See free truespel site for US English phonemic awareness    

Ongoing Notes on "The Science of Reading"   

                   Save this link for new notes below collected by Tom Zurinskas and updated periodically

"Science of Reading" Background

The "science of reading" term comes from the USA 2000 National Reading Panel report on effective reading instruction in USA.  See summary here.  Approximately 100,00 studies were reviewed.  The report states that "phonemic awareness (PA)" and "phonics" must be taught for good reading instruction.  This reverses the trend of "balanced" reading which downplays PA and phonics.                                                                                                                                                                          

A Better Phonetics - Truespel 

Please note that truespel phonetics provides what the science of reading needs and integrates phonemic awareness (PA) with phonics for US English instruction for the first time.   Truespel applies to ESL's as well for pronunciation practice.  Truespel is free.  Teaching reading using phonetic reading instruction is proven https://justpaste.it/trueproof . 

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       Latest Notes on"Science of Reading"   

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Report: Nearly One-Third of Teachers Still Use ‘Discredited’ Reading Methods

About 30% of K-3 reading teachers use a 'balanced approach,' including asking kids to figure out words through context clues – a practice banned in some states.

From The74  By Jessika Harkay May 19, 2026

Mich. urged to invest in science of reading for literacy Michigan officials are calling for sustained investments in evidence-based literacy strategies to address the state's literacy challenges and build on the science of reading. The "Reading for All" laws passed in 2024 have set the state on a path to improve literacy by requiring early screening for dyslexia and providing targeted interventions. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed a $625 million literacy investment in next year's budget. From ELA SmartBrief  5-28/-26 Full Story: The Detroit News (5/25)

How the Science of Reading Is Reshaping Teaching: What the Data Say

 the RAND Corp., asked more than 1,200 K-3 teachers in the fall of 2025 about their perspectives on reading instruction, the practices they use in their classrooms, the training they received, and the materials they use.

While most teachers said they favored the use of phonics instruction to teach children how to read, about a third said they mixed phonics with cueing, a discredited approach that experts say can make it harder for children to become fluent readers. When asked about best practices for supporting English learners and students with dyslexia, teacher responses showed some gaps in knowledge. Educators offered varying perspectives on how best to organize reading comprehension instruction.

A bipartisan bill that encourages science of reading approaches in federal literacy grant programs — and discredits the three-cueing model of teaching reading — won unanimous approval from the House Education and Workforce Committee on Tuesday.

The Science of Reading Act, H.R. 7890, specifies that state applications for comprehensive K-12 literacy state development grants should describe how the state’s literacy instruction plan aligns with the science of reading approach.

The legislation is “a reasonable, research-based approach to ensure that federal literacy funding supports practices that help students learn to read,” said Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Va. He noted that the bill clarifies that federally supported literacy instruction should be in line with science of reading, “including core components such as phonics, fluency, and vocabulary,”

Okla. looks at Miss.'s model for literacy coaches Oklahoma is considering expanding its literacy coach program, inspired by Mississippi's success in improving childhood literacy through a robust network of coaches trained in the science of reading. The State Chamber of Oklahoma's Oklahoma Competes initiative is examining Mississippi's approach as a model for the 2026 legislative session. The HEROES Literacy Instructional Team, Oklahoma's current program, has 14 coaches for more than 500 public school districts.   From 12-8-25 ELA SmartBrief    Full Story: NonDoc (12/8)

If textbooks are mandated, can principals change literacy instruction?

• The Critical Role of Principals as Literacy Leaders addresses the importance of leaders having a baseline understanding of literacy development and instruction, being familiar with key indicators of literacy outcomes, and being able to evaluate the quality of literacy resources.   From The Literacy Architects at LinkedIn   11-18-25

Report: Evidence-based reading instruction can boost literacy A report by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel, supported by UNICEF and the World Bank, highlights the importance of evidence-based reading instruction in addressing the global literacy crisis. The report, which synthesizes 120 studies from low- and middle-income countries, finds that training educators in methods such as the Science of Reading can significantly improve literacy outcomes, particularly when instruction is in students' home languages. From ELS SmartBrief  11-3-25 Full Story: Language Magazine (10/31)

America’s youth literacy crisis isn’t new — it’s been ignored

The latest Nation’s Report Card, released last month after a delay, confirms a troubling and persistent reality: Millions of students are entering middle and high school unable to understand what they read, setting them further back from grade-level academics. In fact, earlier results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress confirmed that this is the largest share in history of 8th graders who do not meet basic reading proficiency. 

From  K-12 Dive   10-22-25

The "Mississippi Miracle" for Teaching Reading

This is an audio clip of the success of switching from whole word reading methods for kids to the science of reading phonics method.  Click here

 Full Story: WRTV-TV (Indianapolis) (8/8) from ELA SmartBrief

 Full Story: Savannah Morning News (Ga.) (7/24)   from ELA SmartBrief

Calif. bill would boost literacy with phonics California advocates are supporting a new bill that promotes a phonics-focused approach to literacy education. The legislation seeks to equip teachers with phonics training and instructional resources, aiming to boost reading skills among K-12 students, especially those struggling or at risk. The bill emphasizes the use of phonics tools, along with writing and spelling practices, as part of its strategy for improving literacy outcomes.  Full Story: KERO-TV (Bakersfield, Calif.) (7/18)    from ELA SmartBrief

 Full Story: Salem Reporter (Ore.) (tiered subscription model) (6/10)   From ELA SmartBrief

 Full Story: EdSource (6/6/25) 

   

 Full Story: The Lens (New Orleans) (6/4/25) 

 Full Story: CBS News (5/13) From ELA SmartBrief  (5-15-25) 

 Full Story: North State Journal (N.C.)  

 Full Story: Education Week (4/25) From ELA SmartBrief

 Full Story: CalMatters (Sacramento, Calif.) (4/30) 

 Full Story: 83 Degrees Media (Tampa, Fla.) (2/19) 

Louisiana is Top  4th Grade Reading State Due to Science of Reading bit.ly/4hDEZGu

from ABC13 News  by KRISTINA WATROBSKI | Crisis in the Classroom January 30th 2025 

BATON ROUGE, La. (CITC) — The top education official in Louisiana explained Wednesday why he thinks his state was the only one to surpass pre-pandemic reading levels in the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The assessment, known as the Nation's Report Card, found Wednesday U.S. fourth and eighth grade students are, on average, behind pre-pandemic levels in reading. The current average reading score for both fourth and eighth graders is 5 points lower than in 2019, the exam shows.

