To the Editor:
The Sept. 26, 2025, opinion essay “Small-Group Reading Instruction Is Not as Effective as You Think” and ensuing reader responses about the effectiveness of small-group reading instruction could benefit from additional consideration of two important instructional principles associated with high academic achievement: teaching at the correct level of difficulty and time on task.
Twenty years ago, when I led a cooperative of rural exurban school districts, our schools began using scientifically based reading curriculum and frequent continuous measurement as part of the development of the response to intervention framework for reading instruction. We also added monthly grade-level team meetings, flexible small groups for all students, grade-level scheduling, and concentrating instructional resources at the correct level of difficulty.
Elementary schools developed a schedule so that all classes at the same grade had reading instruction at the same time. The general and special education teachers and Title I paraprofessionals divided the grade’s students among them based on the correct level of instruction, drastically reducing class size during reading instruction and giving students more time on task.
The results were astounding. Oral reading fluency, highly correlated with our state tests, improved dramatically as did results on the state tests. Specific learning disabilities decreased by 50% over several years. Larry Pogemiller, then the Minnesota Senate majority leader, was so impressed by the results that he wanted our setup to be replicated across the state. Indeed, the state legislature did appropriate several million dollars to do just that.
Don’t overlook the power of instruction at the correct level of difficulty and keeping students on task.
Christopher McHugh
Former Director
St. Croix River Education District
Pine City, Minn.
