Literacy

Years after school buildings reopened following COVID-19 closures, an overwhelming majority of public school leaders (92%) are concerned to some extent about their students meeting academic standards, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Out of those, 25% said they are moderately concerned, and 16% said they are extremely concerned. 

Approximately two-thirds of public school leaders “somewhat" or "strongly" agreed that they support the use of state-mandated testing for math (62%) and English language arts and literacy (66%). About three-quarters "somewhat" or "strongly" agreed that the assessments provide useful data to bolster instruction — 74% for math and 75% for ELA. 

However, about 67% of public school leaders said math and ELA testing will not accurately measure the ability of students with individualized education plans or who are English learners.

The pandemic's negative impact on academics has been well-documented, most notably through a significant decline in national assessment scores. However, state assessment data and studies on testing performance suggest that students are beginning to rebound.

Testing and academic experts have warned, however, that a full rebound is still multiple years away. That sentiment was echoed by administrators in the NCES survey, a third of whom believe that the COVID-19 pandemic will have a “large negative impact” on their students’ performance on state-mandated testing this school year. 

“We know that the job of public school leaders has become increasingly complex and there is a constellation of challenges that keep them up at night,” said NCES Commissioner Peggy G. Carr in an April 16 statement. “It’s a Herculean task to manage all these challenges, and we hope that understanding what school leaders are facing will identify essential areas of support.”

More than 40% of administrators said they “somewhat agree” or “strongly agree” that "the work we will do to prepare our students for the state mandated [subject] test will take time away from other more important classroom work." 

Still, administrators' attitudes toward state-mandated testing as a way to bolster instruction stands in stark contrast to speculation during the pandemic that educators would move away from standardized assessments and replace them with through-year or performance-based assessment models. 

While a majority of educators supported state-mandated assessments to some degree in the NCES survey, others have suggested a shift away from the annual end-of-year exams. 

At least 13 states are exploring through-year assessment models, according to a January 2024 update from the Center for American Progress. Those states include Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Montana. Through-year assessment models have emerged as an alternative to end-of-year exams, with a quicker turnaround time for results and a better ability to inform educators of student progress.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Education gave Montana the green light to replace its existing statewide, federally mandated annual assessment with a through-year assessment beginning in the 2024-25 school year. The aim of the high-profile decision was to "advance student academic achievement, especially in the context of the urgent work of academic recovery post-pandemic,” Adam Schott, deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs in the department’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, said at the time.

Assessment data shows some progress since 2021 in the percentage of K-2 students on track for reading, but that rate of progress has slowed more recently, according to an analysis by Amplify. 

The percentage of K-2 students ready for core instruction in early literacy skills is still tracking below pre-pandemic levels. For example, while 58% of 1st graders were on track in 2019-20, that figure dipped to 52% in 2022-23 and then inched up to 54% in 2023-24, according to data from recent the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, or DIBELS, assessments.

Only about half of students across grades K-2 are on track for learning to read and 3 in 10 students are far behind, data collected from the middle of this school year shows. In recent years, many states and districts have invested in science of reading initiatives to improve literacy rates.

The data shows that too many students are at risk of failing to read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade and that literacy rates in the U.S. remain a concern, according to Amplify, a curriculum and assessment company that uses its mCLASS platform to help teachers administer DIBELS.

Changing this trajectory "requires schools and districts to act now and review their approaches in all grades,” said Susan Lambert, chief academic officer of elementary humanities at Amplify, in a statement. “Schools that deliver strong outcomes focus on building a solid foundation at the start and intervening quickly when students need extra support, rather than trying to play catch up later, when it can be more difficult.”

A bright spot in the assessment results, Amplify noted, is a narrowing of disparity gaps, with Black and Hispanic students having achieved greater gains in the past two years than their Asian and White peers. 

For example, mid-year 2023-24 data for kindergartners found that 55% of Black and 47% of Hispanic students to be on track, compared with 61% of White and 73% of Asian students. Although Black and Hispanic students' assessment results still lag behind, this most recent testing data shows improvements of 13 percentage points for Black students and 8 percentage points for Hispanic students compared to two years prior.

