The problem is that people of various ages have different educational experiences, different jobs and different circumstances, affecting how they develop and retain their skills.

In , my colleagues and I find that skills typically rise until the 40s, after which reading skills gently fall and math skills more steeply. Even here, however, the story is not so simple. These averages mask the fact that any decline is closely tied to how much the skills are used. 

Simply put, people who read and do math on a regular basis hold on to those skills at least into their 60s.

Economists are interested in understanding this  because reading and math skills are closely related to economic outcomes. More highly skilled individuals tend to earn more, and countries with more skilled populations grow faster. Here is the big issue: Most developed countries of the world have aging populations. Does this then imply worse economic outcomes as we go forward?

The research challenge in answering this question has been a lack of appropriate data. For the most part, existing data on age and skills do not come from observing a representative sample of people as they age. Instead, they come from comparing the skills of different people of different ages, say one at 30 and one at 40, and assuming that after aging for 10 years, the 30-year-old will look like the 40-year-old.

But these two people grew up in different circumstances, with differing quality schooling and other factors that might affect their skills. Thus, any effects of aging are mixed up with other societal factors.

We overcome this problem by using unique German data that follow a representative sample of 3,263 adults over a three- to four-year period. At the initial survey and again at the later survey, the individuals are given the same reading and math test. Thus, it is possible to observe directly the impact of age on skills. 

What we found was that skills, on average, continue to increase into the 40s, and they never dip below the levels the individuals enjoyed in their 20s.

Perhaps the more important finding is that even this later decline is not inevitable. These average patterns hide the dramatic differences in aging between those who use literacy and numeracy skills consistently at home or work and those who do not. The survey data asked about the frequency of doing separate items such as 鈥渃alculating prices, costs, or budgets鈥� for math or 鈥渞eading letters, memos, or e-mails鈥� for reading. 

Those with above-average usage never showed declining skills at least until age 65, when our data ended. Those who weren鈥檛 much using math or reading skills peaked in their early 30s.

Interestingly, based on assumed high-skill usage, some previous analyses followed the skill patterns for white-collar and highly educated workers. When we look at these factors, we find the same answers: Among professionals or highly educated individuals, those who use the skills never show declines with age, but those who do not use the skills do, in fact, start to decline. Women show a sharper drop in numeracy skills as they grow older than men, perhaps based on educational background or career choices.

While our results, in principle, offer some consolation for countries with aging populations, they also highlight the importance of policy attention toward not only the accumulation of skills in schools, but also their retention through using those skills and pursuing lifelong learning.

Fostering expanded learning opportunities takes on increased importance with such societal changes as the broad introduction of various forms of artificial intelligence, which could force a large number of people to change what and how they are doing their work. Unfortunately, while the idea of lifelong learning is frequently discussed in policy contexts, little has been done to make it a reality. 

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A lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court accuses famous literacy specialists Lucy Calkins, Irene Fountas, and Gay Su Pinnell and their publisher Heinemann of pushing reading curriculums they knew didn鈥檛 work.

Adopting a consumer protection approach, the lawsuit charges the curriculum authors with 鈥渄eceptive and fraudulent marketing.鈥� The filing alleges they willfully ignored decades of research into more effective practices and used shoddy studies to prop up their own work, then charged school districts for updates when they were forced to admit their materials were not effective.

鈥淭hink about that: If your car is broken, and it鈥檚 the fault of the manufacturer, the manufacturer recalls the part and fixes it,鈥� said attorney Ben Elga, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs. 鈥淭hey do not charge you for their failure. It鈥檚 outrageous.鈥�

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The lawsuit also names Heinemann parent company HMH, previously known as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Teachers College at Columbia University.

The plaintiffs, who are seeking class action status and inviting other families to join the lawsuit, are two Massachusetts families whose children struggled to learn to read. One of the parent plaintiffs, Karrie Conley, said in the lawsuit that due to her school district using Calkins鈥� Units of Study curriculum, she had to spend more on private school tuition and reading tutors for two of her children than she spent to send her older child to college.

鈥淣othing is more painful than trying to help them, but not knowing how,鈥� she said in a Wednesday press conference announcing the lawsuit. 鈥淪o many times I鈥檝e asked myself, How did it get like this? I trusted that when I was sending my children off to school, they were getting instruction that had been tested and proven effective. I trusted that these so-called experts were actually experts.鈥�

The lawsuit comes as many states are overhauling their approach to reading instruction to better align with decades of research into how children learn. What鈥檚 known as calls for explicit phonics instruction that helps students connect letters and sounds, as well as texts that help students build the background knowledge to understand what they read.

Calkins鈥� Units of Study curriculum and Fountas and Pinnell鈥檚 Leveled Literacy Intervention and other materials instead relied on exposure to books and promoted discredited methods such as three-cueing, in which students use the first letter of a word and various context clues, including pictures, to guess what a word might be.

These curriculums were widely used in American schools, with Calkins in particular achieving near legendary status among teachers. Critics say these instructional methods are largely to blame for American students鈥� low rates of reading proficiency. Journalist Emily Hanford鈥檚 and her podcast helped push these pedagogical debates into the public eye.

Calkins later and changed Units of Study to include more phonics instruction. But . Units of Study was once the , but the nation鈥檚 largest school system . Last year, Teachers College .

Fountas and Pinnell, meanwhile, have .

A lawsuit represents one perspective on a complaint. Representatives of Heinemann, Teachers College, and Calkins, Fountas, and Pinnell could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Heinemann has .

Dozens of states have adopted new curriculum standards that , but others, including Massachusetts, have not.

Elga, the lead attorney and founding executive director of , has a background in consumer protection and antitrust cases. He said he believes this is the first time that a consumer protection approach has been used to advance an education policy agenda.

鈥淐onsumer law is very broad, so there are a lot of cases that challenge products that don鈥檛 do what they say they should do or are marketed in a deceptive way,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is the first case we鈥檙e aware of applying those laws to this type of product.鈥�

The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages and injunctive relief, including that the defendants provide an early literacy curriculum that reflects the science of reading at no charge.

Families have previously sued states and school districts over rock-bottom literacy rates, alleging that government entities have failed in their obligation to meet students鈥� basic educational needs. These and that sent millions of dollars to districts with low reading levels but without mandates on how to teach reading.

Elga said he sees school districts as victims alongside students.

鈥淚t鈥檚 our contention that one of the major problems here is that the school districts have been the victims of this faulty marketing,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o we wanted to bring a case that challenged the people who were actually distributing these types of materials.鈥�

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Alaska鈥檚 Department of Education and Early Development released statewide assessment data on Friday that shows most students are not proficient in core subjects.

The scores are similar to overall, even though the state in January. Education Commissioner Deena Bishop said then that Alaska鈥檚 standards are still in the top third in the nation.

The Alaska System of Academic Readiness test, commonly referred to as the AK STAR assessment, evaluates student knowledge of grade-level standards in English language arts and mathematics for third through ninth graders and grade-level standards for science in fifth, eighth and 10th grades.

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Student scores fall into four levels of achievement: advanced, proficient, approaching proficient, and needs support.

Across grade levels, roughly 32% of Alaska students were proficient or advanced in both English language arts and mathematics. Nearly 37% of students across grade levels tested were proficient or better in science.

Bishop appealed to Alaskans to use the results for continuous improvement in a statement released on Friday.

鈥淪tate assessments play a role in measuring how well our students meet the Alaska standards 鈥� standards shaped by Alaskan educators. By accepting the results without defense, we commit to using these data for improvement,鈥� she said in a news release. 鈥淎laska is not merely focused on the outcomes themselves, rather our goal is to build the capacity in our students鈥� foundational knowledge and ability for their future in work and life.鈥�

Pre-pandemic comparisons to measure if students鈥� scores are improving after school closures are difficult because the state changed its assessment. Scores were in the 2018-2019 academic year, however. Then, 39% of students were proficient in or advanced scorers in English language arts and nearly 36% of students were proficient or better in math.

Fifth graders performed best on the 2024 tests. More than 37% met or exceeded state proficiency standards, which was a nearly 2% increase over the previous year. Nearly half of fifth graders, more than 47%, were proficient or better in science standards.

