Walsh University is dedicated to ensuring all pre-service teacher candidates and graduate students learn about evidence based methods for teaching reading. This body of knowledge, often referred to as the science of reading, comes from multiple fields, including psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and special education. University faculty have been trained in the science of reading and are including this research in all Walsh coursework as we prepare future educators as the undergraduate and graduate level.
In support of the Ohio Department of Education’s (ODE) ongoing literacy initiative, Walsh announced in November 2019 that it was restructuring its existing reading course curricula to expand reading science for education students and faculty. Regional partners include school districts and State Support Teams representing Stark, Ashtabula, Columbiana, Holmes, Wayne, Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Walsh was the first university in Northeast Ohio to implement the program by January 2020 and was one of only seven institutions in the state of Ohio to receive an Ohio Deans Compact on Exceptional Children Improving Literacy Partnership Grant.
About the Science of Reading
- Teaches reading based on the way the brain learns the sounds and letter connections to read words correctly
- Utilizes systematic phonics, which benefits all students from natural readers to those with dyslexia
- Encompasses five essential components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension