The Reading Wars

With 36 million adults in the U.S. reading below the third grade level, we have a problem.



This is not for lack of effort on the part of reading teachers, who have been fighting the “reading wars” among themselves for the last century, with different ideologies and methods gaining and losing traction.

Currently, after several decades of ‘whole language’ (in which proponents believed that a hard-wired ability to read will guide the learning process) owning the field, ‘phonics’ (a more methodical approach that emphasizes linking sounds to letters) has regained stature, in large part because of research findings steadily indicating its efficacy.

Volunteer programs had it easy when whole language was the favored method. Coordinators could just ask the volunteers to read high-quality literature to the students and wait for the magic to happen. Only... the magic didn't happen. Students didn't make progress, and many programs were cut.

Now that phonics is in favor, volunteer programs are stuck up a creek without a paddle. An effective phonics program would have volunteers using a complex curriculum and insisting that they adhere to a multi-step, dynamic lesson plan.

The Volunteer Literacy Project is a response to this problem:

How to teach volunteers how to teach reading?

It was created specifically for use with adult students and their volunteer tutors. In line with the research, students are given explicit strategies for decoding words, and must systematically master each step before moving on. They also practice fluent oral reading, work on vocabulary, and ... they read

I wish we got funding for every administrator or literacy expert who told us this could not be done. That volunteers could never master a complex program. That students and volunteers would balk at supposedly boring phonics work.

It can be done. We've been doing it. Come join us.