentage of children living in poverty and then host competitions to determine how the funds will be distributed among the districts and schools.

In order to aid educators in implementing these components in the early grades, the International Reading Association has assembled Evidence-Based Reading Instruction: Putting the National Reading Panel Report Into Practice, a timely and helpful compilation of articles from its journal The Reading Teacher. The first five sections are grouped according to the five essential components. Each section offers a summary and discussion of the NRP findings, and presents several articles from The Reading Teacher that provide concrete descriptions of the recommended practices. The final section includes articles that employ practices from two or more of the essential components, and the appendixes contain the Association’s position statement What Is Evidence-Based Reading Instruction? and a useful list of Association resources cited in the NRP Report.

This compilation will help educators implement practices consistent with scientifically based reading research, but more important, it will help teachers make every child a reader.

International Reading Association