However, Louisiana fourth graders separated themselves from the pack by being the only group to exceed their pre-pandemic performance. The students boasted an average score of 216 in reading in 2024, up 6 points from their 2019 figure.

The fourth graders' score of 216 is also just over the national average of 214, the NAEP data shows.

Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley told Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) he is "not surprised at all" his state improved. He noted the results came as Louisiana works to "go back to the basics," including by properly training teachers and being responsive to parent needs.

Louisiana has enacted multiple education-related measures since the 2019 NAEP assessment. The state in 2021 passed Act 108, which requires teachers of K-3 students to complete an approved professional development course on the "science of reading."

"Teaching children to read should not be complicated," Brumley told CITC. "If we go and we use a phonics-based approach, provide students with access to literature and enriched text, we can make progress."

 Full Story: Chalkbeat/Philadelphia (1/9)   From ELA SmartBrief 

 Full Story: Education Week (1/10) ,,,,From ELA SmartBrief 

 Full Story: The Center Square (1/6) 

 Full Story: The 74 (12/9)   ELA SmartBrief

 Full Story: District Administration (11/11)  from ELA SmartBrief

 Full Story: Full Story: KWQC-TV (Davenport, Iowa) (11/3) 

 Full Story: Malheur Enterprise (Vale, Ore.) (tiered subscription model) (10/23) 

 Full Story: The Center Square (10/23)   from ELA SmartBrief

Video of News Report on New York City science of reading implementation for 2024.  Click Here  Aug 27 2024

 Full Story: Staten Island Advance (N.Y.) (8/26) 

 Full Story: The Center Square (8/3) 

 Full Story: Chalkbeat/Indiana (7/22) 

 Full Story: The Times (Shreveport, La.) (tiered subscription model) (7/10)

 Full Story: WTOP-FM (Washington, D.C.) (7/1) 

 Full Story: CT Insider (Conn.) (6/20) 

How principals of schools should monitor reading progress.

From EducationWeek June 14, 2024

My take on "science of reading" phonics and phonemic awareness. 

For phonemic awareness you need a phonetic spelling (phonogram) of each of the 40 sounds of English to attach pronunciation to.  How can yyou teach phonemic awareness without a list of phonoagrams to see and use?  https://justpaste.it/truespelprincipals 

 Full Story: Livingston County Daily Press & Argus (Howell, Mich.) (6/23) 

English Learner Scores Have Been Stuck for Two Decades. What Will It Take to Change?

By Nadia Tamez-Robledo     May 27, 2024  from EdSurge

While the education field continues to grapple with how to reverse test score slides that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, results from the National Assessment of Education Progress — also called the Nation’s Report Card — show that an alarming rate of English learners have been performing below the basic mastery level in reading and math. In some cases, the numbers have hardly budged in the last 20 years

 Full Story: Alabama Reflector (Montgomery) (5/15) 

 Full Story: The 74 (5/13) 

As we embrace the ‘science of reading,’ we can’t leave out older students  By Shira Engel

As a new middle school teacher, I was shocked by the number of students who entered my classroom unable to decode text.  from Chalkbeat  3/6/23  posted here 5/3/24

 Full Story: Education Week  5/1/24 

Almost three-quarters of kindergarten and 1st grade teachers surveyed reported frequently engaging students in activities related to each of four foundational reading skills: print concepts, the ability to understand basic organization and features of print, such as following words left to right; phonological awareness, or the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in English; phonics and word recognition; and fluency.

But that also means about one-quarter of K-1 teachers are not engaging students in these activities frequently, a finding the report authors described as “surprising and perhaps concerning.” (The report defines “frequently” as engaging every student in a class in activities related to the foundational reading skills for more than a few minutes within the past five class lessons.)

 Full Story: Marshfield News-Herald (Wis.) (tiered subscription model) (4/24/24)   From ELA SmarBrief

California drags feet on "science of reading" instruction.

California schools can, for now, continue using a looser approach to how reading is taught to young children after a bill to mandate a “science of reading” strategy failed to even garner a hearing in the legislature.

The legislation—which supporters said would have required teachers to shift their instructional practices to align with the body of evidence on how kids learn to read—drew strong opposition from the state’s largest teachers’ union and an advocacy group for English learners.

Some 37 states, including California, have adopted policies to this end, although the Golden State has so far mainly relied on grants and incentives, rather than mandates and prohibitions. 

The California Teachers Association argued in its letter that the bill is “flawed because it assumes all students learn in the same way.”

 Full Story: The Center Square (4/3) 

Central New York private school says they've cracked the code on improving literacy

 Full Story: The Chippewa Herald (Wis.) (3/23) 

With 6 in 10 California Students Lagging Behind in Literacy, New Bill Would Mandate ‘Science of Reading’ Across State

from "The74"  By Angelina Hicks March 25, 2024

Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and 13 co-authors have proposed a bill that would update the state’s English curriculum with the science of reading – research that has found the best way to teach reading is through phonics, phonemic awareness, oral reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

 Full Story: WBFF-TV (Baltimore) (3/11) 

 Full Story: KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV (Los Angeles) (3/6) 

 Full Story: The 74 (3/4) 

 Full Story: K-12 Dive (2/28) 

The science of reading explained

Teacher training programs don't always use research-backed reading methods  from ELA Smartbrief Feb 15, 2024

There is growing evidence that the science of reading is a more effective way to teach students how to read.  More effective than, say, "three-cueing," which is when students rely on context and sentence structure to identify words they don't know.

"Balanced literacy," formerly known as "whole language," is another commonly used method of reading instruction.  But teacher training programs like this one don't always prepare educators to use researched-backed reading methods, like phonics.

In a 2023 study, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) surveyed nearly 700 teacher training programs across the country. Their findings:

"Only about a quarter of the teachers who leave teacher preparation programs across our nation enter classrooms prepared to teach kids to read [in a way that's] aligned to the science and research on reading," says Heather Peske, president of NCTQ.   The rest, she says, are investing money and time into learning methods like "three- cueing" and "balanced literacy," which aren't backed by research.

