Last Updated: 6/15/2026
By: Amy Schlueter
If you’ve spent any time in education over the last few years, you’ve probably heard some colleagues say:
“The Science of Reading isn’t working.” Usually, it comes after a school adopts a slick new curriculum, invests thousands of dollars in training, and then doesn’t see the dramatic reading gains everyone hoped for. So what isn’t working?
It’s a little like planting gorgeous pots of flowers and setting them around your deck, then forgetting to water them for most of the summer while announcing that annuals are a scam.
So, the Science of Reading isn’t failing. Implementation is. Overwhelm is. Thinking that SOR is a program. It’s NOT.
And that’s a much harder conversation because it requires us to look beyond shiny new programs and ask what is actually happening in classrooms every day.
Buying a Program Isn’t the Same as Changing Instruction
Imagine joining a gym. You buy the cute workout clothes. You get the fancy water bottle. You download the fitness app. You even tell all your friends that you’re “really focusing on your health this year.” But you never actually exercise. Six months later, you can’t blame the treadmill.
Yet schools do this all the time. We buy a curriculum. We attend a training. We get a binder thick enough to stop a door from closing. Then we act surprised when student outcomes don’t magically improve.
Spoiler alert: the curriculum cannot teach children from the storage closet.
What I See as a Reading Specialist
As a reading specialist, I work with students who have often struggled for years. Many walk into my room expecting to fail. They’ve become experts at guessing. Experts at avoiding. Experts at staring at a word long enough that an adult (or another student) eventually tells them what it is.
Some have developed survival skills that would impress a military strategist.
When I look at their histories, I rarely find lazy students. Or students who aren’t trying. What I often find is inconsistent instruction. A little phonics here. A different program there. Or the wrong program altogether.
Tier 1 instruction that started strong in September, but slowly disappeared under the weight of assemblies, field trips, testing, spirit weeks, half days, snow days, holidays and the seventeen other things that somehow end up on a school calendar.
Then everyone wonders why the student didn’t make progress.
Good Instruction Isn’t Complicated—But It Is Consistent
One of the biggest misconceptions about the Science of Reading is that it’s some magical solution.
It’s not. No one gets bitten by a Science of Reading spider and suddenly becomes a fluent reader- if only.
The research from which Science of Reading sprang simply tells us what practices are most likely to help students learn.
The challenge is doing those things consistently. And consistency is far from glamorous. Dare I say, it can even be tedious. Nobody posts “Day 137 of explicit phonics instruction and corrective feedback! #LivingTheDream” on TikTok.
But that’s exactly the kind of work that moves students forward. Not the exciting stuff. The repeated, deliberate stuff.
The Students Who Change My Mind Every Year
Every year, I meet students who remind me why implementation matters. Students who arrive convinced they’re bad readers. Students who have failed so many times that they’ve stopped expecting success.
And here’s the interesting part: The breakthrough rarely happens because I discovered some secret teaching trick hidden inside a dusty literacy vault. The breakthrough usually happens because the student finally receives systematic instruction consistently enough for their brain to do what brains do—learn. It’s not magic. It’s not a miracle. It’s Tuesday. And then Wednesday. And then Thursday.
Repeated approximately 177 more times.
We Can’t Put Everything on Interventionists
This may be the hill I choose to die on. Interventionists cannot single-handedly save literacy outcomes. Yeah, we are good. But we’re not wizards.
Somewhere along the way, some schools seem to have adopted the belief that interventionists possess magical literacy powers. I hate to disappoint everyone, but we don’t.
Yes, strong intervention matters. But intervention is only one piece of the literacy puzzle. Strong Tier 1 instruction matters. Protecting intervention time matters. Progress monitoring matters. Communication matters. Administrative support matters. Students need a system working together—not a single interventionist trying to carry the entire load.
A struggling reader spends far more time outside of intervention than inside it. If intervention is the only place evidence-based practices are happening, we’re asking a garden hose to put out a forest fire.
The Real Question
Instead of asking whether the Science of Reading works, perhaps we should ask:
Are we implementing it with enough consistency, intensity, and fidelity to expect results?
Because research doesn’t teach children. Programs don’t teach children. Binders don’t teach children. And professional development PowerPoints definitely don’t teach children.
People teach children. Like teachers. And specialists. And parents.
And when evidence-based practices are implemented consistently, (*gasp*) students learn to read.
I’ve watched students go from guessing at every other word to reading confidently and independently. Not because we found a miracle. Not because we bought a new program. But because we kept showing up and methodically did the work. No skipping steps because we think they already know that. Or because that part’s boring. Or because we think they’re ready to move on.
The Science of Reading isn’t failing. The challenge is that consistent implementation is much harder than ordering a shiny, new curriculum.
And unfortunately, Amazon Prime can’t deliver that.
So What’s the Solution?
The good news is that implementation problems are fixable. Unlike waiting for a miracle program to arrive, improving implementation is entirely within our control. It starts with protecting what matters most.
- Protect intervention time like it’s sacred. Because for some students, it is.
- Provide teachers with ongoing support instead of one-and-done professional development.
- Learning a new instructional approach is a process, not an event.
- Create systems that allow classroom teachers, interventionists, specialists, and administrators to communicate regularly about student progress.
- Use data to guide decisions instead of assumptions.
- Most importantly, commit to consistency.
- Not for a week.
- Not until the next initiative comes along.
- Not until testing season.
- Consistency is what allows struggling readers to build the thousands of successful reading experiences their brains need.
The students I see make the greatest gains are rarely the ones who receive perfect instruction. They’re the ones who receive good instruction consistently.
Consistency Doesn’t Stop on the Bus Ride Home
One of the most powerful ways to support struggling readers is to create a connection between school and home.
Parents often ask me, “What else can I do?” My answer is almost always the same: keep it simple and consistent. You don’t need hour-long tutoring sessions at the public library. You don’t need expensive programs or complicated lessons. A few minutes of targeted practice several times a week can make a tremendous difference.
The key is providing students with opportunities to practice the same phonics skills they are learning in school. When students encounter those patterns repeatedly—in intervention, in the classroom, and at home—their brains begin building the automaticity that leads to accurate, fluent reading.
That’s exactly why I created my phonics games, activity packets, color-by-code activities, and fluency resources. They’re designed to give students meaningful practice without turning reading into a battle.
Because let’s be honest—how many struggling readers are begging their parents to challenge them to reading a difficult text passage after a full day of school?
But a game? A competition? A quick activity that feels successful? That’s a different story.
When schools and families work together, students receive something many struggling readers desperately need: more opportunities for successful practice. And when it comes to reading growth, consistency beats intensity almost every time.
And maybe that’s the real lesson of the Science of Reading. Science tells us what works. Implementation is deciding that we’re going to keep doing it—even when it’s hard, even when it’s repetitive, and even when the results aren’t immediate. Because reading growth is often less like a fireworks show and more like planting a tree.
For a long time, it doesn’t look like much is happening. Then one day you realize something strong has been growing all along.
