Word by Word: Reach Every Reader Offers Fun New Apps, a Home Screening Tool and More

October 6, 2021

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There are recognized best practices for building these skills, but not every method works the same on every child. Dr. Elizabeth City of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) mentions her own children. Her kindergartner seemingly did nothing but play Lego after school shut down in March 2020, and yet he somehow ended up reading. (Schwartz and Sparks say that less than 7% of children become readers on their own.) Her second grader, on the other hand, struggled with the fundamentals, a reminder that differences can be pronounced within families.

Even Harvard experts despair at the prospect of imparting the elusive secrets of literacy. “I didn’t know how to teach systematic phonics,” Dr. City admits. Read more