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American Spelling Book
(Month and date unclear.) Noah Webster noticed how the inconsistences in the English language make it hard for young learners. In the Spelling Book, using Synthetic Phonics, he made changes to several words/spellings. This is why we now have "music" rather than "musick". He wanted the words to be more logical and aesthetically pleasing. http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/402/402files/noahspell.html -
McGuffey's Readers
(Moth and date unclear.) The 19th century the McGuffey reader was considered the most popular education book of the time. William McGuffey an estimated 120 million copies were sold between 1836-1960, this is the highest volume of a single authored textbook (as of 1996). The lessons in the reader focused on morality and society. The readers became progressively more difficult with each volume. This is something that is still used in readers used today. -
First Kindergarten
(Month and date unclear.) Margarethe Schurz founded the first "unofficial" kindergarten in the United States. The school she founded in Wisconsin was followed four years later by the opening of the first "formal" kindergarten in Boston, Massachusetts by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. This began allowing for more early literacy curriculum to be taught/developed. http://uskindergarten.weebly.com/kindergarten-in-the-united-states.html -
The Problem of Learning to Read
(Month and date unclear.) “The Problem of Learning to Read,” papers were published by Meiklejohn advocating the teaching of regularly spelled words first and introducing exceptions later. This is still common practice, teach students the rules of the English language and how to use/identify them. Then teach them the words that do not follow those rules. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/historyofreading.html -
Phonics Vs. Whole Word
(Month and date unclear.) A survey of Public Schools throughout the United States was conducted by Joseph Rice. Rice discovered that the whole word method wasn't as effective as the phonics method. When given spelling assessment to students over a span of a year, the students who were taught the phonics method were more successful. This showed that the whole word method alone, was not the best path for teaching reading. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/historyofreading.html -
Dick and Jane
(Month and date unclear.) Dick and Jane make their appearance in reading education. Scott, Foresman publishing company and William Gray partnered to create a set of basic primers. The word list allows controlled vocabulary readers in upper grades as well, unlike the whole word methods. These books also had a guide for teachers. https://rarebookschool.org/2005/exhibitions/dickandjane.shtml -
"Why Johnny Can't Read and What You Can do About It"
(Month and date unclear.) Author Rudolf Flesch explained to American parents why their young students were struggling to learn how to read. He researched to find that the popular "Dick and Jane" books were not working. These text books followed the look-say method rather than what he proposed (the look-and-guess method). http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/19903-the-legacy-of-rudolf-flesch -
Whole Language
(Month and date unclear.) In the 1980's-1990's the Whole Language approach to reading became popular. This is an approach where students are taught to focus more on the metacognitive side of reading. They make text to self or text to world connections. This approach relies heavily on memorizing whole words in and out of context. http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-whole-language-approach-to-reading.html -
National Reading Panel
(Month and date unclear.) Congress asked the Child Development and Behavior Branch, to partner with the U.S. Department of Education in creating a National Reading Panel that would analyze existing research to find the best ways of teaching reading to students. The findings of the panel would be used to develop the educational imitative of President Bush's "No Child Left Behind Act". https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/Pages/nrp.aspx -
NCLB: Readers First
The reading first portion of the No Child Left Behind Act (submitted to Congress in 2001) included a $900 million grant that was eligible to states that could show how they were going to improve reading. States had to show what they were doing in order to increase reading fluency/comprehension. Some states (like Ohio) implemented individual reading plans (K-3rd) for students falling bellow on any area of reading. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/overview-reading-first
