Whitepaper
The History of Beginning Reading Materials
History shows that for about 300 years, US textbook authors have seen the need to design texts specifically for the needs of beginning readers. Most design features appear to address the beginner’s dilemma by supporting word recognition. Regardless of the era, materials must be developmentally responsive and must build capacity for independent and context-free word recognition.
Thank you!Meet the Experts
Heidi Anne Mesmer
Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer is a literacy professor at the Virginia Tech School of Education. She works extensively with teachers, schools, and young readers, directing numerous initiatives to improve reading instruction, and studies beginning reading instruction and text difficulty. She is the author of Tools for Matching Readers to Texts, Reading Interventions in Primary Grades, and Teaching Skills for Complex Texts and has been published in The Reading Teacher, Reading Research Quarterly, and more.