Phonics Research

While Frontline Phonics has been used for 17 years in classrooms, our methods have been validated in recent years by studies of how children best learn to read. The following links provide a selection of research results that show phonics training to be a critical part of a balanced early reading program.

When children learn to sound out words, they can successfully decode new words without needing to memorize every new word they encounter. As shown in reading research, children do memorize some "sight words" as they learn, and Frontline Phonics readers include a limited number of sight words. But a strong foundation in phonics provides the long-term ability to understand new words as reading levels increase.

Click the links below to read the following documents.

Frontline Phonics Reasearch Base

Why Children Succeed or Fail at Reading: Research from NICHD's Program in Learning Disabilities
Prepared for the NICHD Extramural Program in Learning Disabilities by Robert Bock, Public Information and Communications Branch, NICHD.

A Synthesis of Research on Reading from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Written by Bonita Grossen, University of Oregon, November, 1997.

Press Release: National Reading Panel Releases Report on Research-Based Approaches to Reading Instruction; Expert Panel Offers Its Groundbreaking Findings to U.S. Congress and the Nation
April 13, 2000, National Reading Panel, NICHD

Press Release: National Reading Panel Reports Combination of Teaching Phonics, Word Sounds, Giving Feedback on Oral Reading Most Effective Way to Teach Reading
April 13, 2000, National Reading Panel, NICHD

Research Regarding Phonics
Summary by the I Can Read program, Chicago, Illinois.