As North Carolina continues its statewide shift toward instruction grounded in the Science of Reading (SoR), one critical implementation challenge is coming into sharper focus: alignment.
While classroom teachers may complete intensive SoR training, many students – especially struggling readers — receive literacy instruction from multiple educators throughout the day. Exceptional Children teachers, multilingual educators, academically and intellectually gifted (AIG) specialists, and interventionists all play a role. When these professionals are not aligned in instructional approach, students may experience fragmented or conflicting literacy instruction.
Brief 4 in NCECF’s Science of Reading Implementation series examines this challenge through a real-world case study: Aligning Science of Reading Practices Across Educators Teaching Core Content, Exceptional Children, Multilingual, and Academically and Intellectually Gifted Students.
The brief highlights how one elementary school identified a misalignment between core classroom instruction and pull-out services — particularly for multilingual learners — and took intentional steps to address it. By expanding professional learning communities, sharing student data across roles, and grounding conversations in research-based practices, the school began to create a more cohesive literacy system.
Key insights include:
- Students benefit most when all educators use a shared, research-based approach to literacy instruction.
- Multilingual learners require instruction aligned with the SoR, just like native English speakers — while also accounting for unique language needs.
- Collaboration, shared data use, and aligned planning time are essential to reducing instructional fragmentation.
This is the fourth brief in NCECF’s eight-part Science of Reading implementation series, offering actionable lessons for educators, school leaders, and policymakers working to ensure that every child receives consistent, effective reading instruction — no matter who is teaching them.