If You Can’t Read

If there is one thing most public schools don’t do well is teaching kids to read to improve their learning. Although there are elementary schools who do a good job teaching young learners to read, there are still too many students, especially those who are black, brown, and poor, who do not gain the requisite skills to make them strong readers moving forward. But when kids become 11- or 12-year-olds the bottom seems to fall out in our public education system when it comes to reading. Not only do more kids fall behind on the grade level reading abilities, too many struggle to make meaning of what they are reading, or the youngster learns to dislike reading.

As The 74 online reported today in an article titled “Amid Literacy Push, Many States Still Don’t Prepare Teachers for Success, Report Finds,”

“Most states have revised their strategies for teaching children to read over the last half-decade, a reflection of both long-held frustration with slow academic progress and newer concerns around COVID-related learning loss. An attempt to incorporate evidence-based insights into everyday school practice, the nationwide campaign has been touted as a promising development for student achievement.”

“But many states don’t adequately train or help teachers to carry out those ambitious plans, according to a new analysis.”

“The report, released today by the nonprofit National Center on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), identifies five key areas where education authorities can arm teachers with better skills to teach the fundamentals of literacy – from establishing strict training and licensure standards for trainees to funding meaningful professional development to classroom veterans. While a handful of states were singled out for praise, others were criticized for inaction or half-measures.”

“Dozens of state use licensure tests with little or not content related to the ‘science of reading,’ the extensive body of research into how people understand written language (including one, Iowa, that administers no licensure test that deals with reading whatsoever.) The vast majority do not require districts to choose reading curricula that reflect the science of reading.”

…

“Even as aspiring teachers are being trained, the authors argue, many are being set up to fall short in their first assignments. Just 26 states provide detailed standards for what teaching candidates need to know about the science of reading, including critical aspects like phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency. Twenty-one states don’t establish any standards for the specific instruction of English learners, who account for as much as 20 percent of all K-12 students in places like Texas.”

“In spite of the clear signs that thousands of teachers are minted each year with incomplete or inaccurate notions of the science of reading, a majority of state education departments allow outside entities and accreditors to approve literacy offerings in schools of education and other teacher preparation programs. Just 23 state administer their own process of approval, and only 10 consult literacy experts in the decision of whether to approve individual programs.”

“Once those new teachers enter the classroom, many will be stuck using materials that are poorly aligned with the best research on how to improve reading outcomes, the study concludes. Only nine states – Nevada, Arkansas, Tennessee, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Ohio, Virginia, and South Carolina – require that districts use high-quality reading curricula, such as those approved by vetting organizations like EdReports. The remaining states, accounting for 40 million K-12 students, make no such requirement; 20 states don’t even collect data on which curricula districts are using, so families much make their own inquiries into whether their children have access to effective instruction.”

When I was a public school leader, I was amazed at how many “reading” teachers had no real experience with teaching reading. That wasn’t really the fault of the teacher. The fault rested with wherever they received their teaching training. So I understand completely the messages delivered in this recent report.

But, another shortcoming inside our public education system is how much time we spend working with our young learners on their reading skills, especially in our secondary schools. My 35-year public school experience tells me that around the time a student becomes a middle schooler, our system stops supporting reading improvement. Instead, the learning day becomes full of content to learn, whether you are a strong reader or not. A big reason why kids, especially those who are black, brown, and poor, fail secondary subjects is the fact that they are not strong readers.

So, what to do? If I was the “reading czar,” then I would require weak readers to spend more time of their learning day on improving their reading abilities. That worked for us when I was a middle school and high school principal. We set up small reading labs where struggling readers could spend more time with reading professionals working on their reading skills. Instead of attending physical education, students were assigned to these reading academies until their reading abilities began to improve. Once the student demonstrated improved reading ability, then they were returned to their original class schedule.

For those young learners with serious reading difficulties, a reading academy placement, where the focus is getting reading skills improved quickly and successfully, might be a good option for school districts. Again, once the young learner shows proficiency with their reading skills, the student could be returned to their normal school.

But whatever we decide to do about reading improvement, reading labs, reading academies, or whatever, adult learning leader training will be key to making sure our young people have strong reading skills moving forward.

Because, if you can’t read, you can’t learn. Til tomorrow. SVB