Study Group: Rethinking, Deep Thinking, and Classroom-based Research around Matching Readers to Books

Grades: K-2

Led by: Sarah Mann and Angela Baez

Hosted in: Dobbs Ferry, New York

Dates: Friday, October 25, 2024 - Saturday, October 26, 2024

The learning that all of us—as a community of k-2 educators–have been doing over the past few years is something to behold. We’ve questioned assumptions, set systems aside, adopted new tools and processes…and worked with kids in new ways. Mostly, it’s working.

But there are lots of new questions that merit exploration and research—research that involves collecting systematic data on kids and their progress. Ultimately, believing in the science of reading has got to mean believing in close careful study of results. 

This study group will start by enabling cross-school, cross-state collaborations which allow us to share best practices for this new world of science-of-reading informed reading workshops. We’ll share the new systems that make it possible to bring decodable books and the phonics decoding assessment and screeners into our teaching. Where do people keep stuff? What corners are others cutting so it’s feasible to do all of this? What is getting outsourced to specialists or paras in other schools?

But then we’ll settle down to new research on the questions that remain. One of those probably relates to the whole idea of open-access reading. What actually seems to happen when kids are invited to choose any book to read, not being channeled towards a level? What new systems or insights can we develop so that this works? How do different readers respond differently to reading a mix of books (some just-right, some self-selected regardless of level)? 

What insights can be developed to determine the balance of decodable vs trade books that seems to work best for readers at different levels of proficiency on the phonic decoding assessment? How can we match kids to books when they can read words in isolation on a phonic decoding assessment but must work very hard to read those same words in continuous text? At what point in phonics development do uncontrolled texts become accessible? When can readers make the transition from decodable books to trade books? We’ll consider these questions, and more, as we bridge the gap between SOR studies and our own action research in classrooms.  

Ideally, members of this study group will meanwhile lead your own school-based study group, allowing this group to gather data from not just 10-15 classrooms, but also 10-15 clusters of classrooms. The results will be important for a far broader groups, and we are thinking that ideally, some members of this study group might be interested in speaking or writing in ways that reach a larger audience. 

This topic will have two groups - one on the East Coast in Dobbs Ferry and a second group on the West Coast in Berkeley, California. We’ll dig deep into the existing research, share our current practices and brainstorm our most out-of-the-box ideas. Then, we’ll meet online, checking in for roughly 4 virtual sessions across the fall semester,  at times that work for the group. We’ll have a second in-person retreat mid-year, visiting a school together to try strategies with kids and colleagues.

About All 2024-2025 Study Groups and Retreats:

The educational world has been changing in important ways, and we all need to consolidate and intensify our learning. In 2024-2025, you are invited to join The Reading & Writing Project in study groups designed to grow the knowledge base of us all. 

It is important that each of these study groups become close-knit communities. So, we’ll launch most of the groups with a two-day retreat. (The school leader group is a bit different, see that write-up for more information) The East and West Coast study groups will meet in one of our homes and will involve cooking together, backyard barbecues, and more. The RWP can provide lodging for some participants at no cost, and other participants will no doubt be local and able to commute (plan on evenings and breakfasts together!) To learn more about possibilities for lodging, write contact@readingwriting.net. These study groups will be free, although you’ll need to finance travel and, if necessary, lodging. 

To apply, please complete this form and include a one-page letter which includes:

• A brief overview of your experience 

• Your history and experience working with Units of Study and/or RWP. 

• Might you be able to lead your own, more local study group, learning from kids and colleagues in classrooms other than your own, bringing that broader range of data and thinking to the study group?

• To what extent are you able/willing to commit to participating/attending the group 

You can use the same letter to apply to multiple study groups. We will prioritize accepting educators who partner with The Reading & Writing Project in year-long Staff Development, but everyone is encouraged to apply to join this adventure.  We want to learn with all sorts of schools, all sorts of places. We will communicate your application status by early June.