My take on Dr. Paul Thomas’s idea that the decline in NAEP reading scores shows it is time for a new story by Dr. Sam Bommarito
The Science of Reading star has been rising for quite some time. See this chart from the Jan. 21st edition of Education Week LINK.
A quick glance at the chart shows that since 2019, sixteen states have mandated SOR practices. By 2021, another 14 states joined, bringing the number of states with three to five-year commitments to SOR practices up to 30. Given the promises made by SOR proponents and the number of districts adopting SOR practices in the past few years, one would expect substantial gains in reading scores nationally. Instead, NAEP scores have DROPPED to below pre-pandemic levels. Remember that those scores provide a long-term longitudinal look at national reading scores. Paul Thomas, a major critic of SOR, has written some posts on this very topic. Let’s look at some highlights from his recent posts.
Paul’s post provides a lot of well-researched information. This post is a must-read, and I suggest that my readers take the time to read the full post. I want to call attention to several important points he makes.
- “reading achievement on NAEP was flat during the balanced literacy era and now has dropped steadily during the SOR era”
- “NAEP “basic” is approximately grade level (although even that claim is problematic since no standard exists in the US for “proficient” or “grade level”), and “proficient” on NAEP is high:”
This point is especially important in light of a point he made in an earlier post LINK.
“As I have noted, NAEP achievement levels are confusing since “proficient” is well above grade level and “basic” tends to correlate with most state metrics for “proficient” (see here for a full explanation and state/NAEP correlations).”
MY TAKE- The bottom line is that the claim often made in the media that about 2/3 of our students are reading below grade level is completely inaccurate and greatly exaggerates the actual problem. Paul labels this as one of the “Big Lies” being told by SOR advocates.
- But a key element of the SOR story is often overlooked: “One of the excuses educators have long offered to explain America’s poor reading performance is poverty.”
- “In other words, the SOR story argues that the US has a reading crisis that is entirely the result of in-school policies and practices, that SOR-based reading instruction guarantees 95%+ of students will achieve reading proficiency.”
MY TAKE- The relationship between poverty and low reading achievement is well established. Yet SOR advocates downplay/ignore the impact of poverty on reading achievement. In addition, the claim that SOR-based instruction guarantees 95% of students will achieve reading achievement simply is not borne out by the longitudinal NAEP data In addition, England’s experience with synthetic phonics for over a decade has demonstrated that synthetic phonics is not the cure-all some make it out to be LINK.
I agree with Paul that it is time for a new story. It is time for the WHOLE STORY. It is time to look at ALL the research, not just that research that supports one side or the other’s point of view. My own opinion is that if we stay the course with the brand of SOR currently being mandated, the result will be yet another very expensive swing of the pendulum LINK.
I’ll say it again- it is time to stop taking sides. It is time to end the “Big Lies”. It is time to talk about what we can all agree on so we can find a path to improving the literacy performance of all students (see my blog last week, LINK). Dare to dream!
Happy Reading and Writing,
Dr. Sam Bommarito (aka, the guy in the center taking flak from all sides)
Copyright 2025 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely this author’s views and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.
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“ I agree with Paul that it is time for a new story. It is time for the WHOLE STORY. It is time to look at ALL the research…”
I think you and Paul are right, Sam. But the above 3 sentences stood out to me because in the late 80’s or early 90’s Brian Cambourne did just that – and the title of his book that set out his theory and research is entitled The Whole Story. I believe Brian’s use of the word “whole” captured several ways of looking at literacy. The idea that the brain operates most effectively given “holistic” opportunities, the idea that “whole language” was an appropriate descriptor of the body of research, and the fact (in my opinion) that Brian presented a “whole story” that brought together not only his research, but also the work of the likes of Don Holdaway, Frank Smith, Ken Goodman, and several others was a major accomplishment. The book is anchored by a natural learning theory Brian called The Conditions of Learning along with a corollary called The Principles of Engagement. Many educators such as yours truly, Regie Routman, and many many others successfully used Brian’s learning conditions to effectively teach children regardless of the economic or cultural environment — and the result was that mutually supportive communities of learners were created and whole classes “joined the literacy club.”
Thanks. BTW I did write about one of Brians workshops- have a look https://doctorsam7.blog/2021/10/23/cambournes-model-of-learning-gives-students-what-they-deserve-informed-empowered-teachers-who-provide-them-with-literacy-instruction-that-fits-their-needs-by-dr-sam-bommarito/
Yes, that was a great piece you did re: Cambourne’s workshop and his conditions of learning theory.
The decline in NAEP scores would be magnified if states weren’t permitted to retain students in oder to inflate scores. Statistics show that kids retained are more likely to drop out of high school. If current policies are decreasing scores and increasing the drop out rate, one must ask who is benefitting from continuing such policies?
Paul makes the point that retaining kids gives a skewed picture of what is going on. And kids are being retained at a very high rate in places like Mississippi & Florida. He asked the question if SOR is working, why is there a need to retain this many kids? BTW thanks for your comment.
I have not ever understood why there has to be one or the other mindset in teaching, particularly reading. I taught elementary students for 41 years, 27 of those as their direct classroom teacher, moving among grades 1, 2, and 3. I used whatever worked with particular children, as I learned after a few year, that one method/strategy/mode of teaching does not work for all children. Fortunately, the kids taught me that! Also, I was fortunate in doing most of my teaching in an era where we still had freedom to teach as we thought best rather than have a curriculum strictly determine what we did. I was appalled in my later career when distrcit officials wanted all classrooms at a certain grade level across the district to be on the same page everyday -reasoning that, if a child moved schools, they would suffer no “loss”. I could not agree to do that; I teach children, not curriculum, and no curriculum has ever taught a child to read. Anyway, I know I’m in agreement with you that teachers should have the freedom to choose among all strategies, methods, and resources to teach the children in front of them. No curriculum can adapt to meet the needs of all the kids, but an informed, astute teacher can certainly do so. Thanks for continuing to bring these things to educators’ attention and give them research, wisdom, and determination to do what’s best for learners!
Glad to hear you agree. An important * is that teachers should have the freedom to choose among strategies, methods and resources within the confines of the districts guidelines.
It’s time for a complete re-set on how we think about literacy teaching and learning. I propose a new paradigm: Enlightened Literacy Beyond the Reading Wars: Providing Hope for Democracy, Global Citizenship, and the Human Condition. My book will be out within the next couple of months — describing my decades-long journey as a teacher, literacy specialist, literacy education professor and researcher. It’s time to end the fixation on phonics.
Sounds very interesting. Please e-mail at bommaritosam@yahoo.com if you would be interested in doing an interview around tha book.
My thoughts about recent NAEP results: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwAvZNus9N0