EACH and every day Americans are bombarded with the latest research-based reading programmes from the minds of educators.

Yet, in spite of the plethora of literacy research, America is unable to achieve 100% literacy.

This is so because we continually rewrite the literacy plan which does not offer pedagogues an opportunity to become fluent with the resources needed to teach literacy to their students.

Teaching a child to read is a skill which requires one to be knowledgeable about one’s craft and familiar with the correct tools to use.

What is the most effective approach to teaching literacy? First, we must create the physical, emotional, and cognitive classroom environments for optimal learning to facilitate literacy growth.

In addition, research shows that students need at least 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction per day in order for sufficient student reading development. This instruction must be dense: systematically delivering explicit teacher directions; scaffolded over time; and, differentiated across the classroom.

The National Center for Education Statistics, based in Washington D.C., concluded in a recent report that a persistent gap in achievement exists between children from different backgrounds. The Center’s statistics revealed that this deficit can be traced to the preschool years, underscoring the importance of instilling solid reading habits in children from an early age.

Educators need strong support for children’s language and early literacy development. In other words, we must provide a foundational literacy programme to improve literacy quality among young children – a literacy programme comprising phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.

Governments must provide teachers with the support they need to be successful: professional development, using a literacy programme for five to seven years, allowing the teachers to evaluate its success for their students. Only then will we have measurable positive changes in literacy.

Our society is changing and we can ill afford to have non-readers among us. In order for our students to change based on the societal needs of our citizens, we must equip learners with the tools necessary to engage in a process of life-long learning and independent thinking. We must teach them to read!

(Dorothy M. Cush, BSc, MSc, SDL, SBL is a curriculum and literacy specialist with New York City’s Department of Education)

by Dorothy M. Cush