Beyond Phonics: Novels, Knowledge Building and the Pathway to Comprehension

This question was front and center in a recent LinkedIn Live hosted by the National Summer School Initiative (NSSI), featuring Ellie Bridges (Senior Director of ELA at NSSI), Kristen McQuillan (Chief Program Officer at StandardsWork and facilitator of the Knowledge Matters Campaign), and Dr. Jarred Amato (educator, author, and founder of Project Lit Community). Together, they explored what it takes to ensure students don’t just learn to read, but learn to love reading, too.

To build confident, capable readers, schools need to do more than check the science of reading box. They need to design experiences that weave together foundational skills, deep engagement with texts, and the background knowledge that makes comprehension possible. And while these shifts must show up year-round, summer learning can be a powerful launchpad, giving districts the space to experiment, align on goals, and build momentum before the school year begins.

Foundational Skills Matter, But They’re Just the Beginning

There’s no debate about it: phonics and decoding are essential. They’re the building blocks of reading. But according to Kristen McQuillan, focusing too heavily on foundational skills, without equal attention to knowledge-building, can create what she called “a false dichotomy:”

Kristen urged leaders to think critically about opportunity cost: if most instructional minutes are spent on phonics, what gets left out? Too often, it’s background knowledge — the very thing students need to make sense of what they read later on. Without it, comprehension breaks down.

Building strong readers means designing literacy experiences that go beyond accuracy and fluency. It means helping students connect ideas across texts, deepen their understanding of the world, and use language purposefully. Rather than using summer solely for remediation, leaders can design experiences that center on knowledge-building, expanding vocabulary, contextual understanding, and student confidence before school even starts. Summer learning is a chance to move from catch-up to set-up.

Novels Build Stamina, Identity, and a Reason to Read

While phonics equips students with the skills to decode, novels give them a reason to keep reading. Jarred Amato emphasized the role of longer texts in helping students build stamina, attention, and personal connection to reading:

Whole-class novels offer more than academic rigor. They help students see themselves in stories, connect, and imagine new perspectives. They also counterbalance fragmented reading tasks, reinforcing fluency, comprehension, and empathy in context.

Jarred’s Read and WRAP routine (Read, Write, Reflect, Affirm, Preview) is one strategy to structure these experiences. It gives students a predictable way to engage with texts and with one another, combining literacy development with classroom culture.

Summer programs offer a natural time to introduce novel study routines like WRAP, when there's more space for experimentation and slower pacing. One district in NSSI’s network saw meaningful gains by using summer as a proving ground for literature-based instruction, and carried that momentum into the fall.

For district leaders thinking beyond the basics, investing in meaningful novels and routines like WRAP can deepen student engagement and strengthen the bridge from decoding to real comprehension.

Knowledge Unlocks Comprehension

Reading fluency opens the door, but comprehension depends on what students know.

Without background knowledge (historical context, scientific concepts, vocabulary, cultural references) students struggle to make meaning from text. They may be able to sound out words but still miss the point entirely.

Kristen McQuillan emphasized the value of coherent, content-rich instruction. When students engage with texts that build knowledge across subjects, their comprehension improves. Their confidence grows alongside it:

Panelists noted that disconnected skills practice often leads to fragmented understanding. In contrast, thoughtful curriculum choices that prioritize knowledge building help students develop as more holistic readers, paying dividends throughout their academic careers and beyond.

As NSSI has seen in partner districts, integrating ELA content with science and social studies, starting in summer can give students an early boost in comprehension while supporting broader district priorities like Tier 1 alignment. Summer is a unique window to deepen interdisciplinary connections in a low-risk environment.

Reading Success Isn’t a Tradeoff — It’s a Balancing Act

For too long, debates about literacy have focused on tradeoffs: phonics or meaning, foundational skills or engagement, comprehension or content.

But the reality in classrooms, and the reality facing district leaders, is more complex. Students need both structure and joy, both decoding skills and rich content knowledge. Literacy is cumulative. It’s built across experiences, not isolated skills.

The leaders on this panel weren’t arguing for one right way. They were calling for balance: programs and curricula that combine the best of what we know with systems that support teachers in delivering it.

That system can start in summer. NSSI’s experience shows that summer learning, when aligned to district goals, becomes a powerful engine for coherence, from classroom materials to instructional practice. It’s not a side program. It’s the front porch of your academic year.

That’s the work ahead. And it's possible when districts take a deliberate, student-centered approach to summer learning and beyond.

This content is derived from expertise from a LinkedIn live webinar on July 30, 2025 featuring Ellie Bridges, Kristen McQuillan, and Dr. Jarred Amato. For more conversations like this, follow NSSI on LinkedIn to keep an eye out for future blog posts and LinkedIn Live events.