The U.S. education system faces a significant challenge with older students who advance through grades without adequate reading proficiency. While there is a strong focus on ensuring young children are proficient readers by the fourth grade, little attention has been given to older students who struggle with reading at grade level. These students often face barriers across all subjects, and their self-esteem suffers as a result.
Julie Van Dyke, a senior scientist at Haskins Laboratories and chief scientist at Cascade Reading, is leading efforts to address this issue. Cascade Reading offers an innovative digital tool that visually breaks down complex sentences to enhance comprehension and syntactic awareness. By cascading sentences down the page, Cascade Reading reveals the underlying structure of sentences, aiding in comprehension, prosody, and fluency. This approach is especially beneficial for students who struggle with reading, including English language learners and those with developmental challenges.
Cascade Reading aims to bridge the gap for older students who have been left behind in reading proficiency, providing them with the tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.
