Isn't Independent Reading a Research-Based Practice?

Audrey— those are good claims...,why don’t the data ever support them?

Victor— no evidence that those brief one on one conferences make any difference better to provide kids with what we know to be beneficial to them rather than just hoping you’re right,

The practices of Doug Fisher that you mention can be supported by allowing reading time to occur at school AND at home. Many of our students do not have homes where this can occur, or homes at all for some. A crowded motel room with the TV on or a noisy homeless shelter is not conducive to reading. Students appreciate the quiet time, the cozy corner and the permission, encouragement and support that the classroom setting provides. For the kid with hours to spend in their treehouse lost in a book sure it doesn't need to happen at school but for many school is the only place it can happen. Also every student doesn't need to being doing it at once as past practices might be causing us to imagine. Some students might be independently reading books of their choice while others are engaged in quite different assignments and lessons.

Miriam—
I think your expectations for what most kids can do are too low.

Tim

It seems counterintuitive that giving kids time to read in class doesn't impact reading, but having followed your blog and also reading Daniel Willingham's articles connecting reading comprehension to increased background knowledge and encouraging more reading of non-fiction texts (along with all the research on deliberate practice), I know that I need to structure my reading activities very carefully to maximize my time with students. And then try to motivate them to read on their own by sending home high interest books, etc.

It's worrying to me to see thoughts such as Audrey's that "no child ever gets off the bus after school and says they can’t wait to read if they haven’t already built a habit and love of reading during the school day." This, to me, is so obviously untrue that I worry, if Audrey is a teacher. She apparently believes it, because someone (in this case Donalyn Miller) said it during a Keynote Address (which hasn't yet occurred, apparently, as it'll be in October this year). Could we please start exercising some critical thinking? Someone having been chosen to speak does NOT prove that what they have to say is true.

Harriet— the research shows that learning how to read is much more likely to increase the amount of student independent reading than independent reading practice has on improving reading ability. It is not that no learning comes from independent reading, just less than is possible through the reading support and guidance provided by a teacher.

Tim

Thanks so much for this thoughtful blog post! My grad school classes in literacy consisted almost entirely of learning how to structure independent reading and conferring. I had to learn critical aspects of literacy teaching as I was in the classroom (with the help of awesome coaches and mentors). So many literacy practices that are popular don't really seem to improve students' reading, and I wish more university programs focused on what we know works.

What assumptions are we making as teachers when we assign independent reading? We usually look at it with a best-case scenario (rose colored glasses), in my opinion. Sometimes we assume the kids can read the words, but often they cannot. We assume they are comprehending the book, but they often cannot tell you the basics of the story. We assume they understand the grammar or key words that signal sentence construction (and comprehension), and they do not! We assume the kids get the vocabulary to make the book meaningful, but their vocabulary is shallow. So I am superbly wary of the benefit of independent reading when I see my ESL kids sitting in their home room class. I am trying to learn how to use my English lessons as highly supported and structured. We try to do everything: spelling, vocabulary from the stories, sentence level study, sentence skits, verb watching, rereading grade level text for fluency, etc...How can I help further accelerate the language competence for my students with writing and what type of homework is appropriate for ESL kids, grades 3-5?

As the Literacy Coordinator in a K-12 school for 16 years I would like to share that in my experience, anecdotally, students receiving active and responsive daily reading instruction are the ones I see improving in reading the most. Sadly, during classroom SSR I see far too many students spending inordinate amounts of time getting comfortable, looking for books, distracted by others and engaging in any number of other behaviors that take them away from actual reading. This is due, in part, to inadequate teaching of "how" to read silently and independently, and in part to students not reading with metacognition - both of which can cause a student to lose focus. Focused instruction and feedback have been, in my experience, the most effective ways to develop reading growth. With that growth comes increased motivation to read. Increased motivation and interest leads to students choosing to read during their own time.

This may be simplifying things too much, but I think we can liken this experience to any other type of activity a child does - soccer, piano, knitting, or any number of things. If the child is not receiving effective coaching/teaching, they can practice their activity for hours on end but see minimal improvement because they have not learned the requisite skills or received responsive instruction which brings them to the next level of proficiency. We can kick a soccer ball ineffectively for 1 hour or 100 hours, but if we are doing it ineffectively we likely won't improve. Eventually we may not want to keep playing soccer. What fun is it to do something on our own time when we don't see any improvement, or we don't ever fully understand how to do it well?

