As ubiquitous as colored pencils and alphabet posters, lists of “sight words” have long been a fixture in kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms. These inventories identify some of the most commonly ...

All computers come with spellcheckers and iPhones autocorrect their users’ texts. But despite those everyday features, formal spelling instruction still pays off, the findings of a new study suggest.

Joshua McGoun, a K-12 public-school teacher in Frederick, Maryland, first noticed a change in his students about 10 years ago. They began to struggle with focus. Increasingly, younger kids were not ...