In the same period, White kindergartners saw a 4 percentage point improvement and Asian students a 3 percentage point increase. 

But when comparing 2019-20 to 2023-24 assessment results, only Asian kindergartners have returned to their pre-pandemic performance levels. Black kindergartners are 1 percentage point below, White students are 2 percentage points behind, and Hispanic students are 3 percentage points below their 2019-20 averages.

Data for the analysis includes assessment results from 300,000 students at 1,400 schools in 43 states.

Amplify recommends grade-level core instruction focused on both language development and foundational skills during the school day for all students. Students at risk of falling behind should receive additional foundational skill instruction, the company said.

Last month, the White House and U.S. Department of Education held a event promoting summer learning interventions and experiences as ways to improve academic and emotional well-being for students still recovering from pandemic-related setbacks.

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In 2018-19, the first year that Lori Webster was director of Mountain Mahogany Community School, the previous school year's data showed only 32% of students in grades 3-8 were proficient in reading, she said.

To improve reading proficiency rates, the K-8 public charter school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, "started very small," Webster said. 

She hired Alexandra Wilcox, a parent at the school, as a reading interventionist, who became trained in using science of reading approaches, which explicitly teaches students the connections between letters and sounds. 

As Wilcox started using those approaches with the youngest students in grades K-2, other teachers became interested in the science of reading training. The school also switched its reading and writing curricula, altered its school schedule and changed instructional routines in classrooms — all to support the focus on improved literacy.

The efforts are producing results. In 2022, 52% of students grades 3-8 tested proficient in reading. About 230 students attend the K-8 school.

"The reason that we kept going down the road that led to all those ultimate changes is because it was very effective," said Webster. 

As school systems across the country put more time and effort into science of reading approaches, Mountain Mahogany Community School leaders shared insights about how they made professional development accessible to educators, and how they informed students and families about changes to the school's literacy instruction.

Be open to advice from skilled practitioners

Wilcox previously worked as a teacher before leaving the classroom in 2008 to raise her own children. 

When one of her children struggled with learning to read, Wilcox, on her own initiative, began studying science of reading approaches using training from the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, or IMSE, a company that helps educators teach effective reading strategies. She learned about helping emerging readers identify individual sounds in words and how letters and groups of letters fit together to make words. 

Wilcox hadn't planned to return to teaching, but when she told Webster about her training, Webster offered her the reading interventionist position. 

Soon enough, Wilcox started working with a small group of students who began showing progress in literacy after receiving structured, systematic and individualized lessons. 

Webster said she learned a lot about science of reading approaches from Wilcox, who was keeping the director updated on students' progress.

"A lot of this was about being open to what skilled practitioners in the field are sharing with you as a school leader," Webster said.

Scaling up

Other teachers at the school, hearing about the small group's success, expressed interest in also participating in literacy training.

"It really was kind of like a natural snowball effect," said Wilcox.

But training several teachers would be a larger commitment from the school. The IMSE training, Webster said, was about $1,500 per teacher. 

The cost for teacher training to help nonreaders become readers would be worth the expense, the school determined. "That would be an investment that any school leader would not want to pass up," said Webster, adding the school used funding from Title I grants, operational revenue and other sources to pay for eight teachers to receive IMSE training.

The school was named a Structured Literacy Model School by the New Mexico Public Education Department last year and received a $50,000 grant. Structured Literacy Model Schools receive additional structured literacy support from the state for educators. Part of the grant is supporting training for a certified academic language therapist to work individually or in a small group with students who have dyslexia.

"I think one of the things I've noticed that's been really powerful is that our teachers are now all speaking the same language and actually have a depth of understanding about what that means," Webster said.

At the same time, the school switched its reading curriculum from one that focused on a balanced literacy approach to one with lessons supporting structured literacy to be more in line with the science of reading.  

Additionally, classroom schedules were altered to dedicate time to address foundational literacy skills on top of reading and writing.

