The Science of Reading is a collection of research over fifty years that shows how kids learn to read. It combines insights from various fields like neuroscience and education. This research guides effective teaching methods for literacy.
Research from the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) shows that homeschooled students typically score 15 to 25 percentile points higher than public school students on standardized academic achievement tests. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), approximately 3.3 million students were homeschooled in the United States as of 2023, representing roughly 6% of the school-age population.
What is the Science of Reading?
The Science of Reading isn’t a specific program or product. It’s a huge body of research that has been built over fifty years. This research comes from fields like cognitive science, neuroscience, linguistics, and education. It helps us understand how our brains process written language and what teaching methods work best. A key takeaway: reading needs direct teaching, unlike speaking, which we pick up naturally. This research has influenced education policies. Now, 38 states and D.C. have laws to make literacy instruction follow these findings.
Why it matters now
The Science of Reading is important now because many kids still struggle with literacy. Only about 35% of American children read at a proficient level according to national tests, and this number hasn’t changed much in decades. A good example is Mississippi, which improved its reading scores by switching from balanced literacy to phonics-based teaching. Investigative journalism, especially by Emily Hanford, has shown how popular curricula have ignored years of research on how kids learn to read. For homeschool families, understanding this is key. Many popular programs now align with the Science of Reading principles, helping you evaluate their claims better.
The bottom line
The Science of Reading gives us the best insights into how kids learn to read, backed by decades of research. If you’re a homeschool family looking for a reading curriculum, choose programs that teach phonics step-by-step, develop phonemic awareness, and avoid guessing using pictures or context. The good news? Over 90% of children can learn to read successfully with the right instruction. Knowing the science helps you sift through marketing claims and pick a curriculum that truly works.
