Is the science of reading just phonics, or something more?

The science of reading is not a program or a fad; it is the large body of research on how children actually learn to read. It does point strongly toward explicit, ordered decoding, which is why phonics is back at the center, but it is broader than phonics alone, covering sound awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension together.

For the teachers here: what has actually changed in your room, and what has not? Which shifts helped your struggling readers most, and where did the guidance outrun what is workable with a full class?

Our guide on structured literacy lays out the teaching side of this in plain terms. But the honest view from inside a classroom is what this thread is for.