“For a moment, I enter their world. Like, if someone talks to me and I’m reading a book, I can’t hear them,” said Aylin, an eighth-grader in the Pendergast Elementary School District in Phoenix, Ariz. “I can understand other people’s cultures, what they celebrate, what they respect, what they believe, without having to ask them personally. It helps me empathize with other people.”
My colleagues from Imagine Learning and I visited Pendergast and spoke with Aylin to hear the experiences of teachers and students. Imagining an EL Education CurriculumHer words capture the transformative power of reading. Reading, unlike spoken language, is not a natural human ability. Reading requires building connections in the brain that don’t exist without explicit instruction. As a result, teaching students to read is a complex and difficult task, which is why it takes years.
The science of reading
Over the past few decades, research in educational psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience has merged to form reading science, providing clear, evidence-based guidelines for effective reading instruction. Reading science emphasizes a holistic approach that includes word recognition, language comprehension, and bridging skills, condensing a vast body of knowledge into actionable strategies that can help all students become proficient readers.
Word recognition involves complex skills such as phonological awareness (recognizing and manipulating the sounds of spoken language), phonics (understanding letter-sound relationships) and decoding (applying knowledge of letter-sound relationships to produce sounds in a sentence). With practice, sight word recognition can help you instantly recognize common words.
Language comprehension involves developing contextual background knowledge and mastering language structures such as grammar and syntax to make sense of sentences and longer pieces of text.
Bridging skills connect these processes: print awareness helps with text organization, vocabulary knowledge allows for a wide range of words to be used, and self-regulation helps students manage their reading, stay focused, and apply strategies effectively.
Content-Based Literacy
To address the potential for reading comprehension decline, schools are increasingly implementing digital and blended learning programs that align their curriculum with the science of reading. Imagine Learning EL Education curriculum is deeply rooted in the science of reading and emphasizes explicit instruction in the areas listed above. The curriculum offers a content-based approach that combines structured phonics instruction with the use of comprehension-enhancing, real-world texts that engage and inspire K-8 learners. This approach aligns with the concept of High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM), a term used by a growing number of school districts to identify materials that meet criteria such as aligning to learning standards, providing best practice pedagogy, and providing an easy-to-use experience for both teachers and students.
The educators I spoke with at Pendergast spoke at length about how the program helps them apply the science of reading principles to real-world situations. “What I like about Imagine Learning EL Education is that kids get explicit phonics instruction,” says Instructional Coach Corina. “We also have opportunities for verbal reasoning, vocabulary development, and context building in the lab, so kids have a hands-on opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the modules during lab time.”
One effective content-based literacy approach is having students explore a wide variety of long-form content. “I love the fact that students are actually reading and spending time with books,” says Kathryn, a seventh-grade ELA teacher. “It’s not just basic information or story snippets, it’s actual novels and books.” Every teacher I spoke with at Pendergast echoed the same sentiment: books bring the curriculum to life for students.
Principal Abraham agrees: “Students’ ability to deeply understand text and reread it multiple times is critical for comprehension, especially for students who are English language learners or who may have learning disabilities.” [It has] It really helped close the achievement gap.”
“When we look for quality materials, we’re looking for standards alignment,” said Kelsey, associate director of interdisciplinary literacy, as we spoke about the process of selecting the new curriculum. “We’re also looking for materials that students can project themselves into. Is it culturally relevant to these kids? And we want them to be able to take that deep knowledge of learning and apply it to other aspects of their lives, preparing them for the future.”
Passport to Achievement
As I spent time with Kelsey, we discussed the impact that embarking on a curriculum journey that incorporates a holistic approach to education throughout the school year has on teachers and students. “Imagine Learning EL Education is definitely a full range of resources to meet all of the different literacy needs,” she says. “In the program, we build the foundational skills that we need in K-2. In grades 3-5, we work toward mastery, and then 6th, 7th, and 8th graders embrace it and make the leap. What I love is seeing students grow in their learning spaces and become their true selves as teachers are excited to show them how far they can stretch.”
“Reading is like access to the world. You have to be able to read,” reflects School Counselor Akin. By bringing the science of reading to life in the classroom, Imagine Learning EL Education demonstrates how we can not only address the complexities of learning to read and write, but also prepare students for a future where they can navigate the world with confidence and literacy. As Akin’s experience shows, reading opens doors to understanding, empathy and knowledge — a passport to anything students hope to achieve.
