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New to the Science of Reading?
How to Teach Reading That Works

If you’re trying to figure out how to actually teach students to read—and make it stick—you’re in the right place.

Because here’s the truth:

This is not a transfer problem.
It’s an alignment problem.

Students are not struggling because they can’t learn phonics.
They’re struggling because instruction, practice, and text are not aligned.

When those pieces align, everything changes.

What is the Science of Reading?

The Science of Reading is a large body of research that explains how the brain learns to read.

Reading is not a natural process.
It must be taught through explicit, systematic instruction.

Students need to develop two essential parts of reading:

The ability to decode words accurately
The ability to understand language

Both must develop together.

Reading is not built through guessing, memorizing, or exposure alone.
It is built through structured instruction and aligned practice.

This is why what students read matters just as much as how they are taught.

When students are taught how the code works—and given text that matches what they’ve been taught—they don’t rely on pictures or context.

They decode.

This is how reading becomes accurate, automatic, and lasting.

The 3-Step Path to Reading Success

If you want reading to click for students, it comes down to three steps.

Not more programs.
Not more materials.

Better alignment.

1. Assess

Before instruction begins, you need to know what students can actually do.

Not what they recognize.
Not what they can guess.

What they can decode and spell accurately

Assessment allows you to:

Identify the exact phonics skills students have mastered
Find the gaps that are holding them back
Form skill-based small groups

Without this step, instruction becomes guesswork.

With it, instruction becomes precise.

Learn more about phonics assessments and placement:

Quick Phonics Placement Assessment (Sentence Lists)

Quick Phonics Placement Assessment (Word Lists)

2. Teach

Once you know what students need, instruction must be:

Explicit
Systematic
Cumulative

But here’s what often gets missed:

Students can complete a phonics lesson…
and still not be able to read.

Because learning a skill in isolation is not the same as applying it in text.

Students need:

Direct modeling
Guided practice
Opportunities to connect sounds to print

See how to teach phonics in small groups → [link]

3. Practice

This is where reading either builds—or breaks.

Students are often given text that includes:

Untaught phonics patterns
Words they cannot decode
Prompts to guess using pictures or context

So instead of decoding…
they compensate.

When practice is aligned to instruction, students don’t guess.
They decode every word.

Aligned practice allows students to:

Apply the exact skill they’ve been taught
Build accuracy through repetition
Develop automaticity over time