Eighth, ninth and tenth graders had lower levels of proficiency. The state said 鈥渆fforts are underway鈥� to support students in reading and offer career and technical education options.

Officials with the state Department of Education and Early Childhood did not respond to questions about how to understand this year鈥檚 scores in the contact of previous years and pandemic recovery.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: info@alaskabeacon.com. Follow Alaska Beacon on and .

Nearly a decade ago, Cecil County Public Schools had some of the lowest-performing elementary schools in Maryland, and teachers used a variety of homegrown curriculum and curated resources to varying effect. Loud calls for change were coming from the teachers鈥� union and Central Office.

Today, our schools all use , a highly structured, open-source curriculum published by the University of Delaware. We adopted and implemented Bookworms districtwide at a rapid clip in 2016 and quickly saw in the share of students in grades 3鈥�5 scoring proficient on statewide tests. We have consistently fine-tuned our practices to maintain progress in the years since.

Most major changes don鈥檛 happen without a long lead time or thoroughly debated pilot. And many changes cannot be sustained over the long haul. Our experience with Bookworms is a counterexample to both. It is possible to move fast and build reforms that last. Here鈥檚 how.

Start with this: Standards are not curriculum

In part, our sustainable change may be rooted in the fundamentally unsustainable practices we sought to replace.

In the past culture of Cecil County schools, teachers were expected to 鈥渢each the standards.鈥� In day-to-day life, this meant unpacking state standards as they related to their particular students and designing curriculum, including by picking and choosing among far-flung resources and tried-and-true favorite texts. Too often, this approach didn鈥檛 work. Students鈥� educational trajectories were unpredictable and disjointed. Beloved books were not always at grade level. Meanwhile, teachers were overtaxed, and the local union was calling for public hearings to discuss curriculum and workload.

Around 2015, the district convened a committee to select a standard English language arts elementary school curriculum, one that would allow teachers to focus on instruction and more reliably connect students with rigorous, grade-level learning. The committee selected Journeys and Wonders, by heavyweight publishers Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and McGraw-Hill. Both were costly, comprehensive literacy programs with leveled readers and a suite of related activities and resources.

I was appointed Associate Superintendent of Education Services in 2016 and given a clear mandate from the superintendent: Raise reading scores, now. I reviewed the work of the curriculum committee, and then cast a wider net. 

The traditional curriculums that were being considered were bulky and based on teacher choice, which essentially tasked teachers with daily lesson design. It seemed likely that almost no real change would occur.

Ask for expertise and evidence

There had to be more options. I started by tapping trusted colleagues in my professional and personal networks. What districts were making literacy progress? What high-quality, evidence-based programs were they using? Through these queries, I heard about the Christina School District in Newark, Delaware. The Bookworms curriculum, published by the University of Delaware, was helping 鈥渕ove students in Newark,鈥� I was told.

My district is about six miles from the University of Delaware, where I am an alumnus. I made some calls, and with senior colleagues from Cecil County, soon visited a school principal and observed reading instruction in Newark.

Bookworms was a clear fit for our needs. Rather than using leveled readers, instruction is rooted in published grade-level books that students can find at the local library. The Lexile levels were far higher that what we had been using in our district, which was crucial. Just as important, Bookworms lessons are designed so all students can access challenging grade-level books, even if they cannot yet read them independently. We saw that this could help Cecil County students break out of their guided reading groups.

The curriculum is highly structured, standards-based, and taught in three 45-minute periods: an interactive read-aloud that engages all students, a writing and literacy instructional period, and a tiered support period. Teachers鈥� time and planning energies are reserved for practicing instruction and working to meet individual students鈥� needs, not designing curriculum on their own.

I also found that the Newark teachers were enthusiastic ambassadors for the curriculum, which as an open-source publication would cost us far less than the prepackaged traditional programs. In my experience, when a group of teachers raves about a resource, you should probably take a look and see why. And by spending less upfront, we could invest more resources in aligned, ongoing professional development to help teachers improve their instructional practice.

Support sustainable change

I recommended Bookworms to the superintendent, who agreed and opted to proceed full steam ahead: no pilot, no public comment period. We did plenty of salesmanship and relationship-building to support a smooth rollout. But the move to Bookworms happened quickly and was not up for debate. We wanted to make a move and keep things simple, and Bookworms was sufficiently streamlined and structured to allow us to do that.

It was important to protect morale and ensure teachers felt supported during the shift. One powerful strategy was to direct all school-based administrators not to base performance evaluations on observations of Bookworms lessons in the first year. Our teachers and administrators were learning the curriculum at the same time and with varying levels of prior expertise. Attaching stakes to classroom evaluations of those lessons was not fair. That took a lot of the pressure off, and both teachers and administrators became more comfortable with the curriculum and with one another. We also brought eight literacy coaches in from the University of Delaware to train and assist, which was helpful.

Another move that helped create a stable transition was allowing elementary level teachers to choose subject specialties. Cecil County also changed math curriculums at this time, and teachers in grades 3鈥�5 were given the opportunity to teach either reading and social studies or math and science. This allowed teachers to really focus on one curriculum and set of instructional strategies. 

We also built in out-of-classroom supports for the curriculum, such as an innovative relationship with the county library system. Our students can check a book on the Bookworms reading list out of the library and have it delivered to them in school.

Finally, we did not count on universal enthusiasm right away. I believe that there are times and places where leaders have to take a stand and ask that others come along with them. Then, people need time to experience and come to their own conclusion about whatever change is underway. That鈥檚 been my experience with teachers, who may first encounter a planned reform with skepticism but are almost always immediately won over when they see benefits for their students. Decide and act, and then wait.

Four months after we first implemented Bookworms, one of our early skeptics sent me a note that said, 鈥淚 just love the fact that we are building good little readers.鈥� That鈥檚 the sort of evidence that will keep enthusiasm high and maintain curriculum improvement over the long term.

The 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� is a trending topic in state legislatures and gubernatorial speeches 鈥� over the past decade, passed new laws or implemented new policies that require evidence-based literacy instruction. This past January, my home state of Maryland joined the list when the Board of Education required all schools and districts implement evidence-based literacy instruction . 

This is a major shift for many districts, where leveled readers and balanced literacy have long ruled the day. It鈥檚 also more complex than a simple mandate, since the 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� isn鈥檛 a single program or technique. To successfully bring research-backed reading instruction into the classroom, districts will need to identify and invest in high-quality materials and ensure teachers and communities are prepared to make sustainable, lasting change.

While advocates and educators have been engaged in about reading proficiency in Maryland for many years, relatively few communities have undertaken the specific work of changing curriculum and instruction to follow the science of reading. Washington County Public Schools, where I lead curriculum and instruction as an associate superintendent, has been focused on this work since 2020. Districtwide, preschool and K鈥�5 teachers are now using a new high-quality, knowledge-rich literacy curriculum: Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts, or CKLA.

How did we do it? 

We have learned a lot over these past few years. Bringing the science of reading to the classroom requires careful research, strong collaboration and consensus-building, aligned professional learning, and robust ongoing support for school leaders.

Study the Evidence

Washington County started this work with a clear look at kindergarten-achievement data, which showed that just 39 percent of students met benchmark targets in reading in 2019. It was evident that although everyone worked hard, our students were not reading as well as they should. That helped us reflect on our beliefs and practices and ask big questions. Teachers, coaches, and administrators can ask similar questions by looking at their own data as they consider what students stand to gain from new evidence-based literacy instruction.

It鈥檚 important to understand the evidence before adopting sweeping change. We established partnerships to ensure that we thoroughly understood the research and create a vision for local success. Through our first partnership with the , we collaborated with Nell Duke to reflect on and elevate our approach to early literacy. 

Duke, who is a member of the , helped us look beyond leveled texts and shift toward instructional expectations aligned with the principles of the science of reading. For example, rather than encouraging students to read independently at their comfort level, our teachers could use a variety of strategies to engage students with appropriately rigorous texts that built on their knowledge of the world, such as read-alouds, partner reads, and activities to learn vocabulary specific to a theme or topic.