Michigan Senate hears the case for requiring the “science of reading” in early literacy curriculum

The Senate Education Committee Tuesday began hearing testimony in support of two proposed bills that would require schools to weave the “science of reading” into Michigan’s early literacy education.  

The bills, which are aimed at better identifying and teaching students with dyslexia, would also likely benefit all early readers, supporters say. The legislation would mandate school districts and colleges use practices from the science of reading, or literacy instruction that emphasizes phonics along with building vocabulary and background knowledge, in assessments, interventions, and teacher education programs.

Governors Push ‘Science of Reading’ from Education Week  Feb 5, 20024

A growing number of governors and other state policymakers are putting “science of reading” initiatives on their wish lists this legislative season. Read about 5 of the newest state proposals, from New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Indiana, and Iowa. Click here 

 Full Story: The Connecticut Mirror (Hartford) (1/31)  ELA Smartbrief

from Jan 22, 2024  ELA SmarBrief

 Full Story: Omaha World-Herald (Neb.) (1/21) 

From Chalkbeat   January 17,  2024

How USA states approach science of reading instruction

A new analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality highlights ongoing gaps in how states approach reading instruction, even as more states adopt policies aligned with the science of reading. 

About half of states don’t set specific standards telling teacher prep programs what future educators should know about teaching reading, NCTQ found. And 28 states cede their authority over teacher prep programs to outside accrediting agencies with vague guidelines. Meanwhile, 21 states don’t collect any data on the curriculum their districts use, nearly half offer no guidance on picking curriculums that serve English learners, and a third offer no guidance on how to use curriculum to support struggling readers.

NCTQ’s focus is on policies that have the potential to improve teacher effectiveness in the classroom, and the group favors a more prescriptive approach. NCTQ recommends that states play a larger role in ensuring teacher training and curriculum meets certain standards, as well as providing ongoing support to classroom teachers.

But in many states, school districts, universities, and teachers unions have pushed back against mandates and bristled at what they see as political interference in educator expertise and autonomy. For some advocates, that means change has come more slowly than they wished for, or more unevenly.

• In Philadelphia, over a thousand ‘reading captains’ are taking a unique approach to boost early literacy. These volunteers get a crash course in phonics and the science of reading, then help connect parents to literacy resources and host events like block parties and read-alouds. Many are Black women and other women of color who spend their own money on the cause. 

Remedial "short burst" phonics reading training of 5-7 minutes per day for 1st graders with same tutor gives 9% boost.

https://www.the74million.org/article/study-short-burst-tutoring-in-literacy-shows-promise-for-young-readers/ 

The model — less costly than other programs — combines one-on-one instruction with computer-based activities.  First graders in Florida’s Broward County schools who participated in the program, called Chapter One, saw more substantial gains in reading fluency than those who didn’t.

 Full Story: WFYI-TV/WFYI-FM (Indianapolis) (1/9) 

Gov. Hochul wants New York schools to embrace the ‘science of reading.’ Will they?

Eight months after New York City announced a major literacy shakeup, Gov. Kathy Hochul sketched out one of her own on Wednesday that may encourage districts across the state to adopt new reading curriculums.

The effort comes amid growing pressure for officials to boost literacy, as dozens of states have enacted efforts to improve reading instruction and embrace what’s known as the “science of reading,” an established body of research about how children learn to read. New York is one of a handful of states that has not advanced similar proposals in recent years, even as fewer than half of students in grades 3-8 are considered proficient in reading on state tests.

Hochul said her goal is to move schools away from “balanced literacy” — including a popular curriculum developed by Teachers College professor Lucy Calkins that has come under intense scrutiny in recent years. The approach includes mini-lessons and lots of independent reading time to get students excited about literature and help practice reading skills on their own. Experts say that method often does not work for students who struggle to read, including those with learning disabilities like dyslexia.

The state will begin to favor programs that emphasize phonics lessons that explicitly teach the relationships between sounds and letters, an approach backed by research. Hochul indicated her plan would help rid schools of discredited methods often found in balanced literacy programs, such as encouraging children to use pictures to guess at a word’s meaning.

***Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

Calif.'s science of reading boosts students' scores   Click to link

A Stanford University study reveals that California's Early Literacy Support Block Grant, aligned with the "science of reading," led to a 0.14 standard deviation increase in third-grade English/language arts test scores -- equivalent to 25% of a year's learning. The grant program, supported by over $50 million, demonstrated the positive impact of evidence-based reading reforms that include financial assistance, teacher training and tailored support.   Full Story: Education Week (12/4),  The New York Times (12/4) 

N.J. invests in science of reading amid dip in scores

Data shows that the percentage of New Jersey fourth-graders who are proficient in reading dropped from 42% in 2019 to 38% in 2022. The state, which updated its English-language arts standards in October, is making the shift to the science of reading by training teachers in how to teach with phonics and allocating $41 million in funding for tutoring grants.

 Full Story: North Jersey Media Group (Woodland Park, N.J.) (11/13) 

Is the science of reading missing from N.C. colleges?

North Carolina has invested more than $90 million into efforts to train educators to teach reading skills, but only the University of North Carolina-Charlotte's Cato College of Education has been found as having a strong program in the science of reading. The university has been teaching the approach for years, while other schools in the state are struggling to make the shift away from the whole language method of teaching students how to read.

 Full Story: WFAE-FM (Charlotte, N.C.) (11/13) 

How shift in reading instruction is impacting business

Ohio has adopted a "science of reading" approach, emphasizing phonics and direct instruction to improve reading, challenging the previous "balanced literacy" model. A lawsuit by the Reading Recovery Council of North America, which promotes balanced literacy, has seen financial and ideological impacts of the shift of reading instruction methods.

