To the Editor:
In the Sept. 26, 2025, opinion essay, “Small-Group Reading Instruction Is Not as Effective as You Think,” authors Mike Schmoker and Timothy Shanahan list shortcomings of small-group reading instruction that I have recorded in countless hours of observations: low productivity of students working independently, time lost in transitions among centers, and little focus on comprehension.
But should districts disavow small-group instruction? When done well, students practice the skills they were recently taught, read connected text, collaborate with peers, and exercise independence—none of which requires the teacher to lead instruction. But they do require instructional skills.
Providing meaningful activities at the right skill level takes extensive teacher knowledge and preparation. Few do it well. But here’s the rub: Only a small fraction of teachers are effective at whole-class instruction, which Schmoker and Shanahan’s essay suggests as an alternative. In a school district with which we partner, teachers are guided to spend half the literacy block in small-group instruction and half in whole class. In the average classroom, students were rarely asked to explain their thinking or to turn and talk to a partner. Vocabulary teaching was minimal or absent. Aware of the problem, Schmoker and Shanahan recommend high-quality professional development. Then why not do the same for literacy workstations?
The best teachers create classroom cultures that support student independence, self-regulation, and collaboration. They provide differentiation in center (or station) activities, and students hand in evidence of their work for teacher monitoring. It’s challenging work, no doubt. But the alternative to abandoning the workstations approach is to give teachers the support they need to do it well. With a district partner, we developed two eight-hour courses for teachers: one on effective literacy workstations and one on developing student discourse.
It’s too early to say whether the courses will accomplish their purpose; the evaluation is still underway. But it is worth a serious effort to support teachers with small-group instruction before schools are urged to change a purposeful practice.
Suzanne Donovan
Executive Director
Strategic Education Research Partnership
Washington, D.C.