Co-Create Consensus

We also engaged to help facilitate our vision. A diverse group of participants, including elementary and secondary teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, special-education teachers, and district leaders, worked together to identify our beliefs, priorities, and what would be needed to update reading instruction. We presented these ideas to school leaders, community stakeholders, and families, as well as our elected Board of Education. Through this transparent process, we created clear, shared beliefs and expectations for improved literacy instruction in Washington County.

That meant choosing a new curriculum, which would serve as the foundation and guide for our efforts. With the district鈥檚 English Language Arts leaders, Washington County teachers chose Amplify CKLA because it is both evidence-based and knowledge-rich. Through our research and work with Duke, we knew that content knowledge is essential for enhancing reading comprehension because it allows students to better connect with and understand text. Our vision-building community exercises were helpful in this step as well. Background knowledge helps students make meaningful inferences and draw on relevant prior knowledge, which is critical for deep comprehension and learning from reading 鈥� priorities for our students. Best of all, knowledge-building curriculums like Amplify CKLA are organized into units that explore a single topic, like farm animals or mythology, students can talk about what they are learning, since they are all reading about the same thing at the same time.

Prioritize Professional Learning

Washington County teachers had access to the new curriculum in the spring of 2023, nearly six months before implementation. Teachers participated in curriculum-based professional learning during the school day, as well as before and after school. Instructional leaders developed new protocols to practice and prepare units and individual lessons, and an instructional coach from Amplify offered support. Teachers have opportunities to study the curriculum, ask questions, and practice instructional techniques together. 

In addition, the district purchased a training course for educators on evidence-based reading instruction techniques created by TNTP. The course emphasizes foundational skills and guides teachers on how to apply these principles in the classroom. District leadership, teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals all completed the training to build a shared understanding of the science of reading.

Offer Ongoing Support for School Leaders

The success of any school-based initiative depends on the principal, who works with teachers daily and knows their staff and students best. We meet with our principals for a full day once a month, with half of that time dedicated to instruction and coaching. In addition, elementary-school principals routinely visit other schools to watch instruction and share observations with peers and Central Office staff. Principals also participate in quarterly data meetings where district and school leadership work together to analyze student achievement data. These structures create an ongoing dialogue focused on instructional excellence among principals and between principals and district leaders.

At the heart of these efforts is collaboration and a shared set of beliefs. Transitioning to a high-quality, knowledge-building curriculum and instruction based in the science of reading isn鈥檛 easy, and I am grateful for the efforts of our teachers, administrators, and central office staff. With their hard work, and by establishing partnerships, fostering open dialogues about data, and providing structured professional development, Washington County has created an environment where change can and has happened鈥攑roof positive for districts across Maryland and the country facing similar challenges in the months and years ahead.

Gary Willow is Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction at Washington County Public Schools in Hagerstown, MD.

Imagination Library of Montana celebrated the statewide expansion earlier this summer of the program providing free books to children.

An initiative of First Lady Susan Gianforte, Imagination Library of Montana is a partner of Dolly Parton鈥檚 Imagination Library. The Governor鈥檚 Office announced in June the growth of the nonprofit that boosts early childhood literacy.

鈥淚t is exciting to see how Imagination Library continues to spread across Montana and inspire a love of reading in our state鈥檚 youngest readers,鈥� First Lady Gianforte said in a statement. 鈥淥ur local partners have done a fantastic job helping families get enrolled and spreading the word that this program is available to all Montana children up to age 5.

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鈥淚 look forward to seeing its continued growth and impact.鈥�

The program provides a free book each month to any child up to 5 who

鈥淧rior to launching the initiative, the program was only available in some Montana counties and approximately 9,500 Montana children were enrolled,鈥� said a news release from the Governor鈥檚 Office. 鈥淭oday, Imagination Library of Montana has 63 local program partners in all 56 counties serving nearly 24,000 of the state鈥檚 eligible children.鈥�

It said Montana is the 16th state to take the program statewide. The news release said the program is part of the Dollywood Foundation, a nonprofit that has gifted more than 200 million free books in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.

The Imagine Library mails more than 2 million 鈥渉igh-quality, age-appropriate books鈥� each month, said the news release.

鈥淒olly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading and inspiring children to Dream More, Learn More, Care More and Be More. The program has been widely researched, and results demonstrate its positive impact on early childhood development and literacy skills,鈥� said the news release. 鈥淏oosting literacy to empower more Montana children and promoting and expanding access to STEM education, particularly for girls and students in our rural communities, are our First Lady鈥檚 chief initiatives.鈥�

United Way of Missoula County announced this month it had delivered its 300,000th book through the Imagination Library program after opening in 2015. It operates in Missoula and Mineral counties and helped launch the program in Ravalli County.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

Cindy Lane takes it personally that Kansas needed a Kansas Blueprint for Literacy initiative to improve preparation of educators to teach reading and funnel more literate students into colleges and the workplace.

Lane, retired special education teacher and former superintendent of Kansas City, Kansas, schools, will soon step down from the Kansas Board of Regents to become administrative director of Blueprint for Literacy. The Kansas Legislature adopted and Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law a bill mandating the state鈥檚 education system engrain in current and future teachers evidence-based reading science strategies.

A bipartisan coalition of state legislators earmarked $10 million to implement the blueprint and work to change the lives of 40% of Kansas public school students not proficient at reading.

鈥淔rankly, this is personal,鈥� Lane said. 鈥淚 was a kid who my favorite subject was recess. It really was. The way that reading was approached at that time didn鈥檛 connect with how I think and grow and I really didn鈥檛 learn to read until I was in junior high. And, I can鈥檛 imagine being a person who never had a teacher that figured out what鈥檚 the code for that kid to be able to learn to read. I can鈥檛 imagine what their life must be like today.鈥�

Lane, who plans to resign from the state Board of Regents on June 24, will collaborate with universities and school districts to reform instruction of college students studying to become teachers and to provide existing teachers with new literacy tools. The law also required creation of an oversight commission, the establishment of university centers of excellence and regular accountability reports to the Legislature.

鈥淭here is an imperative here to make sure that all of our students are highly literate,鈥� Lane said on the Kansas Reflector podcast. 鈥淭hey have to be able to read and write well to be successful today. So, for me, this is dream making. You have a dream. I want to help you get there.鈥�

鈥楪et off the sidelines鈥�

Blake Flanders, president of the Kansas Board of Regents, said the law could be viewed as the largest workforce development project in state history in terms of targeted training and retraining within the education field.

The Board of Regents, which has jurisdiction over the six state universities, will have a prominent role due to the number of school of education students in the pipeline who must enroll in a pair of three-credit-hour courses offering hands-on experience in teaching reading to children.

Under Senate Bill 438, the state universities must begin offering the two new literacy courses this fall or be sanctioned. Kansas State University and the two other larger universities would lose $1 million if they procrastinated, while Fort Hays State University and the two other regional universities would lose $500,000 if they balked.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 have enough students reading at grade level,鈥� said Flanders, who argued 40% proficiency among students should be viewed as a crisis. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to get off the sidelines. We鈥檙e the ones charged with educating the educators. Right? So we鈥檙e stepping into the arena to not say we have all the answers, but to open open the tent to everybody.鈥�

The Kansas State Board of Education will be part of the mix given the plan to retrain thousands of licensed Kansas educators in reading instruction, Flanders said. Both boards will be expected to collaborate with the new Literacy Advisory Committee.

Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican and chair of the Senate Education Committee, worked on creating the framework for an inclusive approach to elevating reading instruction with higher education institution, education advocates, school districts and parents. It will add to the state鈥檚 deliberate work to improve early literacy success of young children.

鈥淔or many years,鈥� she said, 鈥渢he Kansas Legislature has recognized the solid science behind early literacy success in children. It requires early screening of children, solid teacher training and classroom materials that support evidence-base practices.鈥�

Advisory panel key

The advisory committee established by the law must be in place by Jan. 1 with representatives from universities, community colleges, technical colleges, the state Board of Education, the state Board of Regents and the Legislature.

鈥淭his group is essential,鈥� Lane said. 鈥淲e need all the minds at the table. It鈥檚 a big tent kind of mentality. My role is almost like the general manager of a baseball team. And, this advisory committee is on the field in the positions and they will be called on based on their individual knowledge at times, but they also may be called on to go somewhere else on the field and perform.鈥�

Likewise, the advisory panel would develop a plan by Jan. 1 to establish the centers of excellence in reading that would provide assessment and diagnosis of reading difficulties, train educators in simulation labs and support other professional learning opportunities. The intent of the law would be for all elementary school teachers in Kansas to earn a reading instruction credential by 2030.

