Science of Reading
Braiding the Rope
In the early 1990s, Dr. Hollis Scarborough used decades of reading research to create her model of the reading rope. Today, we call it Scarborough’s Rope. It shows the skills and knowledge required for reading acquisition. It presents a clear picture of what North Carolina is pursuing as it implements its Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021, a law amending the 2012 Read to Achieve Act by grounding literacy instruction in the science of reading. The Excellent Public Schools Act has 10 parts, and implementation will continue through the 2024-25 school year. EdNC is chronicling this implementation journey here.