Dr. Alexandra Spichtig Empowers Educators to Recognize Silent Reading Inefficiency in Students and Better Understand its Relationship With Success
WINOOSKI, Vt., Oct. 10, 2020 — Reading Plus, a research-backed online program that uses personalized instruction to improve students’ reading proficiency, announced that its Chief Research Officer Dr. Alexandra Spichtig presented on the importance of addressing reading efficiency to achieve student success at the International Literacy Association (ILA) Next 2020 virtual conference. Dr. Spichtig led the session on October 10 during the 12:15-12:55 p.m. ET Learning Labs time block.
Titled “Reading Efficiency: The Gateway to Reading Motivation and Sustained Reading Success”, the presentation helped educators understand efficiency’s relationship with reading proficiency and how it affects instruction. Session attendees learned how to identify variations of inefficiency in students of all reading levels and discussed crucial considerations when designing an environment that best suits each student’s needs.
“Reading is a highly physical process. How someone’s eyes navigate lines of print greatly affects what they will comprehend,” said Dr. Spichtig. “If a student’s reading process is labored and inefficient, this impacts their ability to process and retain information. Our research discovered that 50% of all students are inefficient readers – yet this often goes undetected and doesn’t get the empirical attention it deserves in both teacher training and the classroom.”
Reading Plus is the only literacy program that addresses the physical aspect of reading in addition to developing comprehension and vocabulary. Through adaptive instruction and the program’s patented Guided Window, Reading Plus strengthens the visual-perceptual skills students need to silently read efficiently and fluently while building their reading stamina. The company also recently announced that it is doubling its content library with a focus on diverse selections for children and young adults at various reading levels.
“Students have varying reading skill gaps and therefore different instructional needs, whether they have above grade-level comprehension yet read very slowly or are skimming through assignments and demonstrate a low understanding,” said Dr. Spichtig. “Reading Plus offers selections at an appropriate level of complexity for each student’s reading development needs while meeting teachers’ instructional objectives. That is critical to helping children overcome ineffective reading habits.”
Dr. Spichtig leads Reading Plus’s efforts in continually evaluating current assessment and instructional strategies and exploring new and enhanced approaches to silent reading proficiency development. She is recognized internationally as an expert on silent reading efficiency.
ILA Next runs through October 29. Learn more about the benefits of Reading Plus at www.readingplus.com.
ABOUT READING PLUS
Reading Plus is a research-proven, online program that provides personalized intervention and instruction for students in grades 3-12, improving reading proficiency between 2.0 to 2.5-grade levels in a single school year. Reading Plus develops comprehension, vocabulary, motivation, and stamina, while also going beyond the offerings of other literacy programs by addressing silent reading fluency. It supports students with diverse needs, including English learners, special education, RTI/MTSS tiers 1-3, and advanced readers. Reading Plus provides educators with an easy-to-use management and reporting system, extensive resources to guide differentiated instruction, professional development, and highly-rated customer support. The Reading Plus program is used in more than 5,000 schools nationally, helping over 1 million students become efficient, confident, lifelong readers. For more information visit www.readingplus.com.