The law set goals for student achievement. Half of students in third to eighth grades would be expected to achieve Level 3 in standardized testing in reading by 2033, which would mean they understood skills and knowledge needed to be college or career ready. Also, the 2033 target would be for 90% of these 3rd to 8th grade students would read at Level 2, which is viewed as equal to their grade level in school.

Flanders said one estimate indicated the state鈥檚 economy would create 56,000 new jobs by 2030. Eighty percent of those would require a baccalaureate degree and the current rate of achievement in reading in Kansas public schools wouldn鈥檛 fill that workforce gap, he said.

The state university system would be 鈥渃ommitting malpractice鈥� to acknowledge students and teachers were struggling with reading instruction but choose not to be part of the solution, Lane said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on and .

As researchers specializing in linguistics and early literacy development, we celebrate the growing movement to connect preschool instruction with the science of reading. Between 2019 and 2022,  passed new laws requiring schools adopt a scientific approach to reading curriculum and instruction. In 31 states, the laws apply to preschool students as well. 

These mandates are a golden opportunity to capitalize on the unique energy, curiosity, and explosive growth in oral language that children experience during the preschool years. 

Early-learning experiences have exponential power: they can shape lifelong learning habits and accelerate literacy, particularly for English-language learners. To unlock that potential, educators and providers must ensure that students acquire a critical mass of vocabulary and related content knowledge from engaging social studies and science texts and activities.Knowledge-rich preschool curriculum is the key. To assist states and preschool providers as they revisit their literacy lessons, the Knowledge Matter Campaign recently updated its K鈥�8 English Language Arts  to include 鈥淓arly Childhood Essentials.鈥�

Big Ideas for Little Learners

When students learn to read in elementary school, they draw on their vocabulary and what they already know about the subject to make sense of the words on the page. For decades, research has shown that a preschool student鈥檚 vocabulary size is a powerful predictor of their later academic success, and that background knowledge is a powerful factor in reading comprehension. Preschool curriculums that intentionally build student knowledge through activities that engage young children with complex oral language are designed with these insights in mind.

The Knowledge Matters Campaign has identified four major attributes of a high-quality, evidence-based, knowledge-building preschool curriculum:

• They are grounded in read-alouds on science and social studies topics that include target vocabulary and are compelling to young children, like space travel or weather.
• They include texts from multiple genres, such as stories and informational texts, that are presented in sequence and use the target vocabulary words.
• They teach related words, phrases, and ideas, including academic vocabulary.
• They extend learning through individual and small-group activities that prompt students to draw on their knowledge and use complex, content-rich language, such as discussions or sensory learning.

Knowledge-Building in Action

What does a knowledge-building preschool curriculum look like? Such classrooms follow multi-week units focused on a single, high-interest topic. Their walls feature art and photographs about the topic, and teachers actively engage students in read-alouds and discussions that are focused on the topic. A set of vocabulary words are gradually introduced and reinforced in texts, discussions, and activities.

For example, in the  used in New York City public preschools, a three-week Wild Animals unit is focused on an interrelated set of 10 vocabulary words and what information students should know by the end of the unit. Teachers and students discuss these key concepts, such as that wild animals live outdoors and away from humans, and are not kept as pets, and use target vocabulary words like bear, lion, and giraffe. All the while, they connect this learning to 鈥渂ig ideas鈥� such as where wild animals live and how wild animals either protect themselves or need protection from others.

Discussions are grounded in five books: a nonfiction information book, two storybooks, and two 鈥減redictable鈥� books, which use repetitive phrases and sentence structure. Varying text types expose students to several types of academic language, in addition to the colloquial language preschoolers pick up from their peers. When teachers read and re-read these books aloud throughout the unit, students are welcomed to chime in and participate in the read-aloud.

Consider the opening lines in If I Were a Lion, an illustrated predictable book about wild animals written in verse:

If I were a lion / I鈥檇 growl and roar / and knock the dishes / on the floor.
If I were a bear / I鈥檇 have big claws / I鈥檇 rip up pillows with my paws.

Students can explore the vocabulary and ideas, learn the cadence of the passage, and build important connections about different animals, habitats, and behaviors鈥攁ll while they practice early-literacy basics like print awareness and letter knowledge. Repetitive texts and related topic knowledge are especially helpful to English-language learners, since they connect new vocabulary with tangible information about the world.

A  found positive impacts on student vocabulary and understanding of science concepts. And in the dynamic preschool classroom, extension activities about everyday social studies and science topics are at the ready, from a visit to a school garden to a walk around the neighborhood鈥攁ctivities that engage and excite young children.

Plus, learning about lions and bears is a lot more fun than learning about 鈥淟鈥� and 鈥淏.鈥�

Schemas Make Skillful Readers

Knowledge-building curriculums also prepare students to read and understand texts about unfamiliar topics. Preschoolers don鈥檛 just learn about wild animals; rather, they experience how information can be related and organized within a theme or topic. Content-rich texts and lessons prompt students to build knowledge networks and conceptual frameworks, or schemas, that help them identify patterns and take in more sophisticated ideas. When students experience this type of understanding, they develop inferencing skills that they apply to other information.

Strong readers are not born鈥攖hey are built over time, and those efforts start in preschool. As states take a closer look at preschool education, curriculums designed to build oral language and student knowledge can point the way forward. Today鈥檚 joyful chatter can be tomorrow鈥檚 persuasive essay, so long as we start early and give these curious, fast-developing students the tools and opportunities they need to thrive.

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

The bill calls for more instructional materials and curriculum for classrooms to align with the science of reading. It also emphasizes the need for increased professional development for teachers and more progress monitoring for students struggling with reading. 

鈥淎ll English language arts, English language development, and reading textbooks and instructional materials for transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, shall adhere to the science of reading,鈥� reads the bill which was submitted to the Assembly鈥檚 education and higher education committee in February.

Schools would require a waiver if educators wanted to use instructional materials that aren鈥檛 aligned with the science of reading. It is supported by 12 Democrats and two Republicans in the state assembly.

 A December 2023 by , and found 60% of California students aren鈥檛 reading at grade level skills by the time they reach third grade. 

鈥淎s an educator, I have firsthand knowledge of the struggles instructors face to ensure their students know how to read,鈥� Rubio said in a statement. 鈥淐alifornia teachers work tirelessly to better the success of each student. However, California is failing its students, especially diverse students from low-income families.鈥�

In the 2022-2023 school year, 31% of third-graders in low-income families were reading on grade level. For students not considered low-income, 63% were reading on grade level.

That trend has been steady for nearly a decade, with low-income students underperforming in reading tests every year since at least 2014.

鈥淗istorically, we鈥檝e seen low performance in literacy in California,鈥� said Eugenia Mora-Flores, a professor and an assistant dean at USC鈥檚 Rossier School of Education. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not surprising, actually. We鈥檝e definitely seen low literacy performance in large districts like L.A. Unified and others where we have students that are not performing at grade level.鈥�

To address low scores, legislators want teachers to use the science of reading. Some schools across the state already use this method when teaching students. Others use 鈥渨hole language,鈥� which focuses on the meanings of words instead of breaking them down into pieces.

That鈥檚 different from the science of reading, which relies on phonics and encourages students to learn how letter combinations sound out loud to decode words based on their spellings.

鈥淸The science of reading] is an acknowledgment that kids will learn to read if they can learn the letters, sound them out and gradually pick up on fluency over time,鈥� said Pedro Noguera, dean of USC鈥檚 education school. 鈥淚f you don’t read at proficiency by third grade, then you’re in trouble because everything in school is literacy-based. After learning to read, then you read to learn, right? If you can’t read a math problem, you can’t do the math.鈥�

Noguera said a mandate alone won鈥檛 solve California鈥檚 literacy problem without looking at the bigger picture when it comes to teaching kids to read.

