Like most industries, the old school has to be replaced with the new school. So, what should parents look out for to know what actually is new school?

Let’s start with an analogy. Think back to when you learned to drive a car. There are specific skills of this process that first require sitting in a stationary car without going anywhere. Then there are the subsequent, but equally important, experiences of interpreting the road as one drives along.

Your kiddo needs specific skills (i.e. what sound does the ‘SH’ make in ‘she’?) to know what the word is first, then they use other skills to interpret the sentence (i.e. she is cool). Reading is just like driving.

So, when it comes to reading, the sign of a modern program is one that begins with the Science of Reading (specific skills) and has moved away from starting with the Three Cueing System (road interpretation). You can read up on these if you have time (you lucky thing!), but let us polish you up in two simple sentences so you have a vague idea.

The Science of Reading uses evidence about how the brain processes letters into words, and words into meaning, to inform a systematic approach. The Three Cueing System relies on the collective pool of prior knowledge a kiddo has to make a good guess as they read.

Feel free to straight up ask your classroom teacher what is used in the school; or quietly listen out for key words like decoding, systematic phonics, and phonemic awareness which show your school is keeping up with the times. Listen out for alarm bells which sound like ‘making a good guess’, ‘multi-cueing’, ‘balanced literacy’, and ‘whole language approach’.

Choose another school, or begin a kind and curious conversation with your teacher to prompt change in the near future. Most schools have already made the change, phew, so be aware of how learning to read now looks different from once upon a time.

Here are some quick questions you can ask your school:

• What evidence is used to support reading progress?

• What types of things will my kiddo learn about reading in their first year?

• How do teachers plan reading lessons?

Let’s get graduating from old school to new school ASAP.

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