For decades, we’ve been trying to improve students’ reading comprehension and writing ability. But we haven’t seen much in terms of results.

Thanks to decades of research, we now have a solid understanding of what happens in the brain when learning to read. Although it may happen at different speeds for different students, this pathway to reading is the same for everyone. This knowledge is powerful because it helps identify places where literacy development is breaking down for students.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Charles Dickens. (A Tale of Two Cities, 1859) These century-and-half-old words describe what it is like being an educator today.

One of the biggest shifts in implementing reading science in classrooms today is the use of sound walls. This term is becoming more common, and we are seeing sound walls in general education classrooms across the country.

A student shuffles to the next page of the book, listlessly moving to answer the questions at the end of the chapter.

The clock is ticking, the days on the calendar are drawing short, and every teacher knows time is limited. For all readers, every moment in the classroom is critical; this imperative is certainly true for the older reader.