The Reading Wars
"The Atlantic Monthly"
November, 1997

Provides excellent background on differences between whole language and phonics based instruction.  Discusses California's history from whole language to phonics and research showing large improvements in reading scores for children who switched from whole language to phonics.

Research from the
National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published its report on how children actually learn to read.  Several years ago they were given the funds and resources to research reading methods extensively.  They have been involved in research of thousands of children in many different research settings throughout the country.  Dr. Reid Lyon (Ph.D.) of the NIH has been overseeing the project.  This link shows the summary of their report and explains the main findings of the research.  Every principal of every school should have a copy of this report on their desk.  A major finding stated in  the report is that the poorest readers used context clues to figure out words while the best readers decoded the "sounds" made by the letters. Dr. Lyons stated, "The ability to process sounds that are heard (called phonological processing) consistently differentiates good readers and poor readers."

A 16 page report compiled by California State University on the latest research on "How Children Learn."  Prominent reading researchers are quoted in this article providing further support for the critical importance of phonics and phonemic awareness at an early age.  Topics include - Research Highlights - Key Findings on Phonemic Awareness - Research from Marilyn Adams, Ph.D - Recommendations for Schools & Classrooms.  What's really nice about this report is it provides suggestions on specific activities that can be used in different elementary grades.