The Literacy Crisis, part 2 of 3
What Supported Literacy Looks Like
In 2024, New Jersey passed laws moving the State’s literacy instruction from balanced literacy to an evidence-based, science-backed approach: the science of reading. Here is what that approach says students need to become skilled readers.
Skilled reading is two strands twisted together
Neither strand is enough on its own. Fluent decoding without comprehension is just sounding out words, and rich vocabulary is locked away from a child who can’t decode.
Reading the words
Phonological awareness, decoding and sight recognition support automatic word recognition, so students can read more sophisticated texts with fluency.
Understanding them
Background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning and literacy knowledge equip students to analyze texts, discuss them and apply what they learn across subjects.
New Jersey’s vision for English Language Arts
The State’s own standards go well beyond decoding. They describe readers who think, argue, evaluate and keep reading for life.
Foundational skills
Reading, writing, speaking and listening built as the foundation for creative and purposeful expression.
Rich, challenging texts
Reading that builds knowledge of the world, grows confidence and identity as a reader, and develops critical thinking and vocabulary.
Authentic writing
Regular, meaningful writing on valued topics, written for impact and expression and shared with others.
Evidence-based discussion
Daily writing and discussion grounded in evidence, so students read critically, build arguments and cite evidence.
Critical evaluation of media
Using complex texts and digital media to build comprehension, and judging the reliability, credibility and perspective of authors and speakers.
Communication across disciplines
Expressing ideas through many modalities and media, reading, writing and speaking purposefully in every subject.
Lifelong reading habits
Learning to persist in complex texts and reading voluntarily: for pleasure, for further education, for information on public policy and for advancement in the workplace.
The science of reading teaches students how to read. Reading for pleasure gives them a reason why.
The how
Evidence-based literacy instruction
Explicit, systematic teaching of word recognition, taught alongside the vocabulary, background knowledge and reasoning that comprehension depends on.
In New Jersey that support includes statewide professional development for teachers and other educators (including School Librarians), K–3 screening, tiered intervention and high-quality literacy instructional materials.
Without evidence-based instruction, students never build the foundation that lets them comprehend and enjoy reading.
The why
Motivation and purpose
Choice, interest and identity as a reader.
Reading for pleasure strengthens the very skills that make proficient readers, and turns instruction into a habit that lasts beyond the lesson.
NAEP weighs reading for information (non-fiction) and reading for literary experience (fiction) about 50/50 in grades 4 and 8, and 70/30 in grade 12.
The six conditions both of them depend on
Instruction and motivation only take hold when students have these. Keep them in mind: the next page shows what happened to each one.
Time and focus
A space and protected time for focused reading during school hours.
Whole books and range
Longer works in many genres, subjects, formats and levels, readily accessible.
Comprehension for developing minds is measurably better on paper, especially for informational text.
Social interaction
Read-alouds, book clubs, discussion and recommendations from adults and peers.
Truth
Current, accurate, credible information, with students doing the hard work of learning for themselves.
Guidance
Teachers trained in literacy instruction, and a School Librarian.
What happens when students no longer have these?
Starting around 2012, technology reshaped every one of those six conditions, while the educators who protect them were being cut.
Read the tech effectEvery figure on this page is sourced at schoolsneedlibrarians.com/sources.
The Literacy Crisis, part 2 of 3
What Supported Literacy Looks Like
In 2024, New Jersey passed laws moving the State’s literacy instruction from balanced literacy to an evidence-based, science-backed approach: the science of reading. Here is what that approach says students need to become skilled readers.
How skilled reading is built
The science of reading rests on two well-established research models. Together they explain what a child has to master to understand what they read, and why no single skill is enough.
The Simple View of Reading
Gough and Tunmer, 1986
It multiplies rather than adds. If either side is zero, comprehension is zero: a child who decodes every word but doesn’t know what they mean can’t understand the text, and neither can a child with a rich vocabulary who can’t decode it.
The Reading Rope
Scarborough, 2001
Breaks those two parts into eight strands. The word recognition strands have to become automatic, so a reader no longer has to think about them. The language comprehension strands become increasingly strategic, growing with every book a child reads. Skilled reading is all eight twisted together.
Language comprehension becomes increasingly strategic
- Background knowledge
- Vocabulary
- Language structures
- Verbal reasoning
- Literacy knowledge
Background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning and literacy knowledge equip students to analyze texts, discuss them and apply what they learn across subjects.
Word recognition becomes increasingly automatic
- Phonological awareness
- Decoding
- Sight recognition
Phonological awareness, decoding and sight recognition support automatic word recognition, so students can read more sophisticated texts with fluency.
Word recognition is built mostly through explicit instruction. The five language comprehension strands keep growing for years, through wide reading across many subjects, genres and levels. That is the work of a School Library and a School Librarian.
New Jersey’s vision for English Language Arts
The State’s own standards go well beyond decoding. They describe readers who think, argue, evaluate and keep reading for life.
Foundational skills
Reading, writing, speaking and listening built as the foundation for creative and purposeful expression.
Rich, challenging texts
Reading that builds knowledge of the world, grows confidence and identity as a reader, and develops critical thinking and vocabulary.
Authentic writing
Regular, meaningful writing on valued topics, written for impact and expression and shared with others.
Evidence-based discussion
Daily writing and discussion grounded in evidence, so students read critically, build arguments and cite evidence.
Critical evaluation of media
Using complex texts and digital media to build comprehension, and judging the reliability, credibility and perspective of authors and speakers.
Communication across disciplines
Expressing ideas through many modalities and media, reading, writing and speaking purposefully in every subject.
Lifelong reading habits
Learning to persist in complex texts and reading voluntarily: for pleasure, for further education, for information on public policy and for advancement in the workplace.
The science of reading teaches students how to read. Reading for pleasure gives them a reason why.
The how
Evidence-based literacy instruction
Explicit, systematic teaching of word recognition, taught alongside the vocabulary, background knowledge and reasoning that comprehension depends on.
In New Jersey that support includes statewide professional development for teachers and other educators (including School Librarians), K–3 screening, tiered intervention and high-quality literacy instructional materials.
Without evidence-based instruction, students never build the foundation that lets them comprehend and enjoy reading.
The why
Motivation and purpose
Choice, interest and identity as a reader.
Reading for pleasure strengthens the very skills that make proficient readers, and turns instruction into a habit that lasts beyond the lesson.
NAEP weighs reading for information (non-fiction) and reading for literary experience (fiction) about 50/50 in grades 4 and 8, and 70/30 in grade 12.
The six conditions both of them depend on
Instruction and motivation only take hold when students have these. Keep them in mind: the next page shows what happened to each one.
Time and focus
A space and protected time for focused reading during school hours.
Whole books and range
Longer works in many genres, subjects, formats and levels, readily accessible.
Comprehension for developing minds is measurably better on paper, especially for informational text.
Social interaction
Read-alouds, book clubs, discussion and recommendations from adults and peers.
Truth
Current, accurate, credible information, with students doing the hard work of learning for themselves.
Guidance
Teachers trained in literacy instruction, and a School Librarian.
What happens when students no longer have these?
Starting around 2012, technology reshaped every one of those six conditions, while the educators who protect them were being cut.
Read the tech effectEvery figure on this page is sourced at schoolsneedlibrarians.com/sources.