Recent media stories about education have featured the "Science of Reading", whose proponents typically present the systematic teaching of phonics as a one-size-fits-all method that guarantees reading success for all students. But as literacy scholars Patricia Paugh and Deborah MacPhee demonstrate, the decoding of words is only one of many skills that are central to an effective early literacy education.

In Learning to Be Literate, they present a four-part framework for active literacy learning that eschews oppositional arguments about different approaches and instead situates children as meaning makers: the whole point of being literate. There is no single or simple solution that will fit every child. But by using the ALL framework to inform instruction, educators can help young learners think deeply about ideas and language at the same time as they learn to work out the sounds and symbol systems of language.

Deborah MacPhee is a professor in the School of Teaching and Learning at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, where she teaches literacy methods courses for undergraduates and directs the Mary and Jean Borg Center for Reading and Literacy. Deborah's research critically examines discourses of literacy coaching and professional development school interactions and metaphors used in media portrayals of the science of reading. Her work has been published in several academic and professional journals, including Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, School-University Partnerships, and The New Educator.

Deborah is a former first and second grade teacher who currently assesses and tutors students who experience difficulty learning to read. She was co-editor of the NCTE journal Talking Points from 2013-2019 and president of LLA (NCTE group Literacies and Languages for All) from 2019-2021.

Learn more about Deborah's work at https://education.illinoisstate.edu/faculty_staff/profile.php?ulid=dmacphe#fs-tabs-accord3. Follow her on Twitter at @DeborahMacPhee.