# @edutopia on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CIl27oeFRY4
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/20304088-edutopia-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/be5bbb5e9f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2020-12-09T21:08:37.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Edutopia (@edutopia) — https://gondola.cc/edutopia

## Caption

“Content is comprehension,” declared a 2020 Fordham Institute study, sounding a note of defiance as it staked out a position in the ongoing debate over the teaching of intrinsic reading skills versus the teaching of content knowledge.

While elementary students spend an enormous amount of time working on skills like “finding the main idea” and “summarizing”—tasks born of the belief that reading is a discrete and trainable ability that transfers seamlessly across content areas—these young readers aren’t experiencing “the additional reading gains that well-intentioned educators hoped for,” the study concluded.

So what works? The researchers looked at data from more than 18,000 K–5 students, focusing on the time spent in subject areas like math, social studies, and ELA, and found that “social studies is the only subject with a clear, positive, and statistically significant effect on reading improvement.” In effect, exposing kids to rich content in civics, history, and law appeared to teach reading more effectively than our current methods of teaching reading.

Perhaps defiance is no longer needed: Fordham’s conclusions are rapidly becoming conventional wisdom—and they extend beyond the limited claim of reading social studies texts. According to Natalie Wexler, the author of the well-received 2019 book The Knowledge Gap, content knowledge and reading are intertwined. “Students with more [background] knowledge have a better chance of understanding whatever text they encounter. They’re able to retrieve more information about the topic from long-term memory, leaving more space in working memory for comprehension,” Wexler recently told Edutopia.

To see the research, go here: https://edut.to/3qEp2Gk

Follow #EDUResearchHighlights2020 as we highlight 10 of the most significant educational studies from 2020—covering topics from virtual learning to the reading wars and the decline of standardized tests.

This is #10 in our 2020 roundup. For more information and a clickable link to the research study check out our link in bio.

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eduresearchhighlights2020, 10

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