鈥淚f we just focus on the science of reading, on phonics, we鈥檙e also missing the point, right?鈥� Noguera said. 鈥淚f we want kids to be good readers, phonics is not going to take them there. They need good books. They need a comprehensive approach to literacy.鈥� 

鈥淎ll English language arts, English language development, and reading textbooks and instructional materials for transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, shall adhere to the science of reading,鈥� the bill reads.

Dozens of states across the country have already implemented laws enforcing the science of reading.

Last year, Indiana mandated that schools must use the science of reading by fall 2024. So have legislators in Michigan, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, among others. 

In a state with one of the in the country, Mora-Flores said it will come down to how well the mandate is implemented across California.

鈥淚n some ways, [the bill] can be seen as a good thing because it’s saying, at minimum, we all need to make sure kids are getting something, and you’re going to be held accountable to it because now it’s policy,鈥� Mora-Flores said. 鈥淥n the other side of that, it’s really going to come down to the quality of translation and implementation.鈥�

This article is part of a collaboration between 蜜桃影视 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Starting next year, Ohio school districts and community schools will have to use core curriculum and instructional materials for English language arts and reading intervention programs from lists created by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce as part of the state鈥檚 science of reading implementation.

their list for聽pre-kindergarten and kindergarten through fifth grade, and about a third of the state鈥檚 school districts and community schools are already using at least one of the initially approved core reading instruction curriculum, according to ODEW survey results.

This is part of ODEW鈥檚 efforts to聽implement the science of reading across classrooms starting next school year.

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The state鈥檚 two-year, $191 billion budget included 鈥� $86 million for educator professional development, $64 million for curriculum and instructional materials, and $18 million for literacy coaches.

The science of reading of research that shows how the human brain learns to read and incorporates phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Ohio is one of 37 states that have passed laws or implemented new policies related to evidence-based reading since 2013, according to .

鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing more important than young people knowing how to read,鈥� Gov. Mike DeWine said back in January at ODEW. 鈥淚鈥檓 convinced that using the right curriculum and making sure all the teachers are teaching in that way based upon the science of reading is going to make a huge, huge difference in the next few years.鈥�

It has previously been reported that聽聽and 33% of third graders were not proficient in reading before COVID-19.

鈥淚 think this is a great opportunity to really improve reading in the state of Ohio and it鈥檚 one thing I鈥檓 going to monitor myself very, very closely,鈥� DeWine said.

ODEW Survey

One of the first steps in preparing to get the science of reading in every Ohio classroom was figuring out what curriculum is currently being used in schools and what professional development educators are receiving.

ODEW sent a survey in September to all public school and community school superintendents (1,007 in total) about the instructional materials they use and professional development training their educators receive.听Almost all of them (995) completed the survey as of Dec. 22 and .

The survey showed 789 school districts and community schools use the same core instructional materials for kindergarten through fifth grade. Of those, 93% use published curriculum while the remaining 7% use locally created instructional materials for core literacy instruction.

Professional development

Nearly 70% of school districts and community schools said their teachers previously completed science of reading professional development before this current school year, according to the survey results.

The science of reading provisions in the budget includes stipends for teachers to receive professional development in the science of reading.

K-5 teachers, English language teachers in grades 6-12, intervention specialists, English learner teachers, reading specialists and instructional coaches will receive $1,200 stipends. There will also be $400 stipends for middle and high schoolers teachers in other subject areas.

All teachers and administrators must complete their professional development by July 2025, unless they have already completed a similar course.

鈥淚t was very plain to me and to my wife, Fran as we traveled around the state last year that a lot of teachers had come out of their college without really the background in science of reading,鈥� DeWine said. 鈥淪o this is going to take a while, but I think teachers are embracing it when they really start to see the results.鈥�

The Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor is required to create an audit process that shows how every educator training program aligns with teaching the science of reading instruction.

Literacy coaches

The budget will fund 100 literacy coaches that will help public schools with the lowest level of proficiency in literacy based on their performance in the state鈥檚 English language arts assessment.

More than 400 community schools and districts reported having no literacy coaches. 18 districts and community schools have between six and 10 literacy coaches, and 10 reported having more than 10 literacy coaches, according to the survey results.

Having spent years focusing on reading skills for early elementary school students, the Alabama State Board of Education is seeking funds to boost literacy after third grade.

The State Board of Education on Oct. 12 approved a budget request for 鈥渟truggling readers beyond grade 3鈥� for $22 million. Last year, the Board had requested $3 million, but did not receive any funding for the program.

State Superintendent Eric Mackey said during the September work session that the earlier program had been a small one for a small number of students. The rest of the board members wanted to see something larger.

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The $22 million would go to professional training for teachers. Mackey said in a phone interview they鈥檝e heard from superintendents that they want an equivalent professional development for teaching literacy for teachers from fourth to sixth grade, like kindergarten through third grade under the Literacy Act.

鈥淪ome of them are already doing it but this would give us a chance to really expand that,鈥� he said.

The Alabama Literacy Act, passed In 2019, aimed to get all students reading on grade level by the end of third grade and boost overall literacy scores in the state.  The bill provides funding for teaching training and reading coaches to ensure students master reading. Students that are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade could be held back a year.

At the September work session, Mackey said that the department need funding for readers beyond third grade because the law states that Alabama Reading Initiative funds cannot be used beyond that point.

But students don鈥檛 stop struggling with reading after third grade.

Vicky Askew, a reading specialist with Tallapoosa County Schools, said that continuing reading instruction past the third grade is important. She said that some students in her system are getting reading intervention in fourth and fifth grade, if they have enough instructors who work with at-risk students in learning literacy.

鈥淚 feel like they need it because we can鈥檛 just say, 鈥極h, they鈥檙e in fourth grade: Good luck,鈥欌�� she said.

House Ways and Means Education chair Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, said he was not familiar with the specific request in the board鈥檚 budget, but he supports literacy.

鈥淩eading is a priority for the Department of Education and also for the Legislature,鈥� he said.

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the chair of the House Education Policy committee and the sponsor of the Literacy Act, said Tuesday she has not looked into what exactly the board is asking for, but she said she was happy to hear about the request.

鈥淚 think that we will see a large group in summer school this year which is one of the ways to  go ahead and move towards promotion, which is what we want for all of the students but we want to make sure that they鈥檙e reading,鈥� she said.

Collins said that having teachers know how to teach the science of reading, a body of research about learning literacy, is a good thing.

In the National Assessment of Education Progress, or the 鈥渘ation鈥檚 report card,鈥� scores released in 2022, Alabama improved relative to many other states due to learning loss in other states. Alabama鈥檚 own scores were relatively stagnant and remained below average.

NAEP proficiency is not equivalent to Alabama grade level.

Mackey that the department had been focused on elementary grade level scores for a while and middle school had not received as much attention.

Mackey said this funding is part of a focus on the middle school years. He said the Numeracy Act, which focuses on math improvement, looks at grades kindergarten through eighth grade. The Literacy Act, he said, also discusses intermediate years.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just that it鈥檚 not funded, so we鈥檙e asking for some funding,鈥� he said.

The education budget is first reviewed by the governor, who will make a funding request to the Legislature when the Legislature returns for its regular session in February. Mackey said he  doesn鈥檛 know what the grand total for the Education Trust Fund will be.

He said that their roughly $6.2 billion request, which is just for kindergarten through twelfth grade, is probably more than will be allotted.

Higher education funding also comes from the Education Trust Fund but is not included in the department鈥檚 request.

Later, he said, the department will work with executive offices on a real budget number to identify priorities and how funding is allocated.

Mackey said their role is identifying needs in schools, not balancing the budget.

鈥淪o we鈥檝e identified needs, and we鈥檝e asked for a lot,鈥� he said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com. Follow Alabama Reflector on and .

Summer reading camps are helping students make gains in literacy, the director of the Alabama Reading Initiative told members of the Alabama State Board of Education on Thursday.

Bonnie Short, the director of the Alabama Reading Initiative, said that students who have been attending the Alabama summer reading camps have improved their reading, and not just avoided the 鈥渟ummer slide.鈥�

After kindergarten, students who attended the camps saw an average growth of 6.37%, Short said. After first grade, students who attended the camps had an average growth of 5.44%. After second grade at the camps, students grew, on average, by 4.00%, and, after third grade, students grew an average rate of 2.91% in the camps.