Thank you so very much for your blog. I am learning so much, even now in my 21st year of teaching.

In response to Ms. Duffy... Are you a teacher or have you ever been a teacher? Maybe I am looking through rose colored glasses, but I believe most teachers are not just sitting on their butts watching kids read. If they are, they were probably told that students needed SSR. They are not sitting at their desks "taking a break." Negative generalizations like your's should not be made about teachers. And, to insinuatiate that teachers aren't earning their "pay" is ludicrous. Teachers work for "peanuts," but give 110% because they truly love teaching and care about what's best for our students. If you're 'paying" teachers, you should be sure to give an hourly wage. I am one of many teachers reading professional blogs like this to better aide my students.

The International Reading Association has a great statement on independent reading. It is called Creating Passionate Readers Through Independent Reading. You should check it out! There is more to, "Just letting students read." If you are just watching your students read, there is a problem!

https://literacyworldwide.org/get-resources/position-statements

Oh my, I looked back to capture Tim’s wise words about the lack of research behind independent reading and found so many negative comments. I have been teaching reading for thirty years and would never disparage anyone. My teachers simply follow research based strategies and my colleagues always follow those practices. They teach reading actively! Directly! And use research strategies - that’s all. Love All teachers - Betsy Duffy

Tim, you kill me. But that might just be the ice cream talking!

Especially this: "“Reading achievement at age 10 significantly predicted independent reading at age 11. The alternative path, from independent reading at age 10 to reading achievement at age 11, was not significant.” This flies in the face of giving kids in K-3 leveled readers and sending them off to bean bag chairs to read silently, often using the taught three cueing method and word memorization. Two elephants in the room on this are dyslexia (of course) and DLD (Developmental Language Disorder, at https://dldandme.org/ ) the latter of which is associated with a risk for dyslexia and is five times more prevalent than autism yet rarely recognized by schools - conceivably since speech language services are more expensive than "box" reading software programs and schools often "teach by telling" - kids who don't talk are simply "quiet". So independent reading cements bad habits (read by word memorization and guessing, which significantly slows rate, to the point a child's working memory can't manage it all - so they read with "strategies" instead (like re-reading). Who would want to read like that? Even kids without learning differences - the way reading is taught in most schools now simply isn't the best, based in science - that we've known for years - approach.

Hats off to Ms. Schlessinger, my sixth grade teacher, who had students read independently each Friday, but called each student up to her desk while they did so, and asked pointed questions about the text they had read so far. She also monitored and approved each child's book choice during school library visits, to ensure choices were a challenging level for each student. Nothing like one on one interaction to ensure each child gets what he/she needs - but children so rarely get that these days, despite even some wealthy counties contributing to education funding per student (an additional $20,000 each in my district for special ed (Fed + state + county) on top of gen ed funds per student).

As a parent, I believe the public schools are filled by cargo cult educational practices built on a broader belief that by emulating, simulating, and visualizing you can transform reality. This worldview, is, in turn, based on a distinctive philosophical view of the world.

If Independent reading is the holy grail, maybe we don’t need teachers. Camp counsellors will suffice. No?

Simple volume of reading has--as you say--weak support for promoting more reading. For poor readers, "assisted reading" was shown to be more effective (Shany and Biemiller, 1995). However, even with assisted reading, I would now emphasize the importance of expanding vocabulary (Shany & Biemiller, 2009; Biemiller, 2010)

References:
Biemiller, A. (2010). Vocabulary development and implications for reading problems. In A. McGill-Franzen and R. Allington (Eds), Handbook of Research on Reading Disabilities, pp 208-218. New York, NY: Routledge..

Shany, M., & Biemiller, A. (1995). Assisted reading practice: Effects on performance for poor readers in grades 3 and 4. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 382-395.

Shany, M., & Biemiller, A. (2009). Individual differences in reading comprehension gains from assisted reading practice: Pre-existing conditions, vocabulary acquisition, and amounts of practice. Reading and Writing, 23, 1071-1083.

Over 20 years ago I did an unpublished literature review on SSR as part of a masters paper. My conclusion was that research was generally very poor. Studies of very short duration, little training of teachers, very few checks if the SSR was actually happening. My own conclusion is in a class with high access to books, a teacher who models reading and knows children’s literature and has high expectations the approach works well for children with middle range of ability and interest in reading. The able passionate readers love it. Those children of lower ability and interest would be better in a peer reading scheme.

