While all students deserve to have access to evidence-based instruction, all teachers coming out of teacher’s colleges deserve to be equipped with the understanding and knowledge of the Science of Reading and practice in teaching a child to read. In June 2023, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) issued a comprehensive review of how well schools of education prepare our nation’s educators to teach children how to read. NCTQ Executive Summary.

NCTQ Executive Summary

In 2000, the National Reading Panel concluded its three-year study of the research surrounding reading. They recommended explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, systematic phonics instruction, methods to improve fluency, and ways to improve reading comprehension. This approach was very different from that of the Balanced Literacy Approach, based on the Three-Cueing Method.

The Science of Reading remains clear on how the brain learns to read, yet parents and educators remain frustrated by the lack of progress in aligning all reading instruction with the Science of Reading and ensuring our teachers have the training needed for delivery in the classroom.

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  • Only 25% of programs adequately cover the five core components identified by the National Reading Panel, with phonemic awareness receiving the least attention, despite its crucial role in reading and spelling development (McCardle & Chhabra, 2004).

  • Nearly one-third of programs do not offer any practice opportunities connected to the National Reading Panel’s core components.

  • 40% of programs are still teaching strategies that have been debunked by the scientific community (e.g., the three-cueing).

  • 58% of programs do not dedicate at least two hours to the topic of teaching struggling readers, including students with dyslexia, and 81% of programs do not require any opportunities to practice.

A lack of knowledge about how children learn to read and write and how to identify and teach the many who struggle leaves many teachers unprepared. While high-quality, evidence-based curriculum matters, we will continue to fail vulnerable students, including students with disabilities such as dyslexia, students living in poverty, students of color, and students learning English as a second language, until we address teacher training.

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Repercussions

  •  3 out of 4 people on welfare are illiterate. – Washington Literacy Council

  • 80% of America’s prison inmates are either low-level readers or illiterate.
    – US Census Data, 2000

  • 85% of all juvenile offenders have reading problems. – U.S. Department of Education

  • More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level, which is far below the level needed to earn a living wage. – National Institute for Literacy, Fast Facts on Literacy, 2001

  • 21 million Americans cannot read at all, 45 million are marginally illiterate, and one-fifth of high school graduates cannot read their diplomas. – Department of Justice, 1993

  • 50 percent of American adults are unable to read an eighth-grade level book. – Jonathan Kozol, Illiterate America

Orton-Gillingham: The Gold Standard

Our work is rooted in evidence. OG is not a program but a flexible instructional approach that can be used for both general education and intervention.
What is OG?

Teacher Testimonials

“Orton-Gillingham isn’t a curriculum but rather an approach so it will integrate with any reading curriculum our school district adopts. It gives teachers the background knowledge to teach reading to any student using any science of reading based program.”

“I have been a teacher since 1992.  When I went to college to study Early Childhood and Elementary Education, I was taught the Whole Language Approach for reading.  Surround kids with books and they will learn to read and love to read.  I taught for several years and then went on to get my Masters in Education, where I was taught to teach balanced literacy and the 3-cueing method for teaching reading.  All I can say is that the OG training was mind-blowing.  Why did I not know all of this as a teacher?? Why hadn’t I learned this when obtaining my undergrad and masters degree in teaching!   No wonder I did not know how to help my struggling readers.”

“I have been a second-grade teacher in Charleston County School District for twenty-two years. In January 2023, I agreed to participate in the Orton-Gillingham Classroom Educator Training. It changed everything I thought I knew about how students learn to read and write and replaced it with an approach that is blowing my mind! After twenty-two years of the same-old-same-old, OG is making me feel refreshed, renewed, and more hopeful than ever that we are FINALLY on the right track toward effectively teaching our students to read and write!”

“OG has given me the strategies to help my students best succeed in reading. I really love how diagnostic it is. All my students are benefitting this school year from this approach to reading. I see the progress being made that I didn’t see in years prior. I am SO thankful to the Jennie Moore Administration for bringing the opportunity of Orton Gillingham Classroom Educator training to JME and allowing me to take part in it.”

“The OGCC team know children and the way they learn. Thank you for the support and guidance over the years.”