David Stephens, a 4th grade teacher in Washington State, was preparing a lesson plan about desert wildlife (all names are pseudonyms). He was planning on assigning his students the chapter book, "Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus." The students had divergent knowledge about the topic. For example, Maryam had grown up in Arizona, and had a lot of personal knowledge and experience with the topics in the book. Theo had gone on vacation to the Grand Canyon and his parents made sure he read all the informational signs. Julie had little knowledge about the desert, all her family vacations were to Canada. Mr. Stephens was concerned that not all his students would be able to understand the words or ideas in the book, and searched for instructional strategies that he could teach his students that would help all of them better understand what they read. At an education conference, he had seen a demonstration of a reading comprehension tutoring system, iSTART-Early (Kendeou et al., 2022). He decided to research both the system and the evidence behind it to see if it was right for his students. Mr. Stephens recognizes that his students are at a critical point in their reading development. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2022) found that only 32% of 4th graders score as proficient or advanced in reading comprehension. Those who may have been at or above grade level in reading decoding assessments may not have mastered the skills necessary to comprehend the full text (Best et al., 2004; Stockard, 2010). For example, students like Julie who lack topic-specific knowledge, a key contributor to reading comprehension, may fall behind their peers on reading comprehension assessments as they enter 4th grade. What Julie and others experience is frequently referred to as the "fourth grade slump." The focus of Mr. Stephens' instructional materials is shifting from teaching students the skills needed to decode and read texts (e.g., alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, word decoding) to students reading texts to acquire knowledge. That is, the curriculum is switching focus from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." Unfortunately, the "learning to read," "reading to learn" distinction is based on a misconception. The misconception is that children must learn to read before they can learn how to use comprehension strategies that enable reading to learn. This misconception has been reinforced by theories of working memory resources that assume that early readers must have mastered decoding skills to free up the resources needed to devote to comprehension. Additionally, materials used to teach reading further reinforce the emphasis on decoding skills as the linchpin for comprehension while relegating domain knowledge and reading strategies to a secondary or non-existent role (Wexler, 2020). In fact, research has demonstrated that young students are able to use their knowledge and comprehension strategies to generate inferences and comprehend texts (Cain & Oakhill, 1999, 2009) and in some cases, use their knowledge and comprehension to improve their decoding skills (Cain et al., 2003). Unfortunately, in many cases, the students who struggle to master decoding skills are not provided with content that builds their knowledge and are not given instruction on how to comprehend challenging material (i.e., strategies). Thus, the misconception that students must achieve perfect decoding before reading to learn has contributed to a large number of students being left behind. The solution to the false dichotomy created by "learning to read"--"reading to learn" is twofold. First, young children, from the time they are born, must be exposed to content that builds their knowledge of the world and, particularly for school, their knowledge of history and science. Research on comprehension has demonstrated that knowledge is foundational to generating the inferences required to understand a text (Kintsch, 1998). Furthermore, children do not need reading skills to build knowledge and learn how to comprehend challenging content. For example, lived experiences such as growing up in the desert like Maryam or visiting the Grand Canyon like Theo can increase their knowledge. Students who struggle to learn to read (i.e., learn to decode) must first be building their knowledge base. Second, students must have practice in engaging in reading comprehension strategies. Students who are highly skilled readers may spontaneously use a variety of strategies to support comprehension of the variety of fiction and non-fiction texts they engage with in the pursuit of knowledge (McNamara, 2004; Zwaan et al., 1995). Students who use comprehension strategies can also build their knowledge base, as the more content students are able to comprehend, the easier it is for them to acquire new knowledge. Conversely, students who are less skilled struggle with implementing strategies that will help them comprehend texts, particularly those that are complex informational texts such as science texts. Yet, these are the texts that students need most to acquire new knowledge. Consequently, when they are faced with the task of reading to learn (often in the 3rd and 4th grades in the US), they struggle to do so because they lack both domain knowledge and comprehension skills. Indeed, these students struggle with acquiring the knowledge that will, in turn, support future knowledge acquisition. In sum, students who have adequate reading skills acquire knowledge easier and faster than those who do not. This is known as the Matthew effect (Hirsch, 2003). Fortunately for educators and students like Julie who do not have sufficient knowledge bases, research has demonstrated that students can overcome knowledge gaps by using reading comprehension strategies. When these students do catch up to their peers in decoding, they will be ready to read to learn. Considerable research has suggested the importance of students building knowledge beginning at birth and continuing in conjunction with instruction on foundational reading skills. Yet, recent reporting by Emily Hanford (Hanford, 2018, 2019) reveals that findings from the science of reading have not yet penetrated curricula or teacher education programs. Therefore, teachers are ill-equipped to implement evidence-based practice when teaching students to read and lack the resources necessary to bridge the gap in their preparation (Hindman et al., 2020). A viable approach is needed to help students succeed in developing the individual reading skills necessary to read texts, and reading comprehension strategies that are essential for acquiring knowledge. As Mr. Stephens and teachers like him discovered, there are evidence-based tools that provide both instruction and practice opportunities for young readers to develop their reading comprehension skills and build their knowledge base.