Balanced Literacy Approach

Balanced Literacy came as a result of the whole language and phonics debate in the 1990's. Which approach won the debate? Phonics or whole language? The majority of experts now contend that neither approach by itself is effective all the time but that both approaches possess merit. What does succeed then, many experts say, is a carefully designed reading program that employs part whole language approach and part phonics, and takes into account each student's learning style and demonstrated strengths and weaknesses.The items in highlighted in red represent the components that were recently added as a result of current research.

The Columbus Diocese has adopted the Balanced Literacy approach in teaching literacy. All curriculum materials that are adopted must align with this approach. Many of our teachers do this through a Reading/Writing Workshop model as shown below.