Dr. Amy Murdoch at Mount St. Joseph University discusses best practices with WVXU News for teaching the Science of Reading to children.

Reading Science teacher working with children in classroom.

Educators all over the country have debated the best practices for teaching children to read, but where does the answer lie? According to Dr. Amy Murdoch at Mount St. Joseph University, it's systematic instruction, a strategy that helps children sound out words by looking at them and simultaneously putting sounds together.

Assistant Dean & Associate Professor of the Reading Science Program, Dr. Amy Murdoch, was recently featured on NPR’s WVXU News Cincinnati Edition with local educators to discuss the most effective ways to teach the Science of Reading. The discussion centered around the vast body of research on reading development and reading instruction.

Through systematic instruction, teaching reading is carefully planned to break down harder skills into smaller parts.

“When we train children to read that way, we’re producing in the brain a really effective feedback loop,” Dr. Murdoch tells WVXU.“When we train children to read looking at the pictures or context clues, we’re training them to read in a really ineffective way.”

Dr. Murdoch was joined by local educators from Cincinnati Public Schools: Chief Academics Officer Shakeatha Butler; Mt. Airy School Reading Specialist Jude Anderson (MSJ Alum); and Mt. Airy School Reading Specialist Chyla Barner.

To listen to the radio session, visit the article here: WVXU: Everyone knows how important it is for children to learn to read well. But what's the best way to teach them?