---

---

“The problem with making reading, instruction, or related policies simple is that it requires cutting corners on details that matter for children and their teachers. What Johnson does instead is make things plain—plain enough for anyone to understand and for everyone to identify some common ground.”

—Rachael Gabriel, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut

---

Table of Contents

Preface

I. Understanding the Problem

1. What Is the Science of Reading?

2. Context Matters

3. A Crisis in Reading That Isn’t

II. Understanding Research

4. Understanding Science, Research, and Research Methods

5. Understanding Theories

6. Understanding Evidence-Based Instruction and Whole Language

7. Understanding Paradigms

8. Becoming a Responsible Consumer of Educational Research

III. Understanding the Reading Process

9. Word Activation and Semantic Connections

10. Cognitive Science, Reading, and Orthographic Mapping

11. Three Cueing Systems and the Three-Cueing System

12. Research to Support the Three-Cueing System

13. Applying the Research

14. Children of the Code

IV. Understanding Reading Instruction

15. Using Direct and Explicit Instruction to Teach Skills in Reading

16. The Glorious Music of Balanced Literacy Instruction

17. What Dance Can Teach Us about Reading Instruction

18. Phonemic Awareness, Time, Magic, and the Challenge

V. Understanding Assessment—and the Greater Context

19. Criterion-Referenced Tests, Norm-Referenced Tests, Academic Performance Standards—and Miracles

20. Teaching and Teachers

21. Epilogue: Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002

Appendix

References

Index

---

About the Author

Andrew P. Johnson, PhD, is Professor of Literacy Instruction and Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Minnesota State University, Mankato. A former elementary classroom teacher for 9 years, he is the author of numerous books and over 50 book chapters and academic articles related to literacy, learning, and the human condition. Dr. Johnson is a managing editor of the Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education, the host of the podcast The Reading Instruction Show, and the facilitator of the International Literacy Educators Coalition. His website is www.teaching-reading.com.

• Author's website
• All titles by Andrew P. Johnson

---

Audience

Classroom teachers and other literacy practitioners in K–12, school administrators, policymakers, and teacher educators and students.

---

Course Use

May serve as a supplemental text in graduate-level courses.