Judging by our nationwide performance in math and reading, the instructional methods we use to teach these subjects may benefit from careful reassessment. According to 2024 figures from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 31% of fourth graders can read proficiently. In mathematics, the situation is not as dire, but scores have yet to recover to their pre-pandemic levels.
These trends suggest that it is time not only to rethink our overall approaches to instruction, but to recognize the foundational skills that cut across disciplines to impact outcomes in both English language arts and mathematics. In ELA, of course, students with underdeveloped decoding and fluency skills have a harder time with reading assignments that include multisyllabic words and complex sentences. Math includes increasing amounts of reading as students advance through the grades. Even those who have generally done well in math may find it difficult to succeed if reading issues are holding them back.
By focusing on the foundational literacy skills needed in both math and ELA, as well as the skills unique to each discipline, educators can bolster student confidence, reduce test anxiety, and strengthen overall achievement.
Foundations First: Literacy in Reading and Math
To improve outcomes in both reading and math, we must attend to the foundational skills and disciplinary demands students will encounter through the grades. In ELA, these skills include the lower strands of Scarborough’s Reading Rope: phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition—the building blocks of fluency. The increased automaticity of these skills over time is what allows students to advance to the more strategically applied skills, such as verbal reasoning and extensive vocabulary knowledge, that enable full literacy.
In mathematics, foundational skills include number sense, symbol recognition, place value, and basic operations. Just as phonological awareness and decoding are essential precursors to reading comprehension, mathematical fluency with these basic elements allows students to engage with problem-solving strategies and reach a deeper understanding of the subject.
As students move through the grades, both reading and math increasingly rely on written language to communicate meaning to students and engage them in scholarship.
Disciplinary Literacy: An Integrated Approach
Starting with a foundation of generalized reading skills, instruction becomes more specific to individual disciplines over time. Consequently, teachers need disciplinary literacy strategies to ensure that students are equipped to read in these increasingly specialized ways as they advance through the grades.
“Disciplinary literacy matters because general reading skills can only take students so far,” writes Cynthia and Timothy Shanahan, who have outlined a number of best practices. The following steps are intended for elementary teachers in particular, because although the disciplinary reading goals under the Common Core State Standards are targeted for grades 6-12, elementary teachers play a critical role in preparing students for the challenges that lie ahead.
Teach students to read informational texts. Stories have their place, but young readers should also encounter plenty of nonfiction texts written to inform or explain, as they will be seeing more and more such texts in their schooling.
Assign multiple texts on the same topic. When students read different narratives side by side or texts on the same topic written from different points of view, they develop important compare-and-contrast skills that they will need in subjects like history, science, and English.
Integrate vocabulary instruction across disciplines. Science, social studies, and even mathematics provide a wide range of different words—and different types of words—that can be pulled into an elementary vocabulary lesson. Students who enter the higher grades with some familiarity with literary, historical, scientific, and mathematical language will be well positioned for the challenges presented by each subject.
When literacy is approached as a developmental arc starting in the early grades, with the accrual of foundational skills in both ELA and math and a productive overlap between these disciplines, students experience benefits over the long term. They are more likely to have a deeper understanding of both mathematical and literary concepts, improved critical thinking skills, greater confidence, and more useful skills that will travel with them from one subject to the next.
Judging by our nationwide performance in math and reading, the instructional methods we use to teach these subjects may benefit from careful reassessment. According to 2024 figures from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 31% of fourth graders can read proficiently. In mathematics, the situation is not as dire, but scores have yet to recover to their pre-pandemic levels.
These trends suggest that it is time not only to rethink our overall approaches to instruction, but to recognize the foundational skills that cut across disciplines to impact outcomes in both English language arts and mathematics. In ELA, of course, students with underdeveloped decoding and fluency skills have a harder time with reading assignments that include multisyllabic words and complex sentences. Math includes increasing amounts of reading as students advance through the grades. Even those who have generally done well in math may find it difficult to succeed if reading issues are holding them back.
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