 Full Story: The New York Times (11/3) 

NYC superintendents seek change in approach to reading

Switching to science-based reading curricula during the past four years has yielded positive results, write Tamra Collins, New York City Department of Education Schools superintendent of District 19 in Brooklyn, and Cristine Vaughan, the city's superintendent of District 11 in the Bronx. In this commentary, they emphasize the importance of shared teaching materials, improved instruction and enhanced student engagement in helping shape proficient readers and call for the implementation of a citywide effort through the "New York City Reads" campaign.  Full Story: Chalkbeat/New York (11/7)  from ELA SmartBrief

The Teaching Reading wars are on  from EdWeek 10-30-23

The reading wars are headed to court. The popular Reading Recovery program has filed suit against the state of Ohio to block state-mandated changes in early-literacy instruction there. (toward phonics and "science of reading.) 

1. Reading Recovery Sues Ohio Over Ban on ‘Cueing’ in Literacy Instruction

2. ...

 Full Story: The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) (tiered subscription model) (10/17) 

Schools in Ala. honored for improvements in reading

 Full Story: AL (Alabama) (10/13) 

N.Y. aims to improve educator prep in teaching reading  

 Full Story: Chalkbeat/New York (10/11/23) 

Seattle schools take on students' struggles to read 

Educators in Seattle Public Schools are addressing the rate of struggling readers, especially among Black students, even as schools adopt instructional methods rooted in the science of reading. At Rising Star Elementary School and 12 other district schools, these approaches incorporate inclusive and diverse teaching practices to help raise reading skills, including those of Black students, of whom just 29% met the reading standard for their grade this spring.

 Full Story: The Seattle Times (tiered subscription model) (9/30) 

Okla. students see reading gains with summer phonics

Students at a charter elementary school in Oklahoma City, Okla., posted gains in reading skills after attending a four-week summer course based on the science of reading and phonics, says Lana Ingram, the school's principal. Ingram notes the school has replaced classroom displays of "word walls" with "sound walls," with teachers focusing on how sounds are formed and the shapes made by the mouth.

 Full Story: KOKH-TV (Oklahoma City) (9/27)   from SmartBrief  9-28-23

Some Ind. students up 5% in reading rates with phonics

Third-grade students in Warren Township, Indiana, saw a 5% boost in reading proficiency rates after the school system adopted science of reading-based strategies that emphasize phonics, phonemic awareness, and educator development. First-grade teacher Carisa Kimmon says she has incorporated these strategies in her lessons, using "sound slides" and other visual aids to help students connect sounds to words.

 Full Story: The Indianapolis Star (tiered subscription model) (9/25) 

Is University of Florida Literacy Foundation UFLI Foundations aligned with the science of reading?   http://ufli.education.ufl.edu/foundations/

If you are familiar with the science of reading, you may have heard of Gough and Tunmer’s “simple view of reading,” which states that reading comprehension is the product of decoding and linguistic comprehension.  If either decoding or linguistic comprehension is weak, the effect is multiplied. That is, you can never have better reading comprehension than the level of development of either your decoding or linguistic comprehension skills. 

Phonics help Va. students boost reading achievement

Implementing phonics-based literacy instruction in K-2 classrooms have helped teachers improve student literacy in Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. One elementary school has seen a drop in the number of students that have been identified as struggling readers since the district shifted to instruction that focuses on phonics, with the use of a core phonics program from the University of Florida Literacy Institute.

 Full Story: WTOP-FM (Washington, D.C.) (9/20) 

What happens to a once-popular reading intervention under Indiana’s new science of reading laws?    https://tinyurl.com/2x29f95j

Experts say Indiana schools should quickly transition from programs that use three-cueing like Reading Recovery to strategies based on the science of reading. But exactly how much literacy instruction will change remains to be determined.   From Chalkbeat 9-20-23

A reading intervention once hailed as a “phenomenal success” for Indiana’s first graders may be one of the first phased out from schools this year as the state pushes to align elementary literacy instruction with the science of reading. 

Reading Recovery, an intervention which pairs first graders with trained teachers for 30 minutes of one-on-one reading help each week, was used to instruct thousands of Indiana students beginning in the 1990s and found champions at Purdue University.  ding Recovery is based in part on the three-cueing model that asks students to infer words based on context clues — a teaching method now banned in Indiana.

But its status going forward is murky as Indiana joins other states in banning one of its core teaching methods, known as three-cueing. The program has already met skepticism in its home state of Ohio, which has also banned the practice.  

“The problem with education is that we tend to get on bandwagons,” Betz said. “The science of reading isn’t a bandwagon.”

AI-Powered English Learning App ELSA Raises $20M in New Funding

Shalini PathakPublished Sep 12, 2023

https://www.edtechreview.in/news/ai-powered-english-learning-app-elsa-raises-20m-in-new-funding/

ELSA, a leading online language learning app that helps students and professionals speak English quickly and pronounce words correctly, has raised $20 million in a new funding round led by UOB Venture Management, the private equity arm of Singapore-based bank UOB. 

The demand for learning English has been around for a while. It’s always been here, but globalization has made it the need of the hour. Whether in school, college, or the workplace, speaking in English has become necessary. It is the most spoken and studied language in the world. In such a scenario, everybody wants to learn English speaking or improve their existing skills. This is because English is not only about grammar and structure but also about reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Speaking is the most required skill for effective and proper communication.

AI-Driven Reading Coach Platform Ello Raises $15M to Revolutionize Child Literacy

Shalini PathakPublished Sep 8, 2023  from EdTechReview

https://www.edtechreview.in/news/ai-driven-reading-coach-platform-ello-raises-15m-to-revolutionize-child-literacy/

The startup’s proprietary technology enables the app to listen to children as they read aloud and analyze their speech patterns to correct mispronunciations and missed words. Like a natural teacher, Ello’s AI reading coach patiently waits for the child to finish reading each page before employing phonics-based strategies to teach critical reading skills. Children can also access extra help by tapping on the question mark icon.

Co-founded in 2019 by Dr. Elizabeth Adams, Tom Sayer and Catalin Voss, Ello offers a subscription-based service that delivers personalized 1:1 tutoring to children, combining AI technology with expert reading specialists. Its proprietary speech recognition technology analyzes a child’s reading and provides personalized feedback. The company is focused on engagement and the child’s love for reading, aiming to make learning a delightful experience rather than a test.

Ello has a user base of 10,000 families, with youngsters reading over 300,000 books on the app. The firm’s goals for the future include collaborating with schools and developing a product specifically intended for classroom settings. It is already conducting pilot programs with approximately 30 schools in San Francisco and New York.

