The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation….

reports on whole language hi jinks. The report showcases how you can spot ineffective reading programs that say they are whole-language, but are not. Programs using SBRR-Based reading programs are good in this report and they are crucial for English Language Learners.

Essential components of a SBRR-Based reading program are phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary development and finally reading comprehension. It gets into why this works which I can agree with.

Then the report looks at programs such as Four Block, Guided Reading, and balance literacy and why they are not so great.

This report is a great read.