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Show LETRS based spelling curriculum 22 components were crucial to teaching reading (Hollingsworth, 2023). After phonics was deemed the winner of the reading wars, a majority of educators wanted a compromise to have a combination of both whole language and phonics for reading instruction. The compromise was known as balanced literacy. The idea behind the compromise was that students can start reading books they enjoy quickly, while simultaneously learning phonics and other literacy skills. Unfortunately, this compromise seemed to be unbalanced in the classroom. The reading scores of young readers did not increase with balanced literacy (Goldberg & Goldenberg, 2022; Hollingsworth, 2023). There is a new term emerging in the education world called science of reading. After decades of research in a variety of fields such as neuroscience, psychology and beginning reading, the research referred to as the science of reading, started to inform curriculum and professional development once again. There is strong evidence showing the importance of phonics and other important literacy skills (Goldberg & Goldenberg, 2022; Hollingsworth, 2023). Many U.S. States have mandated evidence-based methods to teach students reading. Some of these mandates include professional development, the use of reading curriculums and interventions. There are 32 states that have implemented new policies or passed laws in the last decade that align with the science of reading suggestions. Utah’s new policy states:“The state department of education is required to provide and train literacy coaches for K-3, provide statewide professional learning, assemble a board that will consult higher education, provide a bank of materials, and approve a statewide benchmark assessment” (Schwartz, 2022). One of the approved courses for professional development in Utah is LETRS(Throndsen, 2023). What is LETRS? |
