Rationale For Scientifically Based Reading Research
According
to Reading First (2002), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education,
scientifically based reading research applies rigorous, systematic, and
objective procedures in obtaining knowledge that is not only relevant to reading
development, instruction, and reading problems, but it is reliable and valid. It
has been scrutinized and replicated by scholarly peers, and it is able to
provide the guidance teachers need to make informed decisions about how they
will teach young children to read. Valid scientific reading research:
Follows
systematic, empirical methods that rely on observation, measurement, and
carefully controlled manipulation of variables;
Relies on
methods and measurement tools that provide valid data, and can be replicated by
other researchers using the same procedures and measurement instruments;
Involves
rigorous data analyses that test research hypotheses and support conclusions and
claims while eliminating the decision that results were a matter of chance
events;
Has been
published in a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent
scholars following a rigorous, objective, and scientific review.
Has
undergone the scrutiny of internal review boards that guard against unethical
practices and the rights of subjects.