Matthew Lynch, a consultant, author and the former dean of Virginia Union University’s school of education, said popcorn and round robin reading are “useless,” “outdated” and “serve no purpose other than to pass the time.” The reason is that they do nothing to help improve core skills like decoding, phonics, fluency and phonetic awareness, he said.

Forcing poor readers to read aloud in front of their peers causes undue embarrassment and undercuts a student’s confidence, he said.

“It turns them into reluctant readers,” Lynch said. “Also, in some students, it causes them to act out behaviorally, rather than face the embarrassment of having to read out loud.”

Henrico intensified its efforts to move away from the practices and began offering teachers training last spring as the district worked to revamp its literacy efforts.

And this summer, the district made another big push toward improving how reading and writing are taught.

Beth Teigen, Henrico’s assistant superintendent for instruction, said in the case of popcorn and round robin reading, the school district wanted to make sure students weren’t losing out on instruction because they were distracted or blasé about the reading material.