Reading proficiency is the essential skill required for academic success, especially after the third grade. Students are expected to be readers at the end of third grade, so reading instruction time is diminished or eliminated in favor of other disciplines.
Reading Proficiency refers to all of the thinking behind reading: what happens in our brains before, during, and post-reading. The different ways in which we think critically about what we read is the skill now being measured. Proficient readers preview text, make predictions, activate prior knowledge (commonly known as schema), and even set a purpose for their reading (what am I trying to figure out?).
Below are a number of websites, articles, and studies which reveal the critical nature of ensuring children are or become proficient readers.
- Common Core – State Standards Initiative
- What Children Need to Know to Become Proficient Readers-CuriousLearning.org (February 10, 2021)
- The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
- Network for the Development of African American Children
- Activities to Improve Reading in Primary School Students-Seattle Post Intelligencer (2021)
- Lead for Literacy-Shining a Light on Literacy
- Early GradesCrucial Path to Reading Proficiently – EdWeek.org (January 2015)
- Ten Evidence-Based Drivers of Effective Reading Instruction – Munro Richardson, PhD (June 28, 2022)
- Maryanne Wolf: Building Deep Reading Skills in a Digital World (August 2020)
Teaching children to read at home
Everyday Places & Spaces: Briefs and Resources 