Episode 176: Quick Q&A: Why Shouldn’t We Level Students and What Should We Do Instead?
Why shouldn’t we level students?
Professor and researcher Kristin Conradi-Smith from episode 143 says, “We lack research for differentiation by text levels.There's simply no support for it.” Teaching with a leveled reading, sometimes known as guided reading, approach isn’t the most effective way to teach or learn to read.
Instead, we can
- Support students’ access to complex texts through scaffolds and building knowledge using language comprehension.
- Use students' prior knowledge and match that knowledge to text topic demands.
- Read text sets - a group of texts on the same topic - to build students’ knowledge and vocabulary.
- Practice and model oral reading fluency, rearead, and use comprehension strategies.
Resources
- Episode 143: Maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction
- Matt Burns F&P BAS and LLI Research
- Matt Burns Leveling Students: Why we do it, why we shouldn’t, and what we should do instead
- Tim Shanahan Should We Teach at Reading Level?
- Tim Shanahan blogs What does the Easter bunny have in common with the independent reading level?
- Tim Shanahan presentation Science of Reading Levels
- Dr. Kristen Schrauben Science of Reading What I Should Have Learned in College Private Facebook Group Presentation Giving Up F&P
We wrote a book! The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night
- Facebook and join our Facebook Group
Don't miss an episode! Sign up for FREE bonus resources and episode alerts at LiteracyPodcast.com
Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
