Many students with reading difficulties are missed after the early years. New evidence shows targeted, evidence-based support can still make a real difference well into high school.

Learning to read is a complex process. It requires children to master and integrate multiple skills, from mapping abstract symbols to the right speech sounds to understanding what all the words mean. This is why reading is one of the first and most important things children are taught in the early years of school.

Still, many children have reading difficulties that persist into high school. According to the  most recent OECD data, one in five (21 per cent) Australian 15-year-olds had reading scores below the baseline proficiency.

The national curriculum expects children to achieve the necessary reading foundations in their  first few years of school. By upper primary, children are required to  make the leap from learning to read to reading to learn, and classroom teaching shifts accordingly.

Due to this shift in focus, children who do not master the core components of reading in early primary school may never have another opportunity to learn these skills.

When reading difficulties go unidentified and unaddressed, students experience immense barriers to learning, as well as in  life beyond school. So it is crucial we know what works to put these students back on the path to reading easily and well.

Our  new research puts this to the........

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