Research Links

Here are some of the books, articles, and websites we have found useful in developing the Core Knowledge reading program.  Most articles are about skills and decoding.

Miscellaneous U.S. Sites:

• National Reading Panel, official website
• Children of the Code – a documentary project with many interesting interviews
• “10 Years of Brain Imaging Research Shows the Brain Reads Sound by Sound”
• Reid Lyon, “Overview of Reading and Literacy Initiatives”
• Kerry Hempenstall, “Miscue Analysis: A Critique”
• Marilyn Jager Adams “The Three-Cueing System.”
• Sebastian Wren, “The Three Cueing Systems”
• Rayner, Foorman, Perfetti, Pesetsky, Seidenberg, “How Psychological Science Informs the Teaching of Reading”
• Marilyn Jager Adams, Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print
• Joseph K. Torgeson and Patricia Mathes, “What Every Teacher Should Know About Phonological Awareness.”
• Ted Hirsch, “Teaching Kids to Read.” A paper outlining a McGuinness-influenced approach to early reading instruction, as laid out by veteran Core Knowledge teacher Ted Hirsch.
• National Right to Read Foundation a U.S. phonics advocacy group
• Don Potter’s Education Page – loaded with interesting links and old phonics primers.
• SEDL Reading Research Site.
• Martin Kozloff’s website.
• Kerry Hempensall’s website

Diane McGuinness:

• Diane McGuinness, Why Our Children Can't Read and What We Can Do About It: A Scientific Revolution in Reading. Possibly the best single book on teaching decoding.
• Diane McGuinness, Early Reading Instruction. Also useful.
• Diane McGuinness, “A Prototype for Teaching the English Alphabet Code.” A shorter version of the argument made in Why Our Children Can’t Read.
• Carmen McGuinness, Geoffrey McGuinness, Reading Reflex: The Foolproof Phono-Graphix Method for Teaching Your Child to Read. A trade book outlining a linguistic phonics approach.

UK Synthetic Phonics Websites:

• Jolly Phonics, U.K. Synthetic Phonics program
• Sue Lloyd, “Synthetic Phonics: What Is It?”
• Synthetic Phonics Teaching Principles. A very brief summary.
• Reading Reform Foundation  — U.K. synthetic phonics advocacy group
• Debbie Hepplewhite, “Synthetic Phonics: The Politics and the Teaching Principles”
• Dyslexics.org.uk — many excellent links
• SyntheticPhonics.com  — UK website
• Watson and Johnston, A Seven Year Study of the Effects of Synthetic Phonics Teaching on Reading and Spelling Attainment
• Jennifer Chew, Phonics: The Holy Grail of Reading.
• Jennifer Chew, “Traditional Phonics: What it is and what it is not” (restricted access)

Keith Stanovich:

• Keith Stanovich, Progress in Understanding Reading: Scientific Foundations and New Frontiers. Terrific book.
• Keith Stanovich, “Matthew Effects in Reading”
• Keith Stanovich, “Romance and Reality”
• Keith Stanovich’s website (with links to many worthwhile articles)

Louisa Moats:

• Louisa Moats, “Whole Language Lives On: The Illusion of Balanced Reading Instruction”
• Louisa Moats, “Whole Language High Jinx: How to Tell When ‘Scientifically Based Reading Instruction’ Isn’t.”
• Louisa Moats, “Teaching Decoding”
• Louisa Moats, “How Spelling Supports Reading”
• Louisa Moats, Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers
• The Speech Sounds Of English: A Video Tutorial With Louisa Moats

The Simple View of Reading:

• Sebastian Wren’s BalancedReading.com
• Sebastian Wren, “Ten Myths of Reading Instruction”
• William E. Tunmer and Welsyey A. Hoover, “Phonological Skill and Beginning Reading” (restricted access)
  
• Hugh Catts, Suzanne M. Adlof, Susan Ellis Weismer, “Language Deficits in Poor Comprehenders: A Case for the Simple View of Reading” (summary)
  
• Research summary: The Simple View of Reading: Changes Over Time
• Research Summary: The Fourth-Grade Slump: Late Emerging Poor Readers
• SEDL, “The Cognitive Foundations of Learning to Read”

Background Knowledge and Vocabulary:

• E. D. Hirsch, The Case for Bringing Content into the Language Arts Block, American Educator, Spring, 2006
• E. D. Hirsch, Many Americans Can Read But Can’t Comprehend, USA Today, February 25, 2004
• E. D. Hirsch, Not So Grand a Strategy, Education Next, Spring, 2003
• E. D. Hirsch,  Reading Comprehension Requires Knowledge — of Words and of the World, American Educator, Spring, 2003
• E. D. Hirsch,  The Latest Dismal NAEP Scores: Can We Narrow the 4th-Grade Reading Gap? Education Week, May 2, 2001 
• E. D. Hirsch, Overcoming the Language Gap, American Educator, Summer, 2001
• E. D. Hirsch, The Knowledge Deficit
• E. D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy
• Nell Duke, “Filling the Great Void: Why We Should Bring Nonfiction into the Early Grades Classroom”
• Dan Willingham, “How Knowledge Helps” 
• Keith Stanovich and Anne Cunningham, “What Reading Does for the Mind”

Last updated: Fri, May 23 2008