The Reading Instruction Show

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) recently put out another technical report. This technical report graded 700 teacher preparation programs across the country (Ellis, et al., 2026). However, a critical evaluation shows why this report can’t be taken seriously. It contains an abundance of misinformation, disinformation, and convenient inaccuracies. It’s not known if these were intentional on the part of the writers or a result of a lack of knowledge.

If you’re looking for accessible, research-based information that slices through the endless loads of overly worded baloney, I would encourage you to subscribe to my...

Matthew 7: 1-2.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

My MAGA Christian friends tell me I’m not supposed to judge them. They quote Matthew 7: 1-2 as if it’s a get-out-of-jail card, then they do whatever the hell they want to do.

https://dr731.substack.com/p/my-maga-friends-tell-me-not-to-judge

If you’re looking for accessible, research-based information that slices through the endless loads of overly worded baloney, I would encourage you to subscribe to my free Substack, The Reading Instruction Show.

Substack: The Reading Instruction Show

https://thereadinginstructionshow.substack.com/

ntroduction to Reading Fluency

This session focuses on fluency, one of the five core areas of reading defined by the National Reading Panel (following previous sessions on phonemic awareness and phonics/word work).

In 2026, the Minnesota Department of Education requires teachers to be toadies who follow approved teachers’ manuals with fidelity. All the love of reading has been stomped out of students. Reading, writing, listening, thinking, and critically evaluating information has been replaced by remembering, responding, regurgitating, and filling in bubbles on standardized tests.

This story ends where it began, in 1981. The Read Act Minnesota is the flux capacitor that has brought us screaming forward to the past (see Figure 4.4). We’ve been transported back to 1981 but it’s much worse this time around.

If you’re looking for accessible, research-based information that slices through the endless loads of overly worded baloney, I would encourage you to subscribe to my free Substack, The Reading Instruction Show.

Substack: The Reading Instruction Show

https://thereadinginstructionshow.substack.com/

Just because a book, article, or presentation includes pictures of a brain or uses a whole bunch of big brain words, does not mean the information presented is always accurate or scientific. We must be responsible consumers of all information, and this includes brain imaging research for reading instruction.

By Dr. Andy Johnson, Executive Director, ILEC

Push back against top-down SoR mandates that disempower teachers. Get involved with the International Literacy Educators Coalition (ILEC). It’s free.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-nZ_vlQu1b-TfDLj3Ryk01lVfJuRWTTMeuyIaEdAKKMiWBQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=104234491744726588097

Warning: The academic aristrocacy do not want you to listen to this podcast.

Push back against top-down SoR mandates that disempower teacher. Get involved with ILEC. Sign up at this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-nZ_vlQu1b-TfDLj3Ryk01lVfJuRWTTMeuyIaEdAKKMiWBQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=104234491744726588097

Feeling deluged by SOR media, materials, and mandates?

Science of Reading’s murky waters have crested, says Dr. Hruby. Our classrooms are ours to reclaim if we strategize now. Join Dr. Hruby in a conversation about why SOR may be on the outs, the backstories behind it, and how we can take back control of our teaching and students’ learning.

In Minnesota our special reading law called The Read Act. The Read Act makes certain kinds of reading instruction mandatory and other kinds illegal. I will confess that during the last two years at Minnesota State University, Mankato, I’ve been teaching illegal reading instruction. Every day I expect masked READ agents to kick down my door, handcuff me, and drag me off to a LETRS training facility somewhere in Wyoming or Texas.

Prince of Peace. How’s that working out for you? How’s that peace thing going? I have to be honest, I don’t see a lot of peace coming out of my Jesus-loving MAGA friends. I see anger, hatred, retribution, violence, and lies.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward men (and women and children and animal life and our planet). How’s that goodwill working out for you? Are you feeling it? Is your will good? Or is it selfish? Did I misread Luke? Did the angel say, “Selfish will to all”?

I don’t se...

Effective teachers are reflective teachers (Sternberg & Williams, 2010; Zeichner & Liston, 2010). They think about what they’re doing, what they did, and what they’re going to do. There are two levels of reflection: surface level and deep meaning. Both are necessary. But one without the other is not sufficient.

The bible is quite clear on this point: To hell with you who support the Rich Man while Brother Lazarus is sick and starving. To hell with you. To hell with you who turn your back on the poor, the sick, and the strangers among us. To hell with those of you who protect the people who raped and trafficked young girls. To hell with you. The bible cannot be more clear on this point.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-188718695

Videos, articles, and much more at my free Substack: Transpersonal Christianity

https://dr731.substack.com/

The argumentation process is the foundation of academic discourse within the academy. It’s worked well for centuries, enabling our various academic fields to continually evolve. These arguments usually take place in academic journals, academic conferences, and various other academic presentations.

This podcast describes simple, pragmatic, research-based tips for parents to help their child with reading at home and over the summer.

Videos, articles, and much more at my free Substack: Transpersonal Christianity

https://dr731.substack.com/

Research-based strategies to addres phonics and word work.

This podcast reviews and applies the research related to Comprehension.

This is a good time to revist systemic racism. Trump posted a racist tweet, showing the heads of Barak and Michelle Obama on Monkeys. He won’t apologize for this. Many Trump Republican supporters refused to call him out for this.

Somebody accused me of twisting scripture to fit my political perspective. I didn’t know that wanting to stop the bullying, beating, imprisonment, and killing was a political perspective. I didn’t know that wanting to feed the hungry, attend to the sick and poor was a political perspective. In this Sermon Short I will twist some more biblical scripture at you.

Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

Matthew 5:8 . “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

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Jurnalists should not get a free pass on ignorance. This podcast describes the difference between journalists and literacy scholars.

Just because it says it’s ‘research-based’ or ‘scientifically based’ doesn’t mean that it is. Dr. Louisa Moats’ website states that, “Moats developed the landmark professional development program LETRS for teachers and reading specialists and the scientifically based LANGUAGE!” This presentation will demonstrate (a) how Moats misrepresents the results of her own research, (b) how she falsifies and distorts the research of others in her 2021 paper, and (c) how the publishers of LETRS (Lexia Learning) misrepresent the 18 research studies describes in their LETRS Efficacy Research paper.

Evidence and research are at the heart of current SoR mandates. Yet little time and few resources are provided to enable teachers to understand exactly what these terms mean. Worse, it is assumed that teachers must allow the “experts” to read and explain “the research” for them. This patronizing paradigm serves to further chip away at teachers’ autonomy in favor of dependence and subservience. This presentation will use the context of a study by Linnea Ehri (2007) to demonstrate how to read and evaluate a research article. It also demonstrates common tricks and buzzwords used to misinterpret and misrepresent research. This in tu...

There are travelers who have been beaten, robbed, and left on the side of the road. Why are you walking by? Stop the abuse. Stop ICE.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Matthew 9:17 - Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Mark 2: 22 - And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Ot...

James 1:19 says, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for a man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

Matthew 23: 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance...

“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: (a) haughty eyes, (b) a lying tongue, (c) hands that shed innocent blood, (d) a heart that devises wicked schemes, (e) feet that are quick to rush into evil, (f) a false witness who pours out lies, and (g) a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

Below are eight commonly misunderstood terms related to reading instruction.

• Reading.

• Word recognition.

• Word identification

• Decoding

• Strategy.

• Skill

• Systematic phonics instruction.

• A balanced approach.

This podcast explains eight commonly misunderstood terms related to reading instruction.

• Reading.

• Word recognition.

• Word identification

• Decoding

• Strategy.

• Skill

• Systematic phonics instruction.

• A balanced approach.

Below are seven big ideas that you should take from this chapter.

1. Having a body of knowledge is important in any field.

2. Disagreement followed by academic discourse enables a field to evolve.

3. Silencing opposing views results in cognitive inbreeding.

4. Academic journals are essential for disseminating new knowledge and for academic discourse within a field.

5. The process used to get scholarly articles published in an academic journal is much higher than that used to get an article published in a newspaper or magazine.

6. Having a body...

Let’s review. A couple of months ago, I recorded an online interview for a dyslexia summit. I also put together and recorded a short video presentation. These were both to be shown at a dyslexia summit. I was to then attend the online summit for a live question-and-answer session. On the day of the summit, I emailed to see what time I needed to be online. It was at this point that I was told that I had been disinvited. And my disinvitation had occurred without so much as a disinviting word. It was a gentle but wordless di...

It is very hard to have a serious and substantive discussion about a topic like reading instruction with somebody whose knowledge base is shallow and disjointed. You end up in a teaching role.

The abrasiveness of a writing tone is determined largely by the cognitive framework held by the reader. A cognitive framework is the mentally constructed structures that guide individuals in interpreting the world. It becomes the lens through which the world is viewed. Much like a theory, a cognitive framework is used to explain facts and understand phenomena.

Some see my writing as abrasive and ill-informed. Others see my writing as non-abrasive and insightful. Regardless, to silence, dismiss, or disinvite somebody based on their perceived tone … is … well, it’s the Science of Reading.

This podcast describes the following:

Words - sound groups that represent things in the real world.

Buzzwords - are words used to elicit an emotional response rather than accurately transmitting information.

Propagating lexiconic locution – an overuse of academic buzzwords.

Weasel words - words are used to give the impression of something without really saying something.

Strawman argument – Creating a cartoonish or distorted version of something then arguing against the cartoon.

This podcast defines the following:

Words - sound groups that represent things in the real world.

Buzzwords - are words used to elicit an emotional response rather than accurately transmitting information.

Propagating lexiconic locution – an overuse of academic buzzwords.

Weasel words - words are used to give the impression of something without really saying something.

Strawman argument – Creating a cartoonish or distorted version of something then arguing against the cartoon.

In a recent show, I referred to Emily Hanford as the Alexa App of reading instruction. This was a metaphor, a common literary device in which one makes a comparison without using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. It creates an image. When we say America is a melting pot, we don’t literally mean there’s a big pot bubbling somewhere. Metaphors create images and communicate things that lists of words cannot. Recently, somebody took great umbrage of my use of metaphor. This was selective umbrage. If you want to take umbrage at something, take umbrage at the money wasted to pa...

If somebody makes the claim that research says something, one has an obligation to have read a research article at least once in their life. And if somebody says, “Show me the research,” that person should know what research is and how to read and interpret it.

Legitimate professional development for teachers is necessary. I used the term ‘legitimate’ to exclude programs and services that are profit-based. These are usually little more than infomercials disguised as professional development. Here, there is no check and balance. There is no blind peer review of the information provided. Only the information that supports their product or service is presented. Information that does not is not. The best example of this is LETRS professional development for teachers. As described in earlier chapters, there is no legitimate research provided to suggest that using LETRS (a) enhances students' reading achievement, (b) enhances teac...