Cultivating buy-in, understanding

As Wilcox began working with the small group of students, she had 1-to-1 conversations with those students' families about the literacy lessons their children were receiving. She also took time to explain her strategy with other teachers who were curious about the method and she attended a school board meeting to share the school's literacy journey.

Educating the school community about the approaches Mountain Mahogany Community School took — and the lessons educators learned in the process — has been helpful in building support and understanding of students' reading skills, Wilcox and Webster said.

As for what's next, the school is looking to build up vocabulary instruction, as well as supports for older students who are working to improve their literacy skills. Webster said the school's educators also are deepening their knowledge in structured literacy and striving to work collaboratively as literacy approaches are improved.

"Every student is their own little puzzle that we are figuring out what they need to be successful," Webster said. "We are continually working towards improvement in this really critical area."

Wilcox said the school is aiming to improve on its 52% reading proficiency rate. "The more work you do and the better you get and the more you see students succeed, the more you want to do it and learn and grow. And I think we're luckily in that space right now," Wilcox said.

States are making progress on science of reading initiatives, resulting in better access to high-quality literacy instructional materials, expanded professional development and dedicated funding streams to help students read at grade level or better, said state education leaders from Indiana, Rhode Island and Texas in a Feb. 20 webinar hosted by the Council of Chief State School Officers. 

While their states are showing movement toward prioritizing literacy improvements, the state education leaders emphasized the difficult work that it required. This includes multiple years of sustained efforts, consistent monitoring to evaluate progress toward goals, and the struggle to modify other priorities to support states' literacy goals. 

It's important that state education agencies foster consensus building with communities, businesses, educators, parents and higher education institutions, as well as provide other support to help schools and districts increase their science of reading instructional capacity, the leaders said.

CCSSO also released two resources on states' work to implement effective literacy initiatives, following up on a 2021 report the organization issued on how states can help improve reading scores. 

The first resource provides examples of the progress states have made regarding science of reading policies and instructional practices. It notes an increase in states with science of reading policies or legislation on evidence-based research — from one state (Mississippi) in 2013 to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and American Samoa as of February. 

The summary also said states have collectively dedicated nearly $900 million in federal COVID-19 emergency funding for literacy initiatives.

The other CCSSO resource is a tool describing state science of reading legislation and implementation, including instructional materials and descriptions of training for educators.

During the CCSSO webinar, Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner explained how the state education agency created heat maps to show literacy rates across the states. Jenner said the maps help educators and other stakeholders better understand where supports are most needed, as well as areas that are meeting and exceeding expectations.

Indiana also worked with parents, teachers and education experts to streamline and reduce state standards in core subject areas by 25% or more. "Basically we were asking teachers to teach all of these things that no human could get done in 180 days," said Jenner, who added the state is planning to have a through-year assessment with key checkpoints school year-round, rather than relying on one final assessment. 

Meanwhile, Rhode Island has set a goal to outperform neighboring Massachusetts by 2030, said Angélica Infante-Green, commissioner of elementary and secondary education in Rhode Island. "We will have, hopefully, the highest NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress] scores at the end of the day in literacy. That's our goal," Infante-Green said.

The state is taking various actions toward that goal, including understanding how high quality literacy curriculum is being used in classrooms so it can identify barriers and better allocate supports to teachers, Infante-Green said.

Shannon Trejo, Texas Education Agency's deputy commissioner in the Office of School Programs, said the state has made investments in professional development and literacy development for English learners, as well as other initiatives. Texas educators also are focused on preparing students for success after high school.

"Until we place a strong emphasis on foundational literacy skills, and run that all the way through our programming K-12, students will not have access to their post secondary pathway that they need to have," Trejo said. 

Also on Feb. 20, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued a report calling for action to correct declining literacy rates nationally. The report highlights negative consequences of low literacy attainment, such as higher dropout rates and economic losses.