Educator says everyone has a stake in students' literacy

An estimated 40% of Tennessee fourth-graders are able to read at grade level so it is important for schools to use the science of reading to address the challenges of literacy, writes Ellen McIntyre, dean of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. McIntyre recommends training for elementary-school teachers to equip them to use research-based methods in the classroom and says literacy is the responsibility of the wider community because everyone has "a stake in how well children learn to read."

 Full Story: The Tennessean (Nashville) (tiered subscription model) (9/14)

How phonics is making a comeback as millions of kids struggle to read

ByArthur Jones II, Tal Axelrod, and Jay O'Brien

September 8, 2023, 5:12 AM    https://abcn.ws/3Pyzrln

According to the Education Department's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "The Nation's Report Card," roughly one-third of American fourth graders read at or below what's considered the basic level. This has been the case since 1992.  Scores slightly increase as students get older, but not by much. In eighth grade, about one-fourth of students do not read at what's considered the basic achievement level. That percentage stays about the same for high schoolers. 

Roughly a decade ago, their solution to reach struggling readers included a teaching style called balanced literacy, still popular in many schools across the country. The method is designed to develop a love of reading and a comfort with books. It can also involve suggesting students guess certain words and even to look at pictures to decipher the words on the page, something instructors took to calling "picture power."

A decade ago, the state's fourth grade students ranked last in reading -- 50th out of 50 states. Today, Mississippi is 21st in the nation in literacy. In some education circles, that seemingly impossible turnaround earned the title "The Mississippi Miracle."

By the start of this school year, ExcelinEd found at least 30 states, including Washington, D.C., and New York City, the nation's largest public school district, required phonics-based "science of reading" policies to address the sagging scores.

"We needed a reading revival in our state," said Louisiana Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley. "I think the educational system lost its way at some point around this. Confusing tactics were employed to teach children how to read." As part of their reading initiative, Louisiana also created a program giving students a $1,000 voucher for private reading tutoring, which is what has helped D'Mekeus Jr. attend regular tutoring sessions at a Sylvan Learning Center near his home in Lafayette.

"It's almost as if we question ourselves, like, is our child the only one going through this?" his father said. "Reading gives you the opening door to everything we do in life. Reading is the key to life."

From EdSource  Balanced Reading Method is flat 10 years and poor

https://bit.ly/3LkqU31

West Contra Costa Unified serves mostly low-income students living in the cities of Richmond, El Cerrito and San Pablo. Before California adopted a universal free meal policy, 70% of the students qualified for free and reduced-price meals. Also, about a third of students in the district are English learners.

Some data points on the iReady assessments last year are “hard to swallow” Hurst said. For instance, only 2% of fourth grade English learners were reading at grade level.

West Contra Costa Unified is, at the moment, primarily using a balanced literacy approach, and the superintendent did not indicate if and when the district would switch to the “science of reading” approach.

In 2021, Nystrom Elementary in West Contra Costa Unified district ditched balanced literacy and adopted the “science of reading” approach, thanks to grant funding. Nystrom continues to see modest improvements in reading scores.

The district introduced a program called Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Sight Words, or SIPPS, in all its elementary schools last year. SIPPS is supplemental to the core reading curriculum and focuses on foundational reading skills in order to support struggling readers. Nystrom Elementary used SIPPS to include more explicit phonics instruction in its lessons and attributes much of its progress to this curriculum.

Chiefs for Change  |  September 6, 2023

https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/170408

The Indiana Department of Education, under the leadership of Secretary Katie Jenner, implemented a plan to improve student achievement that involves tracking data on longitudinal outcomes after high school, ensuring districts use curriculum grounded in the science of reading, training teachers to use evidence-based instructional methods, and supporting intensive summer learning and enrichment opportunities. Students who participated in Indy Summer Learning Labs in 2022 showed statistically significant academic growth, exceeding pre-pandemic learning rates and outperforming children who did not take part. Based on program-specific pre- and post-assessments, after one summer, kids in the program saw an average score increase of 25 percentage points in ELA and 24 percentage points in math.

The science that’s missing from science of reading laws

By Matt Barnum  Aug 21, 2023, 4:29pm EDT

States across the country, both liberal and conservative, are passing laws designed to change the way students are taught to read in a way that is more aligned with the science of reading.

States, schools of education, districts, and — ultimately, the hope is — teachers, are placing a greater emphasis on phonics. Meanwhile, the “three-cueing” method, which encourages students to guess words based on context, has been marginalized. It’s been a striking and swift change.  A significant body of research suggests students are better able to comprehend what they read when they start with some understanding of the topic they’re reading about.

Ill. teaching coalition pushes for early literacy training

The Illinois Early Literacy Coalition has organized a petition, signed by 614 educators, urging the Illinois State Board of Education to drive the integration of early childhood literacy development into teacher preparation programs. A recent report from the National Council on Teacher Quality indicates that only one teacher prep program in the state hits all five science of reading components, with most programs lacking in effectively equipping students for reading education instruction.   8-21-23 ELS SmartBrief

 Full Story: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill.) (8/21) B

Indiana literacy teacher: Students’ ‘eyes light up’ when they learn to sound out words

Indiana literacy coach Mika Frame says phonics is her favorite lesson to teach. Indiana is in the midst of an enormous undertaking to improve literacy rates. The approach: Align state standards, curriculum, and teacher training programs with practices rooted in the science of reading, which emphasizes phonics to help students decode words.

N.C. literacy initiative shows promising results

A North Carolina initiative to expand teacher training on the science of reading is showing early results, with Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills results showing gains in kindergarten through third grade. The strongest gains were seen among kindergarten students, with the percentage of those measuring on track more than doubling from the start of the year.     ELA Smartbrief

 Full Story: The Avery Journal-Times (Newland, N.C.)

Science of reading rolls out in Minn. classrooms

As Minnesota students return to school this year, they'll use an updated curriculum that emphasizes science of reading principles to address declining reading and math scores on state assessments. The changes were made possible through $90 million in funding under the state's READ Act, which has an overarching goal of ensuring students read at grade level each year.