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Just over 29,000 students attended the camps over the summer, Short said. After kindergarten, 5,677 students attended. After first grade, 8,090 students attended. After second grade, 7,752 students attended. After third grade, 7,497 students attended.

For people who research literacy, Short said, the aim of summer reading camps is to see an average growth of 0%, which would mean that students are avoiding losing progress over the summer. Short said that positive growth, as seen in the Alabama numbers, is even better.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to see them go down, but of course I want growth,鈥� she said.

Short did not provide data on how students improve or lose their reading skills over the summer without these camps.

The summer reading camps are an aspect of the Alabama Literacy Act, which provides resources to schools to improve reading but could require students to repeat third grade if they are not on reading level by that point. The camps need to have at least 60 hours of literacy instruction.

The Act, first passed in 2019, was delayed

Gov. Kay Ivey told reporters after the State Board of Education meeting that she would veto further delays.

鈥淭hey give me a bill to change the date, I鈥檒l veto it,鈥� she said.

Short said that about 75% of the children enrolled in the program attended the camps.

鈥淭hat looks really suspicious because they are all the same, but, truly, that is the data,鈥� she said.

Short said that she is expecting higher rates of attendance in future years when the stakes for students are higher.

Research on summer learning loss is mixed, according to a , but an analysis of summer math programs suggests that formal summer programs benefit students who are already struggling academically.

State Superintendent Eric Mackey said students in the camps would almost all be students with low scores in the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP). Short said that students who are in a gray area of passing or failing by just a few points are also invited.

鈥淲e can start inviting children to the summer reading camps today based on the information we have from the earlier screener,鈥� she said.

Tracie West, District 2 board member and vice president of the board, said that she has superintendents who have been disappointed with their turnouts. Short said that transportation is a possible reason.

Short also said that, while they need their 60 hours of summer reading, they also want to incorporate more aspects into the camps, such as softball.

鈥淚 want our summer reading camp programs to have opportunities inside them that are beyond just reading,鈥� she said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com. Follow Alabama Reflector on and .

Many teenagers who鈥檝e spent time in California鈥檚 juvenile detention facilities get high school diplomas with grade-school reading skills.

During a five-year span beginning in 2018, 85% of these students who graduated from high school and took a 12th-grade reading assessment did not pass it, according to data from the Division of Juvenile Justice, the agency operating state youth facilities.

What鈥檚 more, over a fifth of all students tested at lower grade levels, signaling how far behind these students are. And not a single student during those five years was below eighth grade, yet nearly a third of all assessments were for grades K-6, data show.

鈥淵ou have kids getting their high school diplomas who aren鈥檛 able to even read and write, and that to me is a tragedy,鈥� said Crystal Anthony, co-founder of , which helps youth in Orange County as they leave facilities.

The average age of DJJ youth is 19, but they can range from 14 to 25. And while the majority are boys and young men, these numbers also include girls and young women.

Being awarded a high school diploma while lacking grade-level reading skills is not a new phenomenon in California鈥檚 juvenile justice system. Los Angeles County was  in 2010. This reading lag exists in both state and county youth facilities, officials confirmed. Experts indicate the issue is multifaceted, including an online credit recovery system that has drawn criticism for allowing students to earn fewer than 160 credits to graduate, incomplete assessment data, and prisonlike facilities that house youths for varying periods.

Anthony and five others interviewed statewide for this story expressed frustration with the disconnect between graduation and low reading skills. The lament was repeated throughout the system from the juvenile justice program鈥檚 new director to researchers, social workers and youth educators.

Cycle of drugs and arrests

For years, Adam Solorzano was caught in a cycle of drugs and arrest. Growing up in agricultural Westmorland, in Southern California鈥檚 Imperial County, he stopped attending school regularly in middle school and was addicted to drugs by 15. He was in and out of county jails on drug charges until about age 21.

Eventually, following a friend鈥檚 suggestion, he got his high school diploma at a local adult school. 鈥淚 went from being a high school dropout and feeling like I wasn鈥檛 going to amount to anything, and then getting my high school diploma at 22 鈥� but nothing changed,鈥� said Solorzano. Like a crucial fact: He read at a sixth grade level, and at no point during his time cycling through the juvenile justice system, public schools, or the adult school were his low literacy skills addressed.

It all changed when he enrolled in Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District. Even enrolling was a hurdle: He didn鈥檛 read well enough to complete the online forms. Months later, he finally worked up the courage to ask for help. 鈥淪he hit a couple of buttons, and I was a student,鈥� he said.

It was only then, at age 25, that he was advised to enroll in remedial English, writing, and math 鈥� courses that he progressed through so quickly that he was soon offered a job tutoring other beginning students.

Some family members questioned his academic pursuits, but he pushed forward, eventually connecting with , an organization that supports students navigating higher education post-incarceration.

Today, Solorzano is 30 and enrolled in the journalism graduate program at the University of California Berkeley, where he earned his undergraduate degree in comparative literature. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a long journey,鈥� said Solorzano, referring to his academic experience as 鈥渃razy鈥� for taking him to UC Berkeley, a college he had never heard of.

鈥楽hame on us鈥︹��

His story is not uncommon, according to experts.

Katherine Lucero, director of the , the new state office leading the juvenile justice system, knows the challenges. 鈥淥ne of the things we want to know from each facility is: If it鈥檚 discovered a youth can鈥檛 read, are there resources to help them read?鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 horrible that a young person has to be incarcerated for any amount of time 鈥� but if it happens that a judge commits a youth for multiple years, shame on us if we haven鈥檛 done everything we can to have that youth leave with as much education as they could possibly desire.鈥�

Students at DJJ facilities who have not completed high school read on average at a sixth-grade level, according to Lucero, quoting data reported to her by the state.

Kim Rigg, superintendent of education for the Division of Juvenile Justice schools, acknowledged that despite an average minimum stay of two years, youth rarely improve to their grade level. 鈥淥ne to three grade year improvement is typical,鈥� Rigg wrote in an email.

鈥淭he reality is that we do get a lot of troubled youth that were not in the best situation socially, and it impacted them academically,鈥� she said. 鈥淒JJ youth are sensitive to incentives, and generally not motivated to score well on standardized tests for which there is no reward.鈥�

Another problem is the sketchy test score data. Education data for incarcerated students is generally difficult to access, in part due to privacy concerns, incomplete data entry and a lack of assessments created for the needs of incarcerated students.

The focus on the reading education of incarcerated youth comes at a critical time for California, which in July is shifting the operation of youth facilities from the state to the counties. Youths in state facilities will be assigned to one of  inside existing juvenile facilities across the state鈥檚 56 counties.

While officials say education is a priority, details are not outlined in the state law mandating the change or in the plans for the switch. In the end, each county office of education will decide how the curriculum for youths will meet the state鈥檚 education requirements.

鈥淎s the Office of Youth and Community Restoration guides the state鈥檚 transition to county-led youth justice, improving educational outcomes for youth is a top priority,鈥� a spokesperson wrote in an email. 鈥淲hen youth have access to educational opportunities, they are better prepared for a successful transition into adulthood. OYCR is optimistic about counties鈥� efforts to improve educational outcomes for youth who are court-involved, and will continue to share best practices, resources, and technical assistance in support of those goals.鈥�

The transition of incarcerated youth education to the counties also comes at a time when parents and teachers nationwide and in California are demanding a focus for all students on improving low test scores by embracing phonics and 鈥渢he science of reading.鈥�

At DJJ, which has operated high schools inside four juvenile facilities, educators have relied on phonics assessments plus structured literacy programs, such as the . County curriculums vary, though Los Angeles County offers an example: It relies on two programs, , which focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension and decoding through systematic, explicit instruction and individualized practice.

Decades-old problem

In the juvenile justice system, warnings that youth lack reading skills date back decades.

 found that more than a third of youth in the justice system were reading below the fourth-grade level.  have shown that 85% of youth in the country鈥檚 justice system have difficulty reading and that about 40% of 10th grade students in the system read below a fourth-grade level.

