Research

Research

We quality-control our books for beginning readers by frequent review of scientific research and conversations with researchers and practitioners in early childhood development, elementary education, and literacy development.  

Reading is made up of five complex and interrelated skill sets: 

  • Phonemic awareness    
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  • Phonics
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  • Fluency
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  • Vocabulary 
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  • Reading comprehension 
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    Cat and Tad    ’s eight books for beginning readers incorporate these five components, all of which are essential for developing skilled, independent, and confident readers. Cat and Tad is written by Maggie Yolen, an early childhood and elementary literacy and learning specialist.

    The text in Cat and Tad, including the information available for grown-ups, was written with consideration of a range of widely-accepted studies on how children learn to read, including:

    • Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100618772271 
    • Cheatham, J. P., & Allor, J. H. (2012). The influence of decodability in early reading text on reading achievement: A review of the evidence. Literacy Research and Instruction, 51(3), 200–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388071.2011.604648
    • Duke, N. K., & Cartwright, K. B. (2021). The science of reading progresses: Communicating advances beyond the simple view of reading. The Reading Teacher, 74(5), 537–544. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1959
    • Ehri, L. C. (2005). The science of learning to read words: A case for systematic phonics instruction. Reading Research Quarterly, 40(2), 183–203. https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.40.2.2 
    • Ehri, L. C. (2005). Development of Sight Word Reading: Phases and Findings. In M. J. Snowling & C. Hulme (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (pp. 135–154). Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470757642.ch8 
    • Evans, M. A., & Shaw, D. (2008). Home grown for reading: Parental contributions to young children's emergent literacy and word recognition. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 49(2), 89–95. https://doi.org/10.1037/0708-5591.49.2.89
    • Hiebert, E. H., & Tortorelli, L. S. (2022). The role of word-, sentence-, and text-level variables in predicting guided reading levels of kindergarten and first-grade texts. The Elementary School Journal, 122(4), 557–590. https://doi.org/10.1086/719658
    • Hoover, W. A., & Gough, P. B. (1990). The simple view of reading. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2(2), 127–160. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00401799
    • Hulme, C. (2002). Phonemes, rimes, and the mechanisms of early reading development. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 82(1), 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1006/jecp.2002.2674
    • Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through third grade (NCEE 2016-4008). U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide/21
    • Petrill, S. A., Deater-Deckard, K., Schatschneider, C., & Davis, C. (2005). Measured environmental influences on early reading: Evidence from an adoption study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9(3), 237–259. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0903_5 
    • Rasinski, T. (2014). Fluency matters. The Reading Teacher, 68(6), 395-403. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1275
    • Sénéchal, M., & LeFevre, J. A. (2002). Parental involvement in the development of children's reading skill: A five-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 73(2), 445–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00417 
    • Verhoeven, L., van Leeuwe, J., & Vermeer, A. (2011). Vocabulary growth and reading development across the elementary school years. Scientific Studies of Reading, 15(1), 8–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2011.536125