 Full Story: KTTC-TV (Rochester, Minn.) (8/9) 

Smartbrief    

Phonics instruction for Every Student.  https://tinyurl.com/yuryem8b  Renaissance

Navigating science-based phonics instruction
Phonics is the most predictive skill of reading success; therefore, phonics instruction must be grounded in research and backed by evidence-based practices. Use this Phonics Roadmap to implement a scientific approach to phonics instruction that improves literacy outcomes for all students.

CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION COLORADO READING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Denver says this reading curriculum supports English learners. But the state says it’s not based on science and has to go

By Ann Schimke   Dec 14, 2020, 8:00am EDT  https://tinyurl.com/mv6x4puzz  

By far the most common state-rejected curriculums in Denver schools are Benchmark Advance and Benchmark Adelante, its Spanish-language counterpart. More than half of elementary and K-8 schools use the 2018 version of one or both programs, with some students at more than 50 schools learning to read in Spanish then gradually transitioning to reading in English.

State reviews found the two Benchmark programs don’t align with research on how children learn to read, but district leaders say the products are among the few available options that satisfy its obligation to provide equivalent materials in English and Spanish.

Some teachers say it’s beyond time for Benchmark to go. Troy Hubbell, a former elementary special education teacher at Denver’s Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy, said many of his students came to him years behind in reading not because they had severe learning disabilities, but because Benchmark Advance didn’t properly cover reading basics like phonics and phonological awareness — the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken language.

40 West Ada teachers attend summer school                     from ELA Smartbrief

Matt Denis | 07/26/2023      Idaho Education News (7/26   https://tinyurl.com/3ju4h4f7 

West Ada School District educators (along with 26 charter and private school teachers) are participating this week in a five-day workshop to institute phonological reading practices that could improve literacy among all Idaho students. West Ada plans to add three literacy consultants and grant phonics workshop training for 40 teachers by the end of August.

IMSE trains teachers in targeted interventions and core reading strategies that focus on phonemic awareness and decoding words. Galileo Elementary first grade teacher Jolynn Aldinger is a believer.  What she eventually found was Structured Literacy methodology of breaking reading and spelling down into smaller skills like recognizing letters and sounds, and then building on these skills to form a solid foundation in phonemic-based literacy. With this method, even struggling readers can learn how to read, according to IMSE and Aldinger.  “I had such wild success in my classroom. It was magical watching these kids learn how to read,” Aldinger said. “You could just see them kind of sit up with this confidence. My gosh, I had first graders spelling ‘address’ and ‘bankrupt.’ And they understood why it was spelled that way.”

From Chalkbeat  TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS IN MARION COUNTY, INDIANA

COVID aid ends, science of reading, vouchers: 5 things to watch

as Indiana’s school year begins

By Aleksandra Appleton  Jul 25, 2023, 7:00am EDT  https://tinyurl.com/yzvdvfxc 

For younger students, Indiana is prioritizing reading instruction through new laws requiring curriculum and teacher training based on the science of reading, an approach to literacy that emphasizes phonics, fluency, and other principles..  Literacy coaches will be coming to schools where fewer than 70% of students passed the state reading assessment, as well as schools that opt in to the Indiana Department of Education’s initiative to place more of these coaches in schools. 

W.Va. teachers training to use literacy, math programs

Some of West Virginia teachers are attending a conference to learn about changes to the state's math and reading programs, including a shift to the science of reading, as part of state legislation. The conference is the second held by the West Virginia Department of Education to help educators get up to speed on the Ready Read Write literacy program and Math4Life: Unite With Numeracy program

ELA Smart Brief

Teaching college in Ind. is leader in science of reading

The shift to the science of reading occurred at Marian University's Fred S. Klipsch Educators College in Indiana before state lawmakers required the approach to reading instruction. The college's program, recognized as among the best for training teachers in reading instruction, provides hands-on experience so that students are working with young readers in schools while earning their bachelor's and master's in five years

The state’s IREAD-3 results showed that 91.4% of Indiana’s third graders were reading proficiently in 2012, but the rate has been dropping since. Only 81.6% of third graders tested proficient in reading last year. 

Marian was able to receive the National Council on Teacher Quality recognition because it scored well on the group's grading rubric for teaching the five main components of the science of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

The report also found that Marian wasn’t teaching any of the practices contrary to the science of reading, unlike 12 other Indiana universities evaluated in the report that are still teaching some contrary practices.

The three-cueing system is one of those contrary practices. It involves teaching students to use various context clues to essentially guess what a word might be instead of decoding a word by using phonics.

BY HARM VENHUIZEN     Published 2:56 PM EDT, July 19, 2023

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill into law Wednesday overhauling the way reading is taught in the state.

The Republican-authored bill is meant to improve sagging reading scores and emphasizes phonics, the relationship between sounds and letters, over memorization. It also requires more frequent reading tests 

Only about a third of Wisconsin fourth graders scored high enough to be considered proficient readers in 2022, marking a 20-year low, according to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. and employs reading coaches to help struggling students.

https://tinyurl.com/453ks6y3 

OLITICS & POLICY NAEP 2022     STUDENT & SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

Mississippi made big test score gains. Here’s what to make of them.

By Matt Barnum  Jul 18, 2023, 1:26pm EDT   https://tinyurl.com/37hxetkx

In the last decade, Mississippi students have rapidly closed the test score gap with the nation as a whole, particularly in fourth grade. State officials, education wonks, and national journalists have attributed these improvements to the state’s 2013 early reading law, which included emphasizing phonics and holding back third graders who struggle to read. 

NAEP scores on their own cannot show cause and effect, but some research supports this explanation.

One study found that retained third graders in Mississippi subsequently made large test score gains. Another recent study looked at a number of states, including Mississippi, that had adopted comprehensive early literacy policies. This was defined by a set of sixteen policies supported by the advocacy group ExcelinEd, including training in the “science of reading,” grade retention, reading coaches, and more. (ExcelinEd, founded by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, encourages states to model its policies after Florida’s and played a key role in supporting Mississippi’s 2013 law.)

But many other states also adopted new standards and testing during this period and didn’t experience much growth. 

Ultimately, this uncertainty suggests that states that adopt Mississippi-like early reading policies might expect to see some meaningful gains, but shouldn’t expect Mississippi-sized improvements. 

Matt Barnum is a national reporter covering education policy, politics, and research. Contact him at mbarnum@chalkbeat.org.