“If we do not act, the long-term implications will be dire,” said Cassidy in a statement. “While states continue taking meaningful steps in the right direction to improve literacy instruction, more must be done to ensure that students are reading proficiently.”

The rote memorization of sight words and high frequency words — a mainstay of early literacy instruction in kindergarten classes — should be used with caution as early childhood educators put greater emphasis on the decoding of words through approaches grounded in the science of reading, said Tiffany Peltier, the lead learning and delivery specialist for literacy at NWEA.

High frequency words are words that appear most often in text, such as "the" and "are." The Dolch List and Fry List are go-to sources for these most common words. Sight words are often high frequency words that many readers recognize automatically, such as "the” and "are." But sight words can also include words like "thank" and "pretty" that are not as common in text.

For decades, educators and parents have practiced memorizing these words with students in hopes that budding readers would automatically know the words and naturally pick up the rest of the text and comprehend sentences. 

While Peltier is not advising abandoning the use of high frequency word lists, she recommends integrating them in the phonics approach by helping students decode the letters and sounds of each word rather than relying too heavily on memorization. 

This will help students from the overuse of guessing a word and approaching reading as a task dependent on memorizing full words. 

"It's not the shape of words that helps our brains to understand what those words are. It's the identity of the letters that correspond with the sounds," Peltier said.

Likewise, educators should be cautious of using predictable texts, also known as leveled reader books, when practicing reading skills with emerging readers, Peltier said. Predictable texts such as "I see a police officer. I see a firefighter" could also lead young readers — who have not yet fully developed their decoding skills — to rely more on guessing complex words like "officer" based on images on the page. 

Teachers should delay introducing high frequency words that are more difficult to decode, Peltier said. That's because they may not match phonics patterns that haven't been taught yet — or because they contain irregular patterns such as in "said" and "does."

Students should first be able to decode consonant-vowel-consonant words with short vowel sounds, like "can" and "ran," within three seconds before tackling more difficult to decode words, she said.

"You really need to build those foundational skills," Peltier said, advising educators to help students understand that English is a language that can be sounded out. That step is essential "before you start asking them to automatically read these words," Peltier said.

Some states are taking effective actions to improve literacy instruction through "science of reading" approaches while other states lag, according to a report released Jan. 16 by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

For example, NCTQ categorized Maine, Montana and South Dakota as "unacceptable" because they have few or no policies in place to strengthen teachers' reading instruction. In total, the council said 19 states lack strong policies to support effective reading lessons.

On the other hand, the council identified 12 states, including Florida, Virginia and Colorado, with "strong" policies that build teacher capacity to implement scientifically-based reading instruction.

"Helping all children learn to read is possible when you have teachers who’ve been prepared in the science of reading,” said Heather Peske, president of NCTQ, in a statement. 

The council estimated that more than 90% of students would learn to read if they had effective reading instruction. By prioritizing teacher effectiveness, states can have a teaching workforce to support student literacy, the council said.

NCTQ is basing its analysis on states' efforts in five policy areas:

• Specific and detailed reading standards for teacher prep programs.

• Reviews of those teacher prep programs to hold them accountable for implementing science of reading strategies.

• Adoption of a strong elementary-level reading licensure test. 

• Requirements for districts to select a high-quality reading curriculum.

• Ongoing professional development to support and sustain science of reading approaches.

Improving literacy was the focus of 12 enacted bills in state legislatures in 2023, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Specifically, several states including New York, California and Illinois, are targeting investments toward science of reading initiatives that include instruction on identifying individual sounds in words and how letters and groups of letters fit together to make words.

The NCTQ report highlights state programs that are making strides in the five policy areas. For example, the council said Utah has very specific reading competencies for teacher prep programs, including examples of what instruction in these skills would look like. Mississippi, the report said, has a curriculum assessment tool that includes guidance on vetting curricula, including determining how well the curriculum supports teachers of English learners.

NCTQ said that while research shows states spend about $1 billion on reading curricula, only nine states require districts to use high-quality reading curricula, while the remaining states give autonomy to their districts to purchase reading curricula even if it isn't research-based.