National Reading Panel Criteria

The No Child Left Behind Act spelled out what constitutes scientifically-based reading research based on the National Reading Panel Report.

There are five major considerations:

1. Applies rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain valid knowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruction, and reading difficulties
2. Employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment
3. Involves rigorous data analysis that are adequate to test the stated hypothesis and justify the general conclusions drawn
4. Relies on measurements or observational methods that provide valid data across evaluators and observers and across multiple measurements and observations
5. Has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective, and scientific review