Science of reading enters schools in group of districts

The 17 districts within the Marin County Office of Education in California are shifting from balanced literacy approaches for reading instruction to the science-based approaches that prioritize phonics and structured lessons. The schools are phasing in the change, with modifications made to reading instruction by incorporating explicit phonics and more elements of the science of reading.

 Full Story: Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, Calif.) (7/3) 

From Chalkbeat  6-29=23

TEACHING & CLASSROOM

Illinois gives a first look at a literacy plan for schools. Here are four things to know.

By Samantha Smylie  Jun 23, 2023, 5:58pm EDT  https://tinyurl.com/2p8zdkc7 

 For years, literacy advocates have been calling for the state board and lawmakers to encourage school districts to move away from “balanced literacy” — a now-debunked philosophy that says reading is a “natural process” — towards teaching phonics — an approach that teaches students the relationship between sounds and letters. Since 2019, states around the nation have been changing how schools teach reading to move away from balanced literacy. 

The state’s plan cites the 2022 results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national exam that tests fourth, eighth, and 12th graders on subjects including reading, math, and science, which showed that about 40% of Illinois students lack “basic” reading skills. Children in third through eighth grade performed similarly on the state-mandated Illinois Assessment of Readiness exam in 2022.

 Full Story: Psychology Today (6/21)  ELA Smarbrief

What neuroscience says about literacy education

The explicit use of phonics for the decoding and spelling of words does work, while whole language training and resources and what is known as "balanced reading" does not work, according to neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene, who spoke at the Learning Ally's 2023 Spotlight on Dyslexia conference.

Professor Dehaene reports that reading is a visual system for accessing one’s already existing spoken language to create meaning. As an expert reader, you are making meaning from this sentence by automatically and unconsciously, without effort, connecting the English alphabetic code on the page with the meanings and sounds of the English words you already have in your spoken language. All readers across languages read the same way and use almost precisely the same areas in the left hemisphere cortex for reading. No matter what writing system one uses, there is only one reading circuit in the brain, and by and large, all readers use that same circuit.

Beginners “listen” in their mind’s ear and begin to connect what they hear to a spelling pattern or brain word in their mind’s eye in a specialized cortical area in the left hemisphere called the "visual word form area."

Catastrophically (a word Dehaene used in his keynote), structured inputs, a well-designed curriculum, and explicit teaching of phonics and spelling have been abandoned in many American schools due to two decades of discovery learning promoted by now debunked whole language theory resulting in minimal guidance with phonics and spelling in popular versions of “balanced literacy” (Gentry, 2022; Ouellette & Gentry, 2019; Swartz, 2019).

Guided word analysis in engaging multi-sensory activities occurs throughout the week, along with interleaved teaching and testing and regular daily practice to achieve automatization. At week’s end, the teacher, tutor, or homeschooler guides students to self-correct sentences they have written and read and correctly spell the week’s words in the decodable contextual sentences, such as “A rat and a cat can be sad” (adapted from Ouellette & Gentry, 2023). Reading and writing these contextual decodable sentences independently is the hallmark of breaking the code.

Students in detention graduating with K-6 reading skills June 19, 2023 ELA Smarbrief

Some of California's high-school graduates who have spent time in the state's juvenile detention facilities only have K-6 grade-school level reading skills, based on data compiled by the Division of Juvenile Justice. The disconnect of low reading skills and graduation is linked in this article to various factors, including inadequate educational staffing in the facilities, incorrect assessments and a credit recovery system that allows students to bypass traditional requirements for graduation.

Mississippi Reading Miracle By Elizabeth Heubeck — June 19, 2023 ELA Smarbrief

https://tinyurl.com/mr48fbt6 

art of this approach is the act’s retention strategy, whereby 3rd graders who score below a minimum standardized test score must repeat the grade. This controversial practice has garnered significant attention, including a recent Boston University studythat reported on its positive, long-term effects among Mississippi students. 

Initially, over 600 people applied for 75 coaching positions, mostly full-time positions whereby each coach would be assigned to work in two schools. Only 24 were selected.  The state was looking for people who were well-versed in evidence-based reading, which is centered on the five core components of reading as identified by the National Reading Panel—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—and who knew how to intervene “That only 24 were selected showed us we had a lot of ground to cover.”

Ala. university scores high for literacy teacher training

Alabama's Samford University is one of the teacher training programs in the US to have earned an A+ score for its science of reading-based instruction, as noted in a report from the National Council on Teacher Quality. The university received its rating for developing a curriculum that incorporates the five crucial components of science of reading-based instruction; phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

 Full Story: AL (Alabama) (6/14) 

From The74

New Report Flunks Teacher Prep Programs on the Science of Reading  https://tinyurl.com/3a479jp9      By Kate Rix June 13, 2023

NCTQ analysis of 693 programs finds many still promote balanced literacy methods that have kids guess at words rather than sound them out.  Only 25% of teacher preparation programs cover all the core elements of scientifically based reading instruction, and another quarter don’t cover any adequately, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.  40% of programs instruct aspiring educators to use debunked teaching practices, including so-called three-cueing strategies that urge children to guess at words they don’t know rather than sound them out. These methods have recently been banned in some states.

After more than a decade, state issues new recommendations for how reading should be taught

The new Early Literacy Framework recommends that instruction be based on years of research and evidence-based instruction rooted in the “science of reading”

BY: ALEX BAUMHARDT - MAY 30, 2023 5:14 PM

The Oregon Department of Education released new recommendations Tuesday for ensuring all kids can read by the end of third grade, after years of Oregon students demonstrating poor reading proficiency on state and national assessments.  The department’s outgoing director, Colt Gill, said the Legislature’s commitment to investing $140 million in the Early Literacy Success Initiative will give the latest framework more power than previous versions  Since 1998, just over a third of Oregon fourth graders have shown proficiency in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, the nation’s report card. Yet decades of research shows more than 90% of kids can learn to read if they are taught with methods rooted in research about how the brain learns to decode written language. This research is based on decades of evidence that shows most people need to be taught the 44 sounds in the English language and how to map those sounds to letters and letter combinations to decode words. In essence, that means learning to “sound it out” and to recognize sound and letter patterns in words.  Since 1998, just over a third of Oregon fourth graders have shown proficiency in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, the nation’s report card. Yet decades of research shows more than 90% of kids can learn to read if they are taught with methods rooted in research about how the brain learns to decode written language.

