Heggerty Announces Phonics Expansion with Bridge To Reading

With reading scores in decline, Heggerty's new foundational skills curriculum aims to help classrooms rebound from pandemic losses, providing all students with essential reading instruction.

OAK PARK, Ill., Nov. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Heggerty announced the upcoming release of a new foundational skills kit, Bridge to Reading.

For nearly 20 years, Heggerty has supported educators in more than 70% of all US school districts to incorporate phonemic awareness instruction into their classrooms. This new curriculum for grades K-2 combines phonemic awareness with phonics instruction, providing a natural first step for classrooms looking to align their literacy instruction with the Science of Reading.

"Our phonemic awareness curriculum was created by a teacher who recognized that his students lacked the basic skills to become fluent readers," says Heggerty CEO, Andrew Follett. "Our new curriculum, Bridge to Reading, is a natural extension of that original mission and an incredible way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dr. Heggerty's pioneering effort."

Bridge to Reading couples the latest edition of Heggerty's phonemic awareness lessons with explicit phonics instruction, decodable texts, hands-on, multisensory learning aids, and a online learning library to provide teachers with the resources and knowledge they need to support students' word recognition abilities.

"Bridge to Reading is the curriculum I wish I had when I was a teacher and a reading specialist. It's easy for teachers to follow, with explicit instructional language connecting phonemes and graphemes for a comprehensive and consistent approach to foundational skills instruction," says Alisa VanHekken, Heggerty's Chief Academic Officer and Bridge to Reading co-author. "What makes it truly special is its ability to help teachers build their own professional knowledge, going beyond the what to help teachers, and even students and parents, understand the why of this approach to literacy instruction."

According to 2022 NAEP scores, 66% of US 4th graders and 69% of US 8th graders are reading below a proficient level, a significant decline over 2019 reports.

"The need for explicit phonemic awareness and phonics instruction in every school has never been greater. The Heggerty curriculum is the best 'first step' I've encountered for schools wanting to incorporate Science of Reading aligned instruction into their classrooms," says Alana Mangham, Director of Curriculum Development at Heggerty and Bridge to Reading co-author. "Every component of this curriculum is thoughtfully designed with teachers in mind, accounting for time limitations, core curriculum requirements, and pandemic learning gaps that they're facing every day. It's truly the intersection of research and reality."

The Bridge to Reading curriculum provides everything teachers need to implement daily phonemic awareness and phonics lessons in 30-45 minutes, including:

• detailed teachers' guides,
• student practice books,
• multisensory learning tools,
• decodable texts,
• classroom visual aids,
• progress monitoring assessments,
• access to interactive classroom tools and digital curriculum; and
• a robust online learning library for teachers including on-demand professional learning courses.

Available for pre-order in early 2023, Bridge to Reading will land in classrooms this Summer. 

To learn more about Bridge to Reading and to download a free curriculum sample, please visit www.Heggerty.org/BridgetoReading.

See the announcement here: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeggertyPhonemicAwareness

Since 2003, Heggerty has provided classrooms with effective reading instruction materials that marry the latest science on how children learn to read with practical strategies that meet the needs of real-world classrooms. Their phonemic awareness curriculum, decodable books, and digital tools can be found helping teachers in more than half of all US school districts to improve students' ability to read.

For media inquiries, please contact Megan Colburn at [email protected].

SOURCE Heggerty