This eye-opening analysis reveals how
shorter texts actually widen the achievement gap by limiting vocabulary exposure. Discover why volume of text—not difficulty level—is the real key to building proficient readers who can tackle complex texts.
Dr. Hiebert shows how the Lexile for a text can change with a few simple edits.
A question that parents frequently ask these days is: Does screen time count as reading time? With such a wide variety of online reading experiences available, the short answer would be have to be, “Yes, but…”
Backpacks are useful for carrying school supplies. A student can fill their backpack with books, notebooks, pens, pencils, and other things a student may need at school. The question asked in this Talking Points for Kids is: Can a backpack be too full, or too heavy?
TextProject founder Elfrieda (Freddy) Hiebert’s examination of assumptions in the Common Core State Standards regarding kindergarten instruction and the history of kindergarten text difficulty. Click to view the blog post at the Washington Post website in the Washington Post blog, The Answer Sheet.
The inclusion of kindergarten in the CCSS about text difficulty represents an implicit assumption about beginning reading that also requires consideration—that earlier is better. Does beginning reading in kindergarten truly ensure that high school graduates are better at reading the complex texts of careers and college? In this essay, I review research on both the explicit and implicit assumptions within the CCSS regarding formal reading instruction in kindergarten: the dumbing down of kindergarten texts and the pushing down of reading instruction to kindergarten.
A day at a zoo can be quite memorable for the zoo visitors. But what about the animals that live at the zoo?
Elfrieda (Freddy) Hiebert TextProject & University of California, Santa Cruz The English language has an incredibly rich vocabulary, and yet we use only about 2%… Read More »The 90-10 Rule of Vocabulary in Increasing Students’ Capacity for Complex Text
Beginning readers need substantial and consistent data about language they are learning.
Did you know students didn’t always have homework? Before the 1950’s teachers didn’t assign homework to elementary school kids. This is no longer the case now. In a 2008 survey, “77% students regardless of grade level, spend at least 30 minutes doing homework on a typical school day, while 45% reported spending at least an hour.” (MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: The Homework Experience, 2008). The question we ask in this TPFK is “Does homework help students learn? Are students getting the right amount of homework?”
