The National Reading Panel found phonics teaching had a smaller average effect when it began after first grade, but still concluded that systematic phonics strongly helped word reading for older struggling readers. It also found repeated reading aloud helped students with reading problems through high school.
The National Reading Panel found phonics teaching had a smaller average effect when it began after first grade than when it began in kindergarten or first grade.
In the source’s own words“Mean effect sizes were kindergarten d = 0.56; first grade d = 0.54; 2nd through 6th grades d = 0.27.”
The panel still concluded that systematic phonics strongly helped word reading for older struggling readers as well as for the youngest children.
In the source’s own words“growth in word-reading skills is strongly enhanced by systematic phonics instruction when compared to non-phonics instruction for kindergartners and 1st graders as well as for older struggling readers.”
The panel found repeated oral reading had a clear effect for ordinary readers through at least grade 4 and for students with reading problems all the way through high school.
In the source’s own words“repeated reading procedures have a clear impact on the reading ability of non-impaired readers through at least grade 4, as well as on students with various kinds of reading problems throughout high school.”
The intervention guide says extra phonics help in grade 2 moves on to harder letter patterns.
In the source’s own words“Phonics interventions for grade 2 students concentrate on learning more difficult skills, such as digraphs (oa as in boat and ch as in child), diphthongs (ew as in stew, oi as in soil), and controlled R (ar as in car, ur as in fur).”
The panel believes that when sounding out words is what holds a child back, the extra time should go to that and not to comprehension strategies.
In the source’s own words“if a student is struggling with decoding, it does not make sense to use tier 3 instructional time for summary writing, comprehension monitoring instruction, or clarification strategies”
The guide says small-group sessions for children who are behind run longer in grade 2 than in kindergarten.
In the source’s own words“An intervention session can range from 20 to 30 minutes for kindergarten students to 40 to 50 minutes for grade 2 students, depending on student needs.”
A review of 96 studies of struggling readers in grades K-5 concluded that one-to-one tutoring is very effective, and that tutoring focused on phonics gets much better results than other tutoring.
In the source’s own words“The review concludes that one-to-one tutoring is very effective in improving reading performance. Tutoring models that focus on phonics obtain much better outcomes than others.”
We read each of these ourselves on October 9, 2026. Follow the links to read them too.
“Behind in reading” can mean ten different things, and each one needs different help. Check off what is true for your child. You will see the one thing to work on first, and what can wait.
