Implemented with fidelity, or teaching with integrity?

Teaching Readers (Not Reading) Book Study

“Myers and Paris (1978) compared sixth-grade good and poor readers and found that the less able readers had limited knowledge of comprehension-monitoring strategies. The less able readers considered reading to be a process of decoding, as opposed to a process of comprehending, and it was not surprising that the less able readers used fewer metacognitive, comprehension-monitoring strategies.” (p. 65)

- Peter Afflerbach, Teaching Readers (Not Reading): Moving Beyond Skills and Strategies to Reader-Focused Instruction

Last month, a few teachers were celebrating a student who was almost ready to exit out of reading intervention.

Although I was not directly involved to know all the details, the student’s growth could be attributed to a variety of factors.

• This student came into the school year barely knowing sight words.

• To build confidence, the teachers started where the student was at for instruction.

• During instruction, the student was frequently asked to pause and reflect on their thinking about the text and check for understanding.

• The student had the same level of access to classroom libraries and choice reading as any other student did throughout the process.

• The teachers showed the student their growth over time, and explained how their efforts directly contributed to the improvement.

• When they reached a milestone, they celebrated by offering the student a choice in high-interest books at a greater complexity level to read and keep.

Three months later, this student is almost reading at grade level and, just as important, enjoying reading.

“You and your colleagues can own this outcome - congratulations!” I shared with one of the teachers.

The teacher smiled, appreciative of the comment. They also noted that it certainly helps when students have consistency and routines in their lives.

Implemented with fidelity

FIDELITY implies strict and continuing faithfulness to an obligation, trust, or duty.

- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The example just shared demonstrates the importance of all the other factors that influence a child’s reading development.

Yet many curricula and programs distill reading instruction down to cognitive skills and strategies. The teachers’ job is similarily reduced. They are told to dole out each lesson in correct doses to ensure implementation fidelity of the program.

And if the result is not a positive outcome to general instruction or intervention, because there is a belief that a program was implemented as prescribed, the conclusion too often is the student didn’t respond.

The reality is, in these situations it’s likely the school didn’t respond to the student. The program took precedence over the pupil.

Teaching with integrity

INTEGRITY implies trustworthiness and incorruptibility to a degree that one is incapable of being false to a trust, responsibility, or pledge.

- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

If implementation with fidelity is about adherence to a single approach for reading instruction, teaching with integrity means seeing the whole reader and responding accordingly.

To help build a wider perspective, Afflerbach provides surveys and other assessment tools to help teachers better know students as readers.

1. Checklists and routines to build mindfulness and executive functioning (pgs. 77-84)

2. An inventory to assess students’ metacognition (p. 87)

3. A survey to evaluate a student’s self-efficacy (pgs. 103-104)

Having this information on hand, in addition to knowing what skills or strategies to work on, seems crucial for teaching readers.

Why we would disregard these resources baffles me. Imagine a doctor not considering a patient’s history, habits, and concerns before offering a treatment plan to improve health. Imagine an architect not considering the goals, preferences, and context before designing a building or a home for a client. Being a professional across industries is not just about knowing your craft; it’s also about knowing your clients - in our case, our students.

Our practice speaks volumes about our values. So to ignore these other factors that influence readers seems to me as being unprofessional.

From November 7 through December 16, we are reading Teaching Readers (Not Reading) by Peter Afflerbach (Guilford, 2022).

In this book study, you will develop a deeper understanding of the science(s) of reading and build greater confidence in conversing about literacy instruction with teachers and other colleagues.

You can purchase the book on the publisher's website, Amazon, or wherever it is sold.

To participate, watch this space for future responses to the book. Read along, leave a comment on a future thread, and respond to others’ comments when something resonates.

Here is the suggested schedule for reading together:

• November 7 - 11: Introduction, Chapters 1-3

• November 14 - 18: Chapters 4-5

• November 21 - 25: Chapter 6

• November 28 - December 2: Chapters 7-8

• December 5 - 9: Chapters 9-10

• December 12 - 16: Chapter 11, Conclusion