A Conceptual Framework for the Science of Reading

The report of the National Reading Panel, released 20 years ago, summarized what we knew at the time about the science of reading. Following the release of  this report, the most common way for teachers to conceptualize reading was as the five key elements it presented:  phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  This way of thinking about reading has led to a disjointed approach to instruction because it treats these elements as separate from each other.  It also fails to illustrate the central role of comprehension.  This session presents a different framework for conceptualizing reading—one that incorporates more recent advances in the science of reading and illustrates how each element of reading influences comprehension.