The relation between the type and amount of instruction and growth in children's reading competencies

Sonnenschein, S., Stapleton, L. M., & Benson, A. (2010). The relation between the type and amount of instruction and growth in children's reading competencies. American Educational Research Journal, 47(2), 358-389.


This longitudinal study of a large sample of elementary school children clearly showed an achievement gap in the reading development of minority (African-American and Hispanic) children versus non-minority children. Although the type of reading instruction did make some difference, as will be described below, it is important to remember that those differences were small. Still, as the authors note, we have a better chance of changing instructional factors than we do of changing demographic factors.

The most interesting finding here was the interaction of type of instruction with the child's skill level. At least in the early grades, children with lower skill levels seemed to benefit more from an explicit phonics approach, while children with with higher skill levels did better with a more integrated, meaning-centered approach. So we need to fit the instruction to the child? What a novel approach! I guess one size does not fit all, regardless of how convenient uniformity may be.