Landmark360

Intro by Josh Clark

Reading is the gateway to realizing the mind’s potential.
Reading is essential for economic independence and upward mobility.
Reading is the bedrock of our constitutional democracy.
Reading is a right we have allowed to become a privilege. 

Today in the United States, an elementary school student would have better odds of surviving the Titanic than becoming a competent reader. Even before the prolonged school closures introduced by COVID, most American students failed to reach their reading potential. 

This is not a new problem; it is a national crisis played out in classroom tragedies we have passively accepted for years. It is not the fault of overwhelmed teachers, well-meaning parents, or even bureaucratic school districts. It is our collective shrug when we should be screaming that allows the status quo to not only continue but also to deteriorate.

The good news is that America’s reading crisis is also artificial. Researchers have unlocked the complex inner workings of the reading brain, broadly referred to as the Science of Reading. Structured Literacy is the classroom application of this knowledge, an approach Dr. Charles Drake and his disciples began using more than 50 years ago at Landmark School.

We have the knowledge and tools needed to make nearly every child in our country a competent reader. It is complex, difficult work where the solution is broadly understood and its application highly personalized by the school and the circumstances of its students. The reading crisis, though, is not a problem in search of a solution. It is a tragedy in search of our will to right it.

Reading: A Guidebook Blog Series

Click on each of the images below to see that blog article. Or download the entire guidebook using the form.

The Reading Guidebook was compiled by representatives from Landmark School, empowering students with reading challenges, and Landmark Outreach, PD and coaching for educators.

Intro Author

Josh Clark is the Head of Landmark School and Landmark Outreach.

He is Chair of the International Dyslexia Association and an Expert Contributor to the global nonprofit Made By Dyslexia and Microsoft Education. He also co-founded the Association of LD Schools (ALDS) and sits on their board, along with the board of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). Josh has presented about the importance of recognizing and supporting students with language-based learning disabilities (LBLD) all over the world. 

Learn more about Josh

Dyslexia: A Guidebook

Check out Landmark's other Guidebook series on Dyslexia.

Dyslexia: A Guidebook