Learning to Read, Reading to Learn

Enjoy another installment of our our newest blog series, "Summer Shorts,” inspired by the summer season: sunny and breezy; a picnic of thoughtful articles to give you some things to think about & do & leave you plenty of time to get back outside and revel.

Teachers tell us, and research confirms, that it is ideal that children read proficiently by the end of third grade; it is then that there is a shift from learning to read to reading to learn.

Without this skill, roughly within this timeframe, students could face daunting challenges in school and beyond. With mastery, students have access to unlimited information, develop critical thinking skills, and build enhanced communication abilities.

So, how can we position children optimally to develop the foundation they need to read proficiently? The research is clear. Early literacy is most important, and it begins at home. Talking and reading to children are essential. The more words a child hears by the time they are three, the more likely they are to achieve reading proficiency by grade three. As children get older, access to preschool plays a role, as does entering a kindergarten program and, eventually, enrollment in an elementary school with a strong language arts curriculum, particularly in the early elementary school years.

By Annemiek Young

Annemiek Young, former Bennett Education Consultant, Director of Private Client Relations Emeritus, and good friend , is a regular contributor to our blog.

Over the years, Bennett International Education Consultancyhas worked with hundreds of corporations across the globe, many of them Fortune 500 companies, providing domestic and international school advisement & placement services - preschool through university - to the dependents of relocating employees. In addition to education placement, our team provides customized consulting for corporations with a range of education issues: education policy writing & benchmarking, tuition studies, group move advisement & planning, and remote education solutions.