When Science Became a Script: The Untold Alliance Between SoR and Publishing Companies

The Science of Reading (SoR) began as a call for change—a movement grounded in research, cognitive development, and the brain’s role in literacy. It was never meant to be a product. It was never meant to be a script. It was never meant to be sold.

But now? It’s hard to find a school, district, or classroom where SoR isn’t synonymous with a commercial program. And what began as science has quietly become a system of packaged instruction, market-friendly labels, and fidelity-focused compliance.

When the Science of Reading became the product, we stopped asking the deeper question: Is the child thinking, or are they just following?

A Movement Turned Marketplace

At its best, SoR is grounded in decades of research—from phonemic awareness to orthographic mapping to automaticity and fluency. It was never about shortcuts. It was about understanding how the brain learns to read.

But somewhere along the way, publishing companies entered the room. And instead of supporting the science, many began to package it, brand it, and sell it—often with the promise that “this is everything you need.”

And just like that, we moved from:

• research to ready-made programs
• cognitive insight to compliance tools
• instructional decision-making to teacher-proof scripting

What No One Wants to Say

It has now become the norm:

Science of Reading + Commercial Program = Fidelity.

But no one’s asking what gets lost when we normalize that equation.

Because what gets lost is thinking. What gets lost is flexibility. What gets lost is the teacher’s role as a mediator of learning.

We confuse adherence with understanding. We mistake packaging for pedagogy.

The uncomfortable truth? Many SoR-aligned programs are:

• overly rigid
• culturally shallow
• cognitively underdeveloped
• stripped of teacher autonomy

And yet, when results don’t come, the blame falls on “lack of fidelity”—never the limitations of the program itself.

Fidelity Isn’t the Fix—Again

We’ve seen it before. Balanced Literacy was once the golden child. Then it wasn’t. Now SoR is the new standard—but we’re repeating the same mistake:

We’re turning a research framework into a packaged solution.

And the moment we say, “everything you need is right here in this binder”, we close the door on teacher reflection, cognitive engagement, and critical adaptation.

Science doesn’t fear thinking. But programs often do.

What Happens to Children?

When everything is scripted, the child becomes the object—not the subject—of instruction.

The teacher reads. The student responds. The pace continues.

But where is the space to:

• pause and mediate?
• build background?
• connect cognitively and culturally?

When fidelity becomes the goal, students become passive participants in their own literacy.

And once again, our most marginalized students—those already overlooked and under-supported—bear the greatest burden.

We Can Hold Both

This isn’t about rejecting the Science of Reading. It’s about refusing to let it be hijacked by systems more interested in control than cognition.

We can hold:

• the need for structured, evidence-based instruction and
• the need for deep cognitive, cultural, and professional flexibility

We can demand:

• high-quality materials and
• teachers trained to think beyond the page

We can uplift:

• what the research says and
• what real children show us every day in real classrooms

Final Word

If we aren’t careful, the Science of Reading will become just another script. And scripts don’t change lives. Teachers do.

It’s time to reclaim the science. Not as a brand. Not as a boxed solution. But as a call to awaken the mind—of both the student and the teacher.

Because real reading is not just what’s taught. It’s what’s thought.

Dr. Gwendolyn Battle Lavert is a Literacy and Leadership Specialist, international consultant, and author of “Who Says I Can’t: A Four-Year Plan to Erase the Reading Gap and Achieve Proficiency by Fourth Grade.” She believes in centering cognition, not compliance, in every classroom.