Joh. -- And yet, teaching kids to read continues to do better than that. The notion that we "know" that something works so we should ignore the numerous studies conducted on it that repeatedly find it to not be beneficial turns the role of research in policy on its head. We shouldn't do whatever we want until someone does a good enough to prove it wrong. Something should not become a widely used practice UNTIL there is evidence supporting it. You are correct that many of the studies that have been done are not very good, but even those that are find little benefit from the practice. (Some exceptions -- English learners seem to gain some benefit from such reading in English, but not in their home language; and especially proficient readers may gain some benefit from it).


tim

Years ago, I taught in an inner-city neighborhood school where all students walked to school.
They came to my middle-grade classes, usually reading at a 1st or 2nd grade level. The whole district was required to teach whole language programs, but I added a systematic phonics base curriculum that I developed. Then, we read the texts either aloud or followed along with audio.
After phonics instruction, my students wanted to read aloud more. So, I started the after-school Cookies and Books Reading Club, Monday through Thursday. (I supplied the cookies.)
All but 2 of my 24 students stayed. Each group had a minimum of 3 or maximum of 4 and each group read its own book selection to read aloud. Each student took turns, reading one paragraph at a time, even it was only one word. If a student misread a word or struggled, the group would guide the student, as I did in class, by helping the student use phonics word-attack skills, such as reading each sound from left to right or remember "troublemakers." The club lasted from about January to the end of the school year and the students' scores increased, as you could imagine.

Years ago, I taught in an inner-city neighborhood school where all students walked to school.
They came to my middle-grade classes, usually reading at a 1st or 2nd grade level. The whole district was required to teach whole language programs, but I added a systematic phonics base curriculum that I developed. Then, we read the texts either aloud or followed along with audio.
After phonics instruction, my students wanted to read aloud more. So, I started the after-school Cookies and Books Reading Club, Monday through Thursday. (I supplied the cookies.)
All but 2 of my 24 students stayed. Each group had a minimum of 3 or maximum of 4 and each group read its own book selection to read aloud. Each student took turns, reading one paragraph at a time, even it was only one word. If a student misread a word or struggled, the group would guide the student, as I did in class, by helping the student use phonics word-attack skills, such as reading each sound from left to right or remember "troublemakers." The club lasted from about January to the end of the school year and the students' scores increased, as you could imagine.

Pat-

That's delightful. Don't steal the kids' reading instruction, but find a way to give them something else of value. Heroic and right on the money!

tim

"You are correct that many of the studies that have been done are not very good, but even those that are find little benefit from the practice. (Some exceptions -- English learners seem to gain some benefit from such reading in English, but not in their home language; and especially proficient readers may gain some benefit from it)."

What studies are you referring to here?

Matt-
The EL studies were reviewed in Chapter 16 of the National Literacy Panel for Minority Children and Youth Report and Carol Connor's studies of differentiated instruction in the primary grades.

tim

I must admit the silent reading session, for some readers, can often be just biding time and pretending to read. It's only the converted few who eagerly wait for SSR and relish the opportunity to squeeze in another chapter of their favourite novel. There are many reasons this might happen - reading ability, text availability etc. My concern is that most students don't choose to read for pleasure when they arrive home, as other screen-based options hold more interest for them. Even if they are a good reader and they enjoy reading at school. If this is the case, then we really have an obligation to provide a better version of SSR during school hours or the Matthew effect comes into play.
I'm wondering about some age-appropriate structures that pair SSR/independent reading with other processes that provide more purpose for the reading? In the early years that might be oral interactions after the reading time - a simple retell, a short book talk, a 'did you know?', or star ratings. One example in the upper years is literature circles or book clubs where the reading happens silently before the group meeting and each member has a role to play in the group. If the text selection has some group choice, surely that must be a winner for silent reading, engagement and comprehension combined?

Just a note that I thought Miriam's point was valid. We don't always know what kind of environment many students go home to. We can't assume their home environment is conducive to independent reading. For these students, they may really treasure and need the quiet reading time at school. I also like the idea of the after school reading/cookie club!

Can independent reading be a differentiated practice for some students who need it say to read a book for a reading group while other students are getting explicit direct instruction from the teacher? I could let kids read while I work with others in small groups? Thoughts?