Panel: Teach reading to ELLs with a balanced approach

North Carolina is spending $50 million on the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling program to raise reading scores in a state where just 40% of students scored as reading proficiently on the National Assessment for Educational Progress. As part of the two-year LETRS program, K-5 teachers have started implementing the shift to the science of reading, along with special education teachers and some administrators participating in the program.

 Full Story: WRAL-TV (Raleigh, N.C.) (5/21) 

New York City schools chancellor David Banks is expected today to announce an overhaul of reading instruction in the city's schools to improve proficiency. The district currently uses a "balanced literacy" approach, but under the new guidance, superintendents will choose from three curriculums that adopt evidence-backed methods, such as teaching phonics.  NY Times. From ELA Smartbrief  5-11-23

Indiana has joined a rising tide of states mandating phonics-based science of reading lessons, banning schools from using balanced literacy and other strategies that rely on context clues and pictures. bit.ly/3MiGfC5   From ELA Smartbrief  5-11-23

Under a series of bills signed Thursday by Governor Eric Holcomb, schools will have to use reading curriculum approved by the Indiana Department of Education as following the phonics-based science of reading by fall of 2024. 

Teachers will have to take training in the science of reading before earning or renewing teaching licenses. And teacher training programs in the state will need to teach that method within a few years or lose accreditation.

The state is also banning schools from teaching students “three-cueing” strategies — in which students take cues from pictures or context to guess at words — that are part of the whole language and balanced literacy teaching approaches that have been popular the last few decades.

The Indiana changes come as some legislators say the state is having a reading “crisis.” Passage rates on the foundational reading portion of IREAD-3, the state’s third grade reading tests, are down 10 percentage points from their 2014 peak of around 91 percent to 81 percent today.

4-5-23  from email from Reading Recovery Community Advocacy

”On March 31, the Florida House voted unanimously to pass CS/CS/HB 7039, a harmful bill that places significant restrictions on the ability of Florida schools to serve struggling readers. The bill is now headed to the state senate.

We urge you to lend your voice in opposition to this bill, which would severely impact schools from using evidence-based practices like Reading Recovery to serve some of the students most in need, including multi-lingual students, recent immigrants, students in poverty, and those with health and social-emotional issues.

The "science of reading" relies on the questionable 25-year-old findings of the National Reading Panel, which have failed to produce higher reading outcomes nationwide. “

https://edsource.org/2023/california-districts-vary-enormously-in-reading-achievement-report-finds/687517

California science of reading SIPPS method helps k-3 Latino kids with phonemic awareness and phonics.  That’s according to a new report from the California Reading Coalition, a literacy advocacy group made up of organizations of educators, advocates and researchers. popular program among districts in California, with Systemic Instruction in Phonemic Awareness, Phonics and Sight Words, or SIPPS, for the early grades, from kindergarten to second grade

Children in a Montessori environment learn to write first, before they learn to read. This approach is organic, as children are able to put the letters for the sounds they know together into a word before they are ready to interpret and string together the sounds of a word on a page.

Montessori, who founded the Montessori method, discovered that the ideal time for children to learn to read is between the ages of 3½ and 5½. More importantly, she discovered that children have an innate and, as she described it, “powerful” interest in both reading and writing during those years.Sep 3, 2017

 What Is the Science of Reading?

Evidence-based research on what really works for kids.  by Jill Staake Jill Staake on June 17, 2022 https://www.weareteachers.com/what-is-the-science-of-reading/ 

Reading identified these five elements as critical to reading comprehension:

Phonics  Phonemic Awareness  Vocabulary   Comprehension   Fluency

Balanced literacy isn’t easy to define, but it often includes a focus on “reading cues.” Sometimes you’ll hear the phrase MSV, which stands for meaning, sentence structure, and visual information.

In other words, when readers come across an unfamiliar word, they don’t study the word itself but instead look at words or cues around it (like pictures) to understand it. The idea is that kids should quickly be able to figure out a word and move on, keeping their interest in the text. Leveled reading is another key part of balanced literacy, often along with teaching reading and writing as separate subjects.

If you’ve been teaching reading for a while, you might be thinking, “But I like a balanced literacy approach. I teach some phonics, but I want kids to learn to love reading first! It’s no fun when they have to focus on sounds and letters over and over again.” Maybe. But here’s the thing about balanced literacy practices—the scientific evidence just isn’t there to back them up. Study after study has found that focusing on phonics and vocabulary builds reading comprehension much faster and more effectively than the MSV method.

What is the Science of Reading?    MSE Journal  January 14, 2021

https://journal.imse.com/what-is-the-science-of-reading/

Teaching whole word memorization is limited, and learning phonics empowers students with an exponential effect.

If a child memorizes ten words, then the child can read ten words. But, if the child can learn the sounds of ten letters, the child can read…

350 three-sound words

4,320 four-sound words

21,650 five-sound words

What Is the Science of Reading?  

https://tinyurl.com/yfpxhee4   

From Really Great Reading

Five Key Elements of Scientific Reading Instruction?

The National Reading Panel (NRP) report in 2000 identified these five elements that are key to reading success:

[listing is upside down]

Comprehension

Fluency

Vocabulary

Phonics

Phonemic Awareness

Did you know? First graders are expected to have a sight word vocabulary of over 2000 words!   By the end of 2nd grade, students will recall 1,000-7,500 words.   It's not possible to have students memorize every word or every pattern of phonemes or graphemes. Teaching foundational literacy skills in a specific way gives students the skills they need to teach themselves. This is commonly called the “Self-Teaching” model. 

Teachers and researchers look to the science of reading to aid Oregon’s struggling students

By Rolando Hernandez (OPB)    Feb. 23, 2023 8 a.m.

According to data from the state’s education department, more than 57% of 4th graders aren’t fully proficient in reading. 

Because of the challenges she saw, Francois enrolled in the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling program, also known as LETRS.  The program takes two years to complete and educates teachers on the science behind reading, including the ability to correlate letters and language sounds, known as phonics and phonemics.