The Conclusions Drawn By The National Reading Panels Study On Effective Reading :: essays papers

The Conclusions Drawn By The National Reading Panel's Study On Effective Reading Ever since the signing of the Declaration of Independence the United Sates has strived for the betterment of its society on a whole. This effort can be seen through not only the push for higher education, but also in the standards set in the curriculum for all students. Even though there is such a push for educating the students in America, it becomes surprising that certain simple aspects of education can be almost shaded by or lost under the bigger picture. One such aspect is trying to maintain reading levels, and keeping them up to speed with the corresponding grade levels. With reading levels seemingly on a steady descending scale, it has become necessary for certain actions to take place in hopes of finding ways to bring the levels back up to par. One course of action is conducting research on the manner resulting in the suggestions of possible solutions to the reading problem. Of multiple studies conducted on the matter, one that stands out to be both direct and promising is th e study conducted by the National Reading Panel. â€Å"The main goal of more formal educational research is to test theory and to advance scientific knowledge† (Samuels & Farstrup, 1992, p 5). As a result of the noticeable failing reading levels, Congress took it into their own hands to help solve the matter. â€Å"Congress directed the creation of the National Reading Panel to reevaluate educational research and give teachers and schools a roadmap to address this problem† (National Reading Panel, 2000 (NRP)). The panel was appointed in 1997, and used numerous studies and research that, once analyzed, was focused into certain areas that need to be incorporated in reading instruction. The areas that were highlighted in the resulting study were phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and comprehension (Manzo, 2000, p 1). These areas can be examined more closely in order to gain insight and information into their beneficial effects on effective reading instruction. Phonemic awareness is first on the study’s list of things that need to be taught in order for students to become better readers. This aspect of the report is based on the idea that students need the ability to manipulate the sounds that make up the spoken language. â€Å"If the children cannot perceive these sound segments they will encounter difficulty when trying to sound words out in both reading and writing† (Samuels & Farstrup, 1992, p 108).