Understand and Act on the Science of Reading: New Resources

by | November 21, 2019

The debate over how to teach reading has heated up in the face of discouraging NAEP results, and more education groups are calling for educators to use the science of reading in classrooms. As always, dedicated teachers feel urgency to get reading instruction right, but educators are busy and need simple, research-based guidance.

Concise resources that Public Impact® has published today help teachers learn the basics of reading research and turn them into simple, actionable steps to boost standard curricula.


New from Public Impact®

The Science of ReadingIntroduction: Understanding the Simple View of Reading

The Science of ReadingStudy & Action Guide:
Improving Your Multi-Classroom Leadership Team’s Instruction


These new resources use Mississippi-based Barksdale Reading Institute’s ReadingUniverse.org summary table (password: abc123) as the content core for putting the science of reading into action. In the latest NAEP results, Mississippi is one bright spot—the only state where reading results improved in 2019. With nearly two decades of contributing to the nation’s strongest statewide growth in reading, the Barksdale Reading Institute’s work is a critical source for getting reading instruction right.

So, produced with Opportunity Culture® multi-classroom leaders, other instructional leaders, and teachers in mind, Public Impact®’s new resources:

  • Introduce teachers to key reading research. In The Science of Reading—Introduction: Understanding the Simple View of Reading slide deck, educators learn about the simple view equation: Decoding X Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension. The deck also distinguishes misleading conventional wisdom from facts based on research about teaching methods that boost students’ reading comprehension.
  • Help teams turn the research into action. The Science of Reading—Study & Action Guide: Improving Your Multi-Classroom Leadership Team’s Instruction slide deck helps multi-classroom leaders and their teams improve reading instruction and student learning growth fast. This short, straightforward slide deck provides a structured process and action planner for improving curricula and teaching methods based on research. Teams can use the deck to improve reading instruction over one year, or faster by targeting critical instructional gaps.
  • Give a quick, one-page overview. In this new publication in the Opportunity Culture® Connect series, educators get a one-page reminder of the critical elements of reading research.

Public Impact® will continue to produce simple resources educators can turn to for help. Don’t miss our earlier Opportunity Culture® Connect curriculum recommendations, too:

Look for more tools, study guides, and educator columns next month!

Note: Public Impact® and Opportunity Culture® are registered trademarks; Multi-Classroom Leader® and Multi-Classroom Leadership™ are trademarked terms, registration pending.

Keep Reading

The Opportunity Culture® 2024 Year in Review: So Much to Celebrate!

District of the Year A district with strong use of—and strong support for—Opportunity Culture® models was named district of the year. Congratulations to Ector County ISD in Odessa, Texas! K–12 Dive reported that the percentage of high school seniors considered...

Congratulating K-12 Dive District of the Year, Ector County ISD

A teaching team leader instructs students in small-group tutoring sessions in 2022 in Ector County ISD. Educators in the team leader role lead small teaching teams while continuing to teach students part of the time. Congratulations to K-12 Dive District of the Year...

Leading in Growth and Small Groups: Lessons From Winchester

At John Kerr Elementary in Winchester, Virginia, teaching team leader Brandi Shirley (left) and Reach Associate™ Debra James lead small-group instruction. In October, Winchester Public Schools Superintendent Jason van Heukelum got good news from the latest Virginia...