Federal guidelines related to IEPs for reading state that special education services (instruction and interventions), should be based on “peer-reviewed research.” This podcast explores the mystery of peer-reviewed research and the National Reading Panel. There are four things to take from this podcast related to peer-reviewed research and reading instruction:

(1) It is not a perfect process, but it is a process and this process is important.

(2) The process is not without bias or flaws. Peer review does not magically make research unbiased or pure. It is not possible for human beings to have a completely objective, unbiased view of anything. Peer-review is simply another filter to try to remove some of the impurities related to bias, methodology, theoretical context, applications, and conclusions.

(3) You are the ultimate filter. You are the most important peer-reviewer. In this respect, you must always ask: Does the strategy or approach work with the students in front of you? Does it enhance their ability to create meaning with print? Does it move them forward, unimpeded, in their journey to achieve their full literacy potential? It does not matter if a strategy or approach demonstrates significant results with a large sample size if it does not work with your sample size.

(4) Federal government has many significant roles to play in enhancing the betterment of our society and improving the lives of all people. However, identifying effective reading instruction is not one of them.