Can learning science and social studies help kids read better?

School leaders have long been under great pressure to boost test scores. That’s why they often double down on time teaching reading and while slashing science and social studies. 

Now, a new study suggests that those cuts have come at a cost, further undermining reading achievement instead of improving it, as the Hechinger Report notes. As researchers discover more about the science of reading, it may well turn out to be that more time on science, social studies and other key content areas is what kids need to become good readers. While the concept of knowledge building, popularized in Natalie Wexler’s 2019 best-selling book, “The Knowledge Gap,” is not new, it has been building momentum of late. 

James Kim, a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, led a group of researchers to study the impact of going deep with content on a large urban school district in North Carolina where most of the students are Black and Latino and 40% are from low-income families. The results show compelling causal evidence that building background knowledge can translate into higher reading achievement for low-income children. 

Timothy Shanahan, a literacy expert and a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who was not involved in this research, praised the study. “The study makes it very clear (as have a few others recently) that it is possible to combine reading with social studies and science curriculum in powerful ways that can improve both literacy and content knowledge,” as the Hechinger Report notes.