Sandra-

Think about it. You're saying that since kids don't choose to read for pleasure on their own, we should impose reading for pleasure on them during the school day. Imposed "pleasures" are not likely to have the outcome you hope for. You're not sending the right message to kids with such imposition. (The idea that the schools are responsible for ensuring that everyone enjoy reading -- or anything else -- seems unnecessarily intrusive -- why no effort to make everyone like math, science, history, the arts, physical fitness, vegetables, etc.?) I must admit that the notion that everyone must like what I like gives me a great sense of power -- Go, Cubs!

tim

Tim-

When I talk about "independent reading," I really mean independent -- the person choosing to read, choosing what they are going to read, and choosing when and where they will do that reading.

However, educators have appropriated the term creating some confusion. Most often they use it to mean reading time that is imposed on the kids by the teacher. Usually the kids have choice of what they want to read during this required period (though even there the teacher might impose requirements -- like that the book be of a certain level). Because of the lousy research record and criticism of the practice by people like me, it is not uncommon that kids are required to prove that they read during the period (teacher conferences, etc.). Everything the schools do to try to make this requirement positive, they tend to change it into something that looks more and more like instruction and less and less like pleasure reading (we'll tell you when to read, how long to read, where to sit when you read, what to read, and we'll quiz you on whether you understood what you read -- none of that seems very independent to me).

Because of the looseness of the terminology, I often get questions like yours about whether it is okay to have kids do silent reading in the classroom within lessons (yes), whether the teacher can work with other groups while one group of kids is doing the assigned reading (yes), and so on. Basically, instructional reading focuses on having students read an assigned text (something that we think will be useful educationally) under some kind of monitoring, supervision, and teaching. There is plenty of room for that kind of work within reading instruction, as well as any content instruction that involves texts. What there shouldn't be much room for is just sending kids off to read on their own, whatever they choose to read, and without a clear instructional purpose to the assignment.

tim

After reading this article I am disappointed that you don't recognize the value and impact of a certified library media specialist on student reading achievement. Books can't recommend themselves. A qualified school librarian not only promotes titles to engage student interest in reading, but can provide individual reader's advisory, ensuring that students have a someone who knows them and can recommend books that they will love. The most effective investment for schools is a certified professional who can create a culture of reading.

Shannon--

I think highly of school librarians and believe they can make an important contribution to a school and the children it serves. However, they have no discernible impact on student reading achievement. it is terrific that you can help kids find books that they are interested in -- that is valuable -- but it doesn't do much to improve kids' reading ability.

tim

While I appreciate the points made in this post, I must respectfully disagree with the conclusion that independent reading in the classroom is not a research-based practice. As an educator who strongly supports the work of Kelly Gallagher and Nancy Atwell, I believe that giving students time to read in class is not only beneficial but essential for fostering a culture of reading and creating lifelong readers, especially in the middle and high school levels.

Both Gallagher and Atwell have shown that when students are provided time to read books of their choice during the school day, it helps build the intrinsic motivation necessary for developing a love for reading. In fact, it’s not just about improving reading comprehension—it’s about cultivating a lifelong habit of reading. By allowing students this time, we are telling them that reading matters and is a priority, not something to be squeezed in between other tasks.

The research may not yet show large immediate gains from independent reading in the classroom, but there’s significant value in creating an environment where students are encouraged to see themselves as readers. Over time, this culture shift can lead to not only improvements in reading achievement but also in students’ overall engagement with texts and their sense of identity as readers.

In my experience, giving students choice and time to read in class fosters a deeper connection to reading and increases their likelihood of continuing the practice outside of school. This mirrors the findings of Gallagher and Atwell, who emphasize that the ultimate goal is to develop life-long readers—an achievement that standardized assessments may not fully capture, but which holds immense long-term value for students' academic and personal growth.

Rebecca-

You are making unproven claims -- that isn't what we mean by science. Those ideas are certainly provocative but none of them have been tested despite 30 years of promoting them. In fact, research is showing that people are more likely to become lifelong readers if they can read well than if they were encouraged to read at school. Sorry.


tim

Are you finished eating your ice cream? Great; I’d like to continue this discussion.

My division is using this (in my opinion, intentionally inflammatorily titled) blog post and referring to it as an “article” against SSR for us to “discuss.” Your argument that SSR is not researched in terms of value toward teaching kids how to read is a logical fallacy. I realize you were responding to a question, but you both miss the point: SSR was never intended to teach kids to read. Anyone who thinks that it addresses those skill deficits must also think student brains are capable of learning through osmosis.

