Dr. Tim Shanahan Blog on Text Difficulty

Common Core Standards Versus Guided Reading, Part 1 (June 29, 2011)
Common Core discourages the widely accepted view that students make the greatest gains if taught from books that are at students' instructional level (the level that falls between independent and frustration). This blog post certainly peaked my interest, because I am very familiar with the idea of teaching students at their instructional level.  I remember this was a key focus in our Reading First training. The following blogs explained why the common core is taking this approach to reading.

Common Core Standards Versus Guided Reading, Part II (July 5, 2011)
 The common core used the data from the report, "Reading: Between the Lines", published by American College Testing (2006).  ACT reported that anayzing student performance by question type (literal or inferential) and then trying to teach the specific skills required to answer these types of questions simply does not work.  ACT asserts that test performance is driven by text, rather than question types.  Therefore, since question types do not distinguish reading performance but text does, then standards should focus on the ability to interpret hard texts.  At every grade level, common core standards have a standard written like this...by the end of the year, students will be able to independently read and comprehend texts written at a specified text difficulty level.  .... Dr. Shanahan quotes ACT in the conclusion... "performance on complex texts is the clearest differentiator in reading between students who are likely to be ready for college and those who are not"

More Evidence Supporting Hard Text (July 11, 2011)
Common core emphasizes the need to teach students at lexile levels that match their grade, not their personal reading level.  Marilyn Adams synthesized various studies and wrote about the results in an article last year.  She states that textbook difficulty levels have become easier in terms of readability since 1919.  She further asserts that there is a relationshiop between the decrease in text difficulty of textbooks and SAT passages and students' decreasing SAT scores.  It was further stated that high school texts were easier to read than the reading people must do after high school...and that people made more reading gains after high school than during high school.  These are strong statements that completely contradict the instructional level theory. I am wondering about students' frustration level leading to a lack of motivation and engagement. Hopefully, his next blog will address this.

Rejecting Instructional Level Theory (August 21, 2011)
Dr. Shanahan discusses the inconsistency and variance in pinpointing a student's reading level.  He discusses Powell's suggestion that educators use 85%word reading accuracy rather than the 95% word reading accuracy, which places students in more challenging texts.  He further asserts that the most important factors in learning to read is the guidance, support, and scaffolding provided by teachers.  I am needing to process this a little more, but I totally agree with Dr. Shanahan's idea of the most important factors in learning to read!  As for text difficulty, I am going to continue to read more in this area.
My concern is now less about the text difficulty but more in the consistency of students receiving the appropriate guidance, support, and scaffolding.

Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz

Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz

I found this article fascinating.  It helped me to better understand Dyslexia on many different levels.   In reading this article, I am thinking of students who seem to have compensated for their reading difficulties but their reading is still laborious. I believe they are relying on context.  In these specific cases, teachers are saying, their scores are good (not great).  They are "choosing" not to read or they don't like to read.  I am now contemplating if it is more...something I have suspected from the beginning.  This article really  makes me think.... 

For me to truly understand, process, and apply information, it is beneficial for me to summarize the major concepts…

·         A coherent model of dyslexia has emerged based on phonological processing.

·         Dyslexia reflects a deficiency in the processing of the distinctive linguistic units called phonemes.

o   The fundamental element of the linguistic system is the phoneme

§  Phoneme is the smallest meaningful segment of language

§  Different combinations of just 44 phonemes produce every word in the English language

·         The language system is compared to a hierarchical series of modules or components, each devoted to a particular aspect of language.

o   Upper levels: components involved with semantics (vocabulary or word meaning), syntax (grammatical structure), and discourse (connected sentences)

o   Lowest level: phonological module dedicated to processing the distinctive sound elements that constitute language

·         Speaking and reading rely on phonological processing.

·         Reading reflects spoken language but it is much harder to read and comprehend than to listen and comprehend

o   Speaking is natural, reading is not.

o   Understanding spoken language occurs automatically.

o   Language is instinctive…exposures is all that is needed

o   Reading is an invention and must be learned at a conscious level in which the reader:

§  Transforms the visual alphabetic script into linguistic…recode graphemes (letters) into their corresponding phonemes

§  Students must learn that the sounds that make up the words is represented by orthography (sequence of letters on the page)

·         For a person who is dyslexic, their ability to segment the written word into its underlying phonological components is impaired

o   This deficit impairs decoding, preventing word identification….in turn blocks access to higher-order linguistic processes and to gaining meaning from text

o   The language processes involved in comprehension and meaning are intact but cannot be called into play, because they can be accessed only after a word had been identified

§  Can also affect speech

·         Suspected that dyslexia affects 20% of school children.

o   8% of children are language impaired

§  85 % of these are also dyslexic

·         Progress was seen more when students received instruction in phonological processing as opposed to language training.

o   Phonological deficits are the most significant and consistent cognitive marker of children who are dyslexic.

o   Even in high school, phonological awareness was the best predictor of reading ability.

·         The Auditory Analysis Test seemed quite sensitive to dyslexia.

·         Students who are dyslexic and who cannot recall the name of something can usually tell you all about the concept or object, because the higher level components remain intact. 

o   Linguistic processes involved in word meaning, grammar, and discourse seem to be fully operational (foundational components of comprehension)

o   However, these are often blocked by the lower order function of phonological processing

o   Many learn to compensate and learn how to decode or identify words…gaining entry to the higher levels of the language system…however it’s laborious, not automatic, not fluent, and time consuming

·         fMRI can measure changes in the metabolic activity of the brain while an individual performs cognitive tasks.

o   Tentative neural architecture of the brain while reading:

§  Identification of letters…extrastriate cortex within the occipital lobe

§  Phonological processing…inferior frontal gyrus

·         Men…left inferior frontal gyrus

·         Women…left and right inferior frontal gyrus

§  Access to meaning…middle and superior temporal gyri of the brain

·         Rote memorization and rapid word retrieval are difficult for people with dyslexia

·         People with dyslexia resort to context to help them identify words…slows them down…

o   Multiple choice lacks sufficient context

o   Essays and prepared oral presentations are more accurate in accessing knowledge

The Truth about Dyslexia:

1.       People with dyslexia have trouble naming letters, not copying letters.

2.       Dyslexia is a linguistic deficit rather than an issue with the eyes

3.       Boys and girls are equally impacted by dyslexia.

4.       Dyslexia persists into adulthood.  They can learn to read but it is often slow and not automatic.

5.       Intelligence is not related to the deficit in phonological processing.