Knowledge is Essential in Developing Reading Proficiency

In 2015, teachers in my district had the opportunity to have leaders from TNTP come into our classrooms and evaluate our practice using the instructional practice guide. Through this experience, I have learned so much about my own literacy practice, the paramount need for high expectations, and the vital role knowledge plays in reading proficiency.  

What do baseball and reading proficiency have in common? 
In an eye-opening study by Donna R. Recht and Lauren Leslie, the effect of students' prior knowledge on their reading comprehension was analyzed. A group of students was asked to read a passage about baseball, and then they were asked to answer a series of comprehension questions based on what they read.

(Graphic from achievethecore.org)

One might expect students with high reading ability and high knowledge of baseball to score the highest. However, it is important to notice the group of students that scored the next-highest. It is not the group of students with high reading ability and low knowledge of baseball, but instead the students with low reading ability and high knowledge of baseball. Children with background knowledge of the topic significantly outperformed those without, regardless of reading ability! 

Cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham also speaks to the importance of background knowledge, stating that, "Once kids are fluent decoders, much of the difference among readers is not due to whether you're a 'good reader' or a 'bad reader' (meaning you have good or bad reading skills). Much of the difference among readers is due to how wide a range of knowledge they have. If you hand me a reading test and the text is on a subject I happen to know a bit about, I'll do better than if it happens to be on a subject I know nothing about."

Let's take a moment to define "reading proficiency."
A term that educators hear very often is reading proficiency. But what does that mean? In a document released by the Tennessee Department of Education titled, Third Grade Vision for Reading Proficiency, reading proficiency is simply defined as making meaning from text. "To do this, readers must accurately, fluently, and independently read a wide range of appropriately-complex texts; strategically employ comprehension strategies to analyze key ideas and information; construct interpretations and arguments through speaking and writing; develop vocabulary; and build knowledge about the world."

In speaking of reading proficiency, research has alarmingly shown that the majority of students not reading proficiently by third grade will remain below grade level throughout their school careers (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010.) It is a safe assumption that educators desire what is best for our students. It is also a safe assumption that we will do whatever is in our power to make that happen, to work to prepare them for life beyond our own classrooms, our schools, and well into their careers and lives.  

So what do we, as educators, do?
Understanding this research, along with understanding the instructional shifts in our Tennessee state standards for literacy, we have an obligation to our students to help them build extensive background knowledge to equip them to better access the text they read. In doing so, we are empowering them with the ability to make connections between what they read and what they already know, and thus comprehending what they read. Reading is so much more than simply being able to decode words. Skills-based competencies, such as phonics and decoding, are an important piece of the literacy puzzle, but these skills alone are not adequate for literacy development. Students need to be able to make meaning from the text they are decoding. Engaging our students with complex texts, meaningful and rigorous tasks, and exposing them to a wide range of information to build their background knowledge is essential.

Another critical piece is raising our own expectations. Are first graders able to explain their body systems, how they work together, and the importance of each for a functioning body? Are second grade students able to describe and analyze the events that led up to the War of 1812? Absolutely! Put very simply and perfectly in Third Grade Vision for Reading Proficiency, "We must give students hard work and believe that they can do it."  


Seeing it Work in the Classroom
Understanding the research and having a desire to make change were what I had; the tools and resources I needed to accomplish this task were what I was striving to find - spending hours planning and searching for high-level, engaging material to use in my classroom. Then my school district made the decision to pilot a curriculum unlike anything we had used before. The curriculum is organized into two distinct strands: a skills strand and a knowledge strand. The knowledge strand includes high-level, content-rich text sets meant to be read aloud to students. In our preparation, we were interested to see our five, six, seven, and eight-year-old students' depth of understanding of topics such as the Revolutionary War, similar folktales from different countries, Greek myths, the War of 1812, and astronomy, to name a few.

We. Have. Been. Astounded. Our students continually blow our own expectations out of the water. They participate in meaningful, rich discussion about high-level text. Not only are they able to answer questions about the content, but they are also able to ask their peers questions about the material and push their own thinking further. They are able to express their thoughts orally and on paper, and their vocabularies have blossomed. They make connections between the things we read and their own lives, as well as connections to other pieces of text that we have read together. And they are EXCITED about their learning. We very often receive elated messages from families telling us that their students are teaching them at home. Never before have I been more excited about the learning happening in my classroom!

Seeing the change in our classrooms has further solidified two facts: high expectations are critical for students of all ages; and building content knowledge in students is essential to developing reading proficiency. Building that background knowledge levels the playing field for every student in the classroom. Every child is given the same opportunity for learning, regardless of their different life experiences. Every child is given access to high-level content knowledge. Every child is given the opportunity to succeed. And every student deserves that. 

To quote Daniel Willingham, "Once students can decode fluently, reading comprehension depends heavily on knowledge. By failing to provide a solid grounding in basic subjects, we inadvertently hobble children's ability in reading comprehension... Teaching content is teaching reading."

Never Underestimate Your Impact

     It was a Friday morning on Fall Break, and the tone of their voices caught my attention. My children were playing in the living room like any other morning, but his little, four-year-old voice sounded more determined than normal. "No, she puts a smiley face beside her name," he said, "like this." My nine-year-old daughter responded, soft and encouraging, "Okay. Add it there. What else does her morning message say?"
     A Morning Message. They were writing a message together like my son's preschool teacher does each morning. She and I had talked not long ago about how eager and enthusiastic her class is to participate with helping her fill in the blanks of her message each morning during circle time, how they look forward to using the calendar to find the date and to hearing about their objectives for the day. They love to read the message together, taking turns using her special pointer. He had spent a Fall Break morning crafting a morning message to show his teacher when he returns to school.

     We had enjoyed a wonderful break. We had stayed up late, gone camping, visited a theme park, and had just enjoyed sweet, unscheduled togetherness. And here they were, on Fall Break, working on a morning message together, "ready for school," as he said. He asked her how to spell each word that he wrote, and she encouraged him with sweet support. He asked her to write what his words said, "just to make sure they know what I wrote." He was so proud to show it to me and lamented the fact that he had to wait three more days to show his teacher.

     The first grade teacher in me cheered the fact that he knows he can use writing to communicate, his pictorial representation of who participates in their Morning Message time, the left-to-right, top-to-bottom directionality in his writing, and the spacing between words. - All of these things that he has learned during this time with his teacher each morning. But his mommy cheered the fact that he WANTED to write, this hesitant child that I love. This child who wants his pictures or writing to be "right," and often gets frustrated when his four-year-old fine motor skills and desire to create don't always align the way he would like them to just yet. This little boy chose to spend his free time writing. Why? "Because BB knows I can." 
     How far-reaching is the impact of a teacher! How many students are recreating a school activity, playing school, referencing something they learned, reading, writing, experimenting, computing, designing, wondering, researching, creating, or thinking...because their teacher inspired them? Simply because their teacher believes in them and "knows they can?" Never underestimate your impact. Never undervalue the time and effort you pour into your students every day. Never wonder if they are getting it, or if it's worth it. Because THEY DO, and THEY ARE.