The point of using precious class time on SSR is to provide or reinforce a culture of reading that research does say, as you point out, is integral in setting younger students up for success in explicit reading instruction before they begin school. By the time kids get to me, in high school, if they can’t read, it’s a triage situation. You are proposing we do away with SSR, but with what do we replace it? My two degrees in secondary education did not teach me anything about the science of reading because we were trusting that elementary education programs were providing research-based instruction on how to teach kids to read. They were not. Now we have a problem. Compounding that problem, my students are hyper-fixated on how others perceive them (because they’re teens and that’s developmentally appropriate), so they are really beating themselves up over a skill deficit that isn’t their fault and actively avoiding explicit instruction to correct it. I structure my class around reading (OR LISTENING) to books for pleasure to build stamina wherever a kid is when they get to me. I read along side them, I tie writing and language instruction to their chosen reading material, and we embrace challenging grade level texts together as a whole group. If you’re proposing that I replace SSR with elementary level reading instruction, you are not only asking me to ignore the proficient readers in the room, of which there are still a majority, but also quite out of touch with the extreme self-conscientiousness of teens. Your intention seems to be to shock your readers with your revelation that SSR isn’t researched, opening the door for some administrators to weaponize your words and dismiss the practice entirely.

Until the standards for secondary ELA change in my state, you seem to be proposing that I teach both foundational reading and higer order thinking, reading, and writing simultaneously. Based on other blog posts you’ve written, you are not in support of lowering the standards for struggling readers, so what do you propose high schools do to meet the kids where they are in a developmentally appropriate way, while also preparing them for a standardized test that only reminds us all that we failed them at the elementary level for decades? I don’t know the answer to that either, but I know my kids are trusting the heck out of my instruction on grade level material because I’ve take the time to see their identities and build relationships with them through SSR. By the way, we have no way to measure abilities or deficits in my division beyond 8th grade, so even if we wanted to, there are only the state tests in 11th grade for that measure. Can you at least do secondary a favor and write about the challenges we face, and consider the possibility that SSR time may be doing more good than harm, at least anecdotally? Why not push for literacy coaches and reading specialist to be in every school? We currently share one of those two positions with our middle school, and only one day a week. There is no one in our building trained to teach kids how to read.

utkelizabeth--

No, I definitely do not agree that you should ignore data just because they contradict your beliefs. You believe that you are successfully imposing a culture of literacy on kids and the data repeatedly are showing that trying to force people to like what you like is generally not very successful. Trading the opportunity to raise children's ability to read (so they really could like it) for imposed reading time has not been a very good idea. (Anecdotally, we are hearing from many students who struggle with reading how much they hate SSR time).

tim

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Could you direct me to another post where you discuss what should be happening in a secondary ELA classroom for both students who are and are not reading on grade level? I grew up during the Accelerated Reader era, so I understand the frustration of students having reading imposed on them. You are saying to raise their ability in the classroom so they will want to read independently. I get that logic, but I am at a complete loss as to how when I, myself, don’t possess the skills to teach things like sound blends, decoding, etc. It sounds like what I’m doing is not SSR at all, but more along the lines of letting students self-select mentor texts and using that to differentiate instruction. I am following educators like Kelly Gallagher, Penny Kittle, and Jarred Amato for guidance on these issues if that helps give you a picture of how I structure class time. We are discouraged from giving homework, so does that mean I am to read grade level texts aloud so kids can access the material in order to demonstrate the higher level standards I’m expected to teach? Is your audience with this post meant for elementary educators and my admin directed us to your site in error? Sincerely, I want to do what’s best for my students, so while I’m frustrated, I’m also open to suggestions.

utekelizabeth--

You selected sources that are not research based. These are authors whose focus is mainly on kids who are likely to be on grade level in reading and doing well and they show some of the wonderful things you can do with such students without needing much in the way of explicit teaching. I do not ignore the research studies. Unfortunately, large numbers of secondary students need greater support than that. I don't have a specific entry on my site about everything you need to know to support older students' reading ability, but basically there are four areas of concern: vocabulary/morphology, text reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing. If you search for high school or middle school on my site, you can find articles about each of those topics that should be useful. Good luck.


tim

tim