Structured Literacy: What It Is, Who Needs It, and Why It’s Still Controversial

Every Thursday during the school year, in the Don’t IEP Alone Academy, I host two live Zoom chats. One for parents and one for advocates. Parents can get the help and guidance they need, and advocates can bounce ideas around and troubleshoot problems (anonymously, of course). In today’s advocate chat, one of the advocates was soliciting ideas on how to handle this client situation. The client is reading at a kindergarten level. The problem? He’s in 9th grade.

I wish I could say that outrageous stories like this are rare, but for me that is not the case. I acknowledge that as a nationally-known special education advocate, I hear the worst stories from all across the nation. Still, stories like this shouldn’t exist. But they do.

If you’ve been in the reading struggle trenches for more than 5 minutes, you’ve probably heard the term structured literacy. It’s a favorite among dyslexia experts, private tutors, and yes—sometimes even school districts (when they’re not gaslighting you).

But what is structured literacy? And more importantly, does your child need it?

What Is Structured Literacy?

Structured Literacy is not a brand name or a single program. It’s an approach to teaching reading that is:

• Explicit – everything is taught directly (no “guess what the word is based on the picture” nonsense).
• Systematic – it follows a logical order, usually from simple to complex.
• Cumulative – new skills build on previously mastered ones.
• Diagnostic and responsive – teachers monitor progress and adjust instruction based on data.
• Multisensory – kids use sight, sound, movement, and touch to learn.

Basically, it’s the opposite of the “balanced literacy” approach, where kids are expected to pick things up through exposure, memorization, and a lot of guessing based on context clues. (Which is how we ended up with a generation of kids who can’t decode the word “cat.”)

Who Needs Structured Literacy?

Kids with:

• Dyslexia
• Specific learning disabilities in reading
• Language-based learning differences
• Poor phonemic awareness or phonological processing
• Weak decoding skills

But here’s the kicker—structured literacy is good for ALL kids, not just those with disabilities. It’s especially critical for the 30–40% of students who will not become fluent readers without it.

What IEP Assessments Identify the Need for Structured Literacy?

If you’re trying to determine whether your child needs structured literacy, here are some of the assessments that can help make the case:

• CTOPP-2 (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing)
• TWS-5 (Test of Written Spelling)
• Woodcock-Johnson (Tests of Achievement – Word Attack, Letter-Word Identification)
• KTEA-3 (Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement)
• GORT-5 (Gray Oral Reading Tests)
• Phonemic awareness screeners
• Informal decoding/encoding assessments (yes, schools should be doing these too)

What you’re looking for in the data: breakdowns in phonological awareness, decoding, encoding (spelling), and reading fluency. If your child’s scores are low or show a wide gap compared to cognitive potential—that’s your red flag.

What Does Structured Literacy Look Like in the Classroom?

When done right, it looks like this:

• Students are grouped by skill level, not grade level.
• Every lesson starts with a review and builds on prior skills.
• Instruction includes phonemic awareness, phonics, morphology, syntax, and semantics.
• Students don’t just read—they write, speak, trace, tap, and manipulate sounds.
• Teachers give immediate corrective feedback and constant progress monitoring.

It’s methodical, not flashy. It’s step-by-step, not “pick a book you like and guess what the words mean.”

And that’s what makes it controversial.

Wait—It’s Controversial? Why?!

Oh boy. Buckle up.

Structured literacy is often pitted against “balanced literacy” and “whole language” approaches, which are still widely used despite decades of research showing they don’t work for struggling readers. These older methods rely heavily on cues and memorization, not decoding. And they’re still taught in many colleges of education. Yep. In 2025.

So when parents start demanding structured literacy, teachers and admins sometimes push back. Hard. Why?

• Training – most teachers weren’t trained in structured literacy and feel overwhelmed by the idea of relearning how to teach reading.
• Curriculum contracts – schools may have spent millions on programs like Fountas & Pinnell or Lucy Calkins.
• Denial and ego – it’s hard to admit that the way you’ve been teaching doesn’t work for a lot of kids.

And then there’s this little fact: implementing structured literacy correctly requires small groups, frequent assessments, and individualized instruction. Translation? It’s more work. And often more cost.

So What Can Parents Do?

• Get evaluations that show the need.
• Ask for instruction to be explicit, systematic, cumulative, and multisensory.
• Don’t ask for a specific program—ask for structured literacy based on current best practices for dyslexia and reading disabilities.
• Push for fidelity. Because “multisensory” on paper doesn’t mean your child’s getting real structured literacy.

If you’re being told your child is receiving a “multisensory reading program,” but they’re still falling further behind each year, something’s not right.

Go back to the data. Ask more questions. And know that just like “Orton-Gillingham,” “structured literacy” isn’t magic, but when it’s done correctly, it can be a game changer.