Have you ever seen a mama duck and ducklings walking along a creek? They stay in a line moving steadily forward, each duck following closely behind the next. But if one duck slows down or stops, the entire line is affected: the others must stop, crowd together, or move around it to keep going.
Reading development works in a similar way. When the “reading ducklings” line up behind the mama duck of literacy, each skill supports the next. Oral language, phonemes, letter–sound correspondence, phonics, and morphology develop in an interconnected sequence. If one of these skills is weak or underdeveloped, it can slow the development of the skills that follow.
Although reading is not exactly linear, most curricula follow an instructional sequence of skills to teach students to become proficient readers. For example, to develop automatic word recognition, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, specific early reading skills must be mastered:
The Complexity of Reading
The Simple View of Reading explains reading as the combination of two main skills: word recognition (decoding) and understanding spoken language (language comprehension). They are like two puzzle pieces that fit together to make reading comprehension possible (Cervetti 2020). Without one part of the puzzle, reading comprehension cannot occur.
Scarborough’s Reading Rope model (2001) provides a more detailed visual of the reading process as a rope made of numerous strands (see Figure 1). Each strand represents a different skill—like oral language, phonological awareness (hearing and working with sounds in words), vocabulary, language structures, and background knowledge (Roberts, et al 2025). The strands appear individual, but as children grow as readers, the strands weave together to form an increasingly strong rope of literacy with the goal of increasingly strategic and automatic reading, which culminates in a skilled reader.
Figure 1.
When Progress Stops
Considering the reading process through both the simple view of reading and Scarborough’s reading rope, the ducklings come back into view. Each skill in the reading continuum must be developed. Like our ducks, if a skill is weak, the student will either (a) stop growing in this skill or (b) find an alternate route. This can be seen in upper elementary, middle, and high school students who are struggling to read. Often, it is not a problem with complex text structures in upper grades but rather earlier K-2 skills such as phonemic awareness and phonics that impact vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension growth.
These missing skills can be recognized in the upper grades as
Picture that row of ducks again. The phoneme duck and letter-sound correspondence duck are moving along, but the phonics duck has stopped because it is struggling to grasp orthographic patterns. This has caused the phonics and morphology ducks to stop as well (see Figure 2).
How will you know which skill is causing the problem? Consider this real-life scenario. Fourth grader Carmen is struggling to read and comprehend grade-level materials. His comprehension score is 43rd percentile for his grade. Assessment is the first stage to determine why Carmen’s scores are low. Consider these steps:
Step 1. Listen and watch Carmen read.
Carmen’s teacher observes, scores, and analyzes a DRA passage that Carmen reads to determine comprehension level and identify two patterns. Carmen’s fluency is choppy, inefficient, and disrupted by word-calling behaviors which affect his comprehension. The results may indicate that Carmen’s progress stops at the word recognition level, but more assessment is needed to determine the specific problem.
Step 2. Do not stop at one assessment.
Continue with a word recognition assessment (e.g., San Diego Quick Assessment for K-11th grade), then decoding assessment (e.g., Really Great Reading (RGR) Diagnostic Decoding Surveys for 2-12th grade), sight words assessment (e.g., Fry Sight Word Assessment for K-10th grade), and fluency assessment (e.g., Reading is Fundamental Leveled Passages K-9th grade). Follow up with a vocabulary assessment (Word Up Project Word Lists for K-8th grade) and morphology screening (Ekwall/Shanker Reading Inventory for K-9th grade). Conduct another reading passage assessment at one or two grade levels below to establish an instructional level.
Through multiple assessments, the teacher notices Carmen lacks decoding skills that were taught in K-2nd grade. In essence, the decoding duck had stopped, and Carmen was using alternate routes like memorization, skipping or guessing words based on illustrations or letter pattern, and overusing context clues.
Step 3. Create an instructional plan.
An instructional plan should be developed targeting specific literacy skills. Without intervention, Carmen will continue using his alternative reading routes and fall even farther behind. Carmen’s teacher utilized the assessment data to create targeted lessons in phonemic awareness and phonics; thus, Carmen was able to improve his decoding skills which improved his vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
Remediation
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
These early skills like decoding serve as the foundation for students to build word recognition skills and vocabulary which improves fluency by prompting automaticity and better understanding while reading. Together, these skills allow the student to comprehend increasingly complex reading material.
Summary
The reading duck scenario is a reminder to look outside of the current grade-level scope and sequence to investigate what foundational skills might be affecting growth. Behaviors to look for in upper elementary, middle, and high school students include guessing words (indicates an overreliance on pictures or context clues), substituting or omitting words (indicates phonemic awareness issues), poor spelling (indicates lack of letter-sound correspondence). Addressing these issues helps ensure every student’s reading ducks stay in a row.
References
Cervetti, Gina N., P. David Pearson, Annemarie S. Palincsar, Peter Afflerbach, Panayiota
Kendeou, Gina Biancarosa, Jennifer Higgs, Miranda S. Fitzgerald, and Amy I. Berman. 2020. "How the reading for understanding initiative’s research complicates the Simple View of Reading invoked in the Science of Reading." Reading Research Quarterly 55 161–72. doi:10.1002/rrq.343.
Roberts, Carly A., Alison Wilhelm, Bailey Allred, and Roxanne F. Hudson. "Expanding literacy: Caregiver experiences with literacy engagement for their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities." Exceptional Children 91, no. 3 (2025): 281–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251317014
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Dr. Quick is an assistant professor at Capella University. Her instruction and research focus on literacy, reading diagnostics, and curriculum & instruction. Dr. Quick has been with Kappa Delta Pi since 1990 and is a KDP Eleanor Roosevelt chapter member. |