Reading & Literacy Interactive

Phonics vs. Balanced Literacy: A Classroom Comparison

By Liana Loewus — October 02, 2019 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Want to know if a K-2 classroom is using explicit, systematic phonics or balanced literacy? This visual illustrates some of the main instructional differences between the two approaches to early reading.

Related Tags:

Visualization: Vanessa Solis

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Hiring, Retention, and Fill Rates: A Data-Driven Sub Strategy
Explore what keeps substitutes coming back and hear how one district rebuilt its substitute hiring process and improved its fill rate.
Content provided by Frontline Education
Early Childhood K-12 Essentials Forum Early Childhood Education: Building Essential Skills for Success
Join this free virtual event to examine the biggest challenges in supporting young children, from preschool through elementary school. 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Absenteeism Webinar
Attendance Isn't an Attendance Problem
Boost attendance by strengthening relationships, belonging, and support with practical strategies from Doug Fisher & Nancy Frey.
Content provided by Corwin

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Reading & Literacy How Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Will Still Aim to Nurture a 'Love of Reading'
A literacy expert and librarian discuss how access books can stir a lifelong passion among children.
4 min read
This photo taken on August 26, 2026, shows a book from the late music icon Dolly Parton's Imagination Library charitable program among flowers left at a memorial to the singer-songwriter, in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee. Parton's successful children's book donation project was borne of personal anguish: her own father grew up illiterate in rural Tennessee. The program sends books to children by mail for free, from birth until age five.
A book from the late music icon Dolly Parton's Imagination Library's charitable program is shown at a memorial in her hometown of Sevierville, Tenn., on Aug. 26, 2026. Her organization has donated an estimated 3 million reading materials to children in the United States and internationally.
Michael Mathes / AFP via Getty Images
Reading & Literacy More Kids Are Learning to Read on AI-Generated Text. What Are the Pros and Cons?
AI tools can easily create practice passages. Are they comparable to those written by humans?
8 min read
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO- NOVEMBER 17: Teacher Adam Gravenor uses AI technology to assist his instruction at Coronado High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Nov. 17, 2025.
Teacher Adam Gravenor uses AI technology to assist his instruction at Coronado High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Nov. 17, 2025. As AI continues to enter the classroom, some teachers are using both general tools and those provided by educational publishers to generate "decodable" text to supplement phonics lessons, or texts of varying complexity.
RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Reading & Literacy Can Lighter-Touch Tutoring Programs Benefit Kids Too?
A short, classroom-embedded tutoring program showed persistent gains in student improvement.
3 min read
A tutor helps students at Benjamin O. Davis Middle School in Compton, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025.
A tutor helps students at Benjamin O. Davis Middle School in Compton, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2025. A new study shows that shorter, less intensive tutoring can be effective.
Eric Thayer/AP
Reading & Literacy Dolly Parton's Legacy Extended From Country Music to Literacy
The iconic singer, who died this week, founded Imagination Library to support children birth through age 5.
4 min read
West Hollywood CA April 1977 - Dolly Parton performs at the Roxy in 1977
Dolly Parton performs at the Roxy nightclub in West Hollywood, Calif., in 1977. Photo by Nancy Barr Brandon /MediaPunch /IPX via AP.
Nancy Barr Brandon /MediaPunch /IPX via AP<br/>