The science of reading is a vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing. It is a comprehensive body of research that encompasses years of scientific knowledge, spans across many languages, and shares the contributions of experts from relevant disciplines such as education, special education, literacy, psychology, neurology, and more. The science of reading is not a specific program, intervention, or product that can be bought, but rather an approach to teaching reading that is based on decades of research and evidence.

The science of reading has culminated in a preponderance of evidence to inform how proficient reading and writing develop, why some have difficulty, and how we can most effectively assess and teach and, therefore, improve student outcomes through prevention of and intervention for reading difficulties. It is a collection of research over time, from multiple fields of study using methods that confirm and disconfirm theories on how children best learn to read.

The science of reading is especially crucial for struggling readers, but school curricula and programs that train teachers have been slow to embrace it. The approach began to catch on before schools went online in spring 2020. But a push to teach all students this way has intensified as schools look for ways to regain ground lost during the pandemic — and as parents of kids who can’t read demand swift change.

In practice, the science of reading calls for schools to focus on the building blocks of words. Kindergartners might play rhyming games and clap out the individual syllables in a word to learn to manipulate sounds. Experts call this phonemic awareness. The National Reading Panel (NRP) report in 2000 identified five key elements that are key to reading success: comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, phonics, and phonemic awareness. Phonics-based programs that drill phonics skills are not the same as the science of reading.

In summary, the science of reading is a vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing. It is an approach to teaching reading that is based on decades of research and evidence, and it calls for schools to focus on the building blocks of words.