Phillip Chipping

“ We have placed way too much confidence in what was an untested theory, and now which is a failed one. ” — Timothy Shanahan, Rejecting Instructional Level Theory  (Aug 23, 2025) On August 23, 2025, Timothy Shanahan republished one of his most important blog posts , revisiting the decades-old debate over whether children should be taught with “instructional-level” texts or with grade-level challenging texts supported by scaffolding . This updated piece coincides with the release of his new...

KEY TAKEAWAY: If your child struggles reading (decoding) a word, click "pass." If they read it quickly the first time, click "next." Write down the final results. The DIVI journey for your child starts with a short skills assessment. The purpose of the assessment is simple: find out where your child's skills break down in our Scope & Sequence - specifically, which Unit and Level. Once you know this, you can apply the Unit and Level to each story or book to customize the text to your child's...

KEY TAKEAWAY: You read the non-bolded words, your child reads the bold words. When a child is taught how to read, they are taught one rule at a time. One rule out of dozens...possibly even hundreds! Each rule teaches a child how to decode (sound out) words that follow that rule. For example, the Silent E or Bossy E rule says that any word with e on the end turns the previous vowel into a long sound. For example, "rip" becomes "ripe" or "cap" becomes "cape." When kids are young, it's easier...