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."