鈥淐onsidering that reading competence is a critical factor for academic success 鈥� providing intensive reading instruction to detained and incarcerated youth has the potential to improve a successful return to school after release and reduce the likelihood to re-offend,鈥� wrote the authors of  that found race, age and learning disabilities play a significant role in incarcerated students鈥� reading skills.

 revealed that some Los Angeles County youths were granted diplomas despite being illiterate. A settlement resulted in the county  reading assessments and intervention programs, 

Currently, youth typically arrive with a fourth-grade reading level, according to Diana Velasquez, executive director for educational programs at the L.A. County Office of Education.

Students receive a reading assessment upon arrival and then every 90 days. Those testing below grade level are assigned a literacy specialist for daily one-to-one work.

Yet, some say the juvenile justice system鈥檚 credit recovery program, in part implemented due to the settlement, incentivized youth to avoid taking catch-up classes that may increase their reading skills because they are excited about the prospect of graduating faster. This process, signed into law in Assembly Bill 216 in 2016, allows certain youth 鈥� such as those who are incarcerated, in foster care, or newly immigrated 鈥� to graduate with fewer academic credits. The bill鈥檚 intent is to remove graduation barriers for youth with unstable access to education.

鈥淚 understand the intent 鈥� but those are the kids who have left this place without knowing how to read,鈥� said Florence Avognon, an educator in L.A. County juvenile facilities.

Velasquez said her team works to ensure that students do not leave without knowing how to read, even if they graduate with fewer credits.

鈥淭here were some safeguards that needed to be placed at the advent of AB216 as students were being provided that opportunity for graduation,鈥� said Velasquez. 鈥淎nd for us, that 鈥� became really looking at those test scores before saying we鈥檙e signing off on a diploma.鈥�

An analysis of L.A. County鈥檚 reading assessment data shows that checking for reading proficiency did not occur countywide, however. Many students did not get the initial assessment or the follow-up within the required times, according to a  from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.

The data also uncovered unexplained patterns in students鈥� reading ability. Some students first tested at a second grade reading level and improved to 11th grade by the second test, or vice versa.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a massive difference, which tells you that the kid was traumatized as hell when they came in, or resistant and didn鈥檛 want to do it,鈥� said Angela James, director of research at the center and lead author of the study.

The dramatic changes suggest they鈥檙e negatively impacted by learning in a prisonlike environment, she said. The cases where this happened weren鈥檛 the norm, but there were enough to move the data averages. 鈥淭he fact of the matter is, the kids that are incarcerated are in a very traumatic circumstance,鈥� said James. 鈥淢ost of them have unmet educational needs before they arrive.鈥�

Transforming juvenile justice

California incarcerated . While the rate of youth incarceration has declined in recent decades, the number of Black and Latino youth remains disproportionately high, accounting for roughly 90% of the population. Between 30% and 35% of youth in state facilities are 鈥渄esignated special education,鈥� according to the DJJ. About 95% of all incarcerated youth are boys and young men.

In 2017,  that 74.2% of youth released during the 2012-13 fiscal year were re-arrested, over 50% were convicted for new offenses, and nearly 40% returned to state custody within three years of release from a DJJ facility.

Access to education has long been established as crucial to lowering recidivism rates 鈥� by 43%, according to a  that conducted a comprehensive analysis of studies on the subject released during a 31-year period starting in 1980.

鈥淚t will be our responsibility at the end of the day to say: Did we do a good job? And we can no longer blame DJJ for that recidivism rate,鈥� said Lucero.

While the shift of responsibility for incarcerated youth from the state to the counties is meant to reform the justice system, some advocates say they are concerned it won鈥檛 address access to accurate education data or the need for increased focus on high-quality education. It鈥檚 a concern that Lucero, director of the state agency, says is being prioritized.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 even more important for counties to care about this, because there鈥檚 not going to be any place really to hide and to pass the buck to and to say it鈥檚 somebody else鈥檚 job,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat I do know for sure is government-trained folks are going to be raising these kids, so we have to make this a priority.鈥�

This story was originally published at .

Matthews, a former tutoring aide who had just come to Rehobeth Elementary School, was used to working with students who needed some extra help with reading.

He asked the student to read a limerick about a monster-like machine that 鈥渕unches up socks by the pair.鈥�

Tracking along with his finger, the boy kept a steady pace, but paused at a word on the second line.

鈥淢unches,鈥� Matthews prompted. The boy repeated the word, continuing slowly to the end.

Many schools rely on paraprofessionals to give specialized support to teachers. But Rehobeth says trained and experienced aides are key to recent success. The school recently led peer mid- to high-poverty schools in reading scores, and in closing racial and socioeconomic gaps.

Now, as the school, like many around Alabama, wrestles with dips in achievement scores from the pandemic and considers , staff are doubling down on the presence of Title I aides. And they鈥檙e expanding that expertise in developing a team of trained reading educators as they work on afterschool tutoring and community support.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have a teacher that has a strong background in word work, or how to crack the code of reading, they鈥檙e not going to know how to target specific needs and then support the child in their classroom,鈥� said Rachel Logan, a literacy specialist who consults schools on equitable practices. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l farm them out and say, 鈥楽omething鈥檚 wrong with this kid.鈥欌��

Virtual interventions and extra K-2 supports funded by federal relief money, experts say, can boost proficiency, but only if teachers like Matthews and his fellow support staff are also trained properly and have high-quality materials.

Rehobeth is working on boosting both those aspects. And staff are working around the clock to reteach foundational skills 鈥� such as first-grade phonics — that some students lost during the pandemic.

鈥淚n theory, they should be readers by the time they get here,鈥� Matthews said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not the case for every student.鈥�

Despite pandemic complications, Rehobeth second graders had improved reading scores by 60 points from last fall to spring, according to schoolwide data — something Matthews noted as he worked with his students.

That鈥檚 five points higher than the national average, and a statistic, school leaders say, that shows its strategy is working.

鈥淥ur scores overall have always been good,鈥� said Dusty McKinley, the school鈥檚 principal. 鈥淥ur teachers know what standards they鈥檙e teaching and they know how to meet those babies鈥� needs… But as we look at scores over the state, our reading proficiency levels are not where they should be. So we鈥檝e got to push for that regardless.鈥�

A school-wide approach

Most Alabama districts have some experience with Title I aides and paraprofessionals, but successful implementation of interventions can sometimes be a challenge.

Matthews鈥� instruction is just one part of Rehobeth鈥檚 team approach to teaching literacy.

The school uses three tiers of reading instruction: There鈥檚 Matthews鈥� core class, where students are getting the bulk of their reading lessons. From there, he might work with smaller groups of students on specific skills in the classroom, or literacy coaches will designate some students for outside tutoring 鈥� or both.

Throughout the week, different groups of students are pulled for additional support from Title I and bilingual aides. For students who need the most support, the school uses SPIRE materials, which are research-based and aim to help students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities.

鈥淥ur Title I teachers are key here,鈥� said McKinley, a Rehobeth graduate who previously taught special education. 鈥淢ost of them have been here for several, several years… They know our school, they know our community, and our kids know them.鈥�

, tutoring aides are key for schools developing a variety of interventions. The Center recommends a well-developed plan to identify struggling students and track their responses to regularly-scheduled interventions.

That鈥檚 where Hannah Chancey, also a Rehobeth graduate, and Gaby Olea, a new bilingual aide who grew up in nearby Enterprise, come in. They coach small groups of students with whiteboards, binders and sometimes playdough in hand.

Words and sentences are like code, experts say, and reading proficiency is built through specific skills work.

鈥淲hen done to fidelity, kids make great progress,鈥� said Sonya Yates, a dyslexia specialist who has served on statewide reading committees.

McKinley said the school had just hired three more tutors trained in SPIRE, to add to the two that had been teaching the materials for several years.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really important that we put the majority of our resources in K-2 because that鈥檚 where they鈥檙e getting their foundation,鈥� said Barbara Greathouse, the school鈥檚 literacy coach. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to make sure that they鈥檝e mastered the foundational skills in K-2 so that they鈥檒l be successful in the higher grades.鈥�

A recent  found that funding additional instructional supports, like teaching assistants, can boost achievement outcomes most in reading — and can play 鈥渁 key role鈥� in helping students close to passing reach proficiency levels. Kymyona Burk, a national reading expert who pioneered a retention initiative in Mississippi similar to Alabama鈥檚, also believes investing in core classroom teachers is critical.

鈥淚nvest in people,鈥� she said during a recent panel discussion. 鈥淚nvest in your teachers. Build their knowledge. Empower your teachers to stand in front of children every day and know that they are skilled enough to address the different needs, the different deficiencies or challenges that students might bring into those classrooms.鈥�

McKinley said that effectively using  will require listening to core classroom teachers, who are most attuned to student鈥檚 needs.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a blessing,鈥� McKinley said, of the money. 鈥淚t takes the burden off of us for having to provide that funding. So we can use it for technology, for parental involvement, for instructional materials in our classrooms, that otherwise we wouldn鈥檛 normally be able to do because we were funding those tutors.鈥�

鈥楢 million different things鈥�

As the school reviews its latest internal test scores, it鈥檚 seeing some growth. Greathouse said some of that is likely due to the tutoring push, but classroom teachers are going to continue to play a crucial role moving forward.

鈥淭he teachers knew they had a larger job to do because of COVID, and they got it done,鈥� Greathouse said.

Experts agree that good teachers are important, but also recommend specific training, called LETRS, which is grounded in decades worth of research on how students learn to read.

Additionally, core curriculum in early grades should focus on explicit phonics instruction, but most vendors, , which Rehobeth uses, tend to focus more on 鈥渂alanced literacy,鈥� which spreads out concepts rather than drilling down on certain skills.

Rehobeth is working to get more teachers trained in effective reading instruction and improve its ability to track students鈥� progress. The district also will switch to a new reading curriculum next year.

The school still has a ways to go to get back to its former proficiency rates. Recent ACAP scores show that eight of Matthews鈥� students — a little less than half of the class — scored below benchmarks in language arts. Schoolwide, students scored lowest on reading and literacy questions.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really hammering these to try to get them up,鈥� he said, pointing to the low scorers at the bottom of the list, who he is now working with as third-graders.

Like the rest of the state, Rehobeth鈥檚 Black and Hispanic students scored lower on state benchmark testing than their peers, with a significant slide during the pandemic — though experts say it鈥檚 tough to compare 2019 and 2021 scores, since the state switched standardized tests.

Reading instruction also can be impacted by disparities outside of the classroom 鈥� like discipline, attendance and staff turnover 鈥� that can limit engagement.

鈥淲hen schools are seeing academic inequities, we point them to also look at other things that are happening around that,鈥� said Marceline Dubose of the Equity Literacy Institute, such as ways to increase instructional time and make sure every student is engaged with material.

Matthews explained that a handful of his students were teachers鈥� kids and might have benefited from extra instruction at home during the pandemic. And while the school was face-to-face last year, shortened instruction in first grade in the spring of 2020 could have significantly impacted students who were learning English as a second language, or those who didn鈥檛 have the resources at home to bolster phonics skills.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a million different things,鈥� Matthews said. 鈥淐onfidence is a big thing, but they鈥檙e struggling, and by now they know they鈥檙e struggling.鈥�

鈥業ntense every day鈥�

As the rest of his third-graders focused on individual work, Matthews read to a small group of students as they traced the words of a worksheet with their fingers.

When it was their turn to read, he encouraged students to circle words they stumbled on — a technique he learned from recent Alabama Reading Initiative training, which taught him the importance of 鈥渉oning in on those little things,鈥� he said.

For the week ahead, Matthews will go over the same poems and rehash concepts he wasn鈥檛 able to spend as much time on, like teaching students how to identify point of view. He鈥檒l work more with small, targeted groups of students and make time for phonics games.

With extra attention to those instructional methods and help from school-wide interventions, Matthews is hopeful his students will get back on track.

鈥淭heir resilience has been amazing,鈥� he said, also praising the efforts from their previous teachers and tutors.

But he knows he鈥檚 got a long road ahead of him.

鈥淚 feel like there鈥檚 no days off,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 intense every day, because I don鈥檛 want a student to not pass due to my instruction.鈥�

This article originally appeared and is published in partnership with .听

But while we tend to associate remediation with older students, it鈥檚 not just a feature of university campuses 鈥� and new research suggests that adolescents who take remedial classes are better prepared for academic success in high school and college.

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The , accepted for publication at the Journal of Public Economics, finds that Florida middle schoolers who were assigned to complete a year of remedial instruction in English earned higher scores in state testing; those effects diminished over time, but the same students saw an impressive range of benefits as time went on, including higher rates of college enrollment and degree attainment. 

“Overall, I think the findings here suggest that middle school remediation could be an effective lever in improving college readiness,” said Umut 脰zek, the paper鈥檚 author and a researcher at the American Institutes for Research. 

The research examines the effects of a Florida law passed in 2004 as part of the state鈥檚 dramatic acceleration of accountability-focused education reform under then-Gov. Jeb Bush. Under the policy, middle school students scoring below proficiency levels in either math or English must complete two courses the next year 鈥� one grade-level class and one remedial class 鈥� in the same subject. 

The law ultimately applied to a significant portion of students across the state, but Ozek chose to study one anonymous, urban school district serving a racially diverse population of over 200,000 students. Many fewer students were assigned to supplementary coursework in math than reading, so he focused on English, gathering test scores for K-12 students between the 2005-06 and 2018-19 school years. He also examined course enrollment data, including both advanced and remedial classes, and linked it with records from the National Student Clearinghouse that showed trends in college enrollment and completion. 

To capture the specific consequences of the policy, Ozek compared the academic performance of two broadly similar groups of students 鈥� those who scored just under the cutoff for remediation assignment and those who scored just over it.

In all, he found that the effects of English remediation were strikingly positive in terms of immediate standardized test results. Students who experienced a year of the combined courseload saw their reading scores on subsequent state exams jump significantly, even as they were no more likely to be absent from school or be suspended following a disciplinary incident. As Ozek notes, the higher test scores faded over the two years following their experience with remediation.

But there鈥檚 a long-term upside: Even given the diminution of testing improvements, students who completed remedial coursework alongside their grade-level English class enjoyed a variety of advantages over their otherwise comparable peers. As high schoolers, they were 21 percent more likely to take part in college credit-bearing material, such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes (for advanced English classes, the figure was 38 percent). 

The benefits stretched into post-secondary education as well. Former remedial readers were 5 percent more likely to enroll in college, 15 percent more likely to persist past their first year, 50 percent more likely to attend a highly competitive college, and 43 percent more likely to eventually attain a two- or four-year degree. 

The explanation for their gains can likely be attributed to the way in which remediation reshaped their middle school experience. Given the double dose of coursework, it鈥檚 unsurprising that Ozek found remedial students receiving almost an hour of additional English instruction each day. But he also found that their average class size in English was reduced by about 2 students, and they were significantly more likely to be assigned to a highly effective teacher (as measured by their impact on student test scores). As a downside, they were less likely to take part in music and physical education classes during their time in remediation, and their likelihood of being assigned to advanced classes in other subjects was sharply reduced.

Ozek observed that part of the reason the policy was feasible was that it applied to adolescents, who have few alternatives if they are alienated by the addition of a catch-up class; ample research shows that students in high school or college sometimes handle the frustration by simply giving up.

鈥淏eing placed in remediation [in high school] may lead to student disengagement from schooling,鈥� Ozek argued, adding that remediated high schoolers would be likely to miss out on potentially valuable and attractive career and technical courses. 鈥淎t that level, because kids are able to leave school legally, it could increase rates of dropout,” he said.

The research also offers a fresh example of the limitations of test scores as a measure of success in school interventions. In a few other cases, most famously the federal Head Start preschool program, initial boosts to test performance have faded over time 鈥� only for the later life chances of participating children to be improved in other ways. Ozek said that 鈥渕ore and more evidence鈥� had recently emerged suggesting that while assessment gains might prove transient, they also don鈥檛 tell the whole story.

鈥淚 believe it’s safe to say that even if you find test score effects that fade out, especially for middle and high school interventions, it’s too soon to reach conclusions about efficacy unless you take a look at long-term outcomes as well. It could be because test scores in middle school and high school may have lower predictability on adult outcomes.鈥