Key points:

• Online literacy programs help educators differentiate instruction
• Engaging literacy solutions help students absorb learning material

When we started using a new literacy program 10 years ago, our reading scores were mediocre. Within a few years we had moved up to being a Level 1+ school, which is one of the highest rankings for Chicago Public Schools’ rating system (which is currently being replaced with a new system). We’re using the literacy program as a main component for grades K-5 in addition to another program for fifth graders.

We really like how both online literacy programs differentiate instruction for students, identify learning gaps and place students at the right levels for their individual needs. This functionality also lets teachers know when to pool students for the offline Skill Builders to help move past specific challenges students are facing. Additionally, the data that we get from the platforms is invaluable; we’ve become so used to looking at it and then using it to help inform our instruction.

5 reasons to be in it for the long haul

Here are five long-term benefits that we’ve seen from using our literacy program for the last 10 years:

1. Teachers decide how they want to break it down and implement it within their 90-minute reading blocks. We leave it up to the reading teachers to decide how they want to use the programs. Some teachers assign it for homework and others build it right into their classroom time. Other teachers set up different stations or centers throughout their classrooms and have students rotate through the literacy platform that way. I feel like if we just told teachers they had to use it or otherwise mandated it, they wouldn’t have been so quick to embrace the online literacy platforms. Instead, they see the power in the programs, and how they can use them with their students, plus the data that they can get out of the software.

Literacy is the foundation upon which all learning is built. Without strong reading skills, students will struggle as they progress through their education. This need is non-negotiable and becomes even more urgent in light of the nation’s latest–and first post-pandemic–reading scores, which have seen their biggest drop since 1990.

Nearly two-thirds of students from grades four through 12 aren’t considered proficient readers for their grade level, and these numbers are trending in the wrong direction. As troubling as this news is, more alarming is the fact that a certain group of students is consistently left out of efforts to support targeted literacy instruction.

Students who have an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), as well as those from Title I schools, typically receive special attention and services. However, many students from schools that aren’t designated for Title I support and who haven’t been diagnosed with a learning disability struggle with reading as well.

These students are on the cusp of grasping essential literacy skills—decoding, fluency, reading comprehension and vocabulary growth—but they need an extra boost to get them over the hump. Yet, because their skills gaps aren’t significant enough to stand out, and because under-resourced educators are busy focusing so much attention on those students with the most severe needs, they often fly under the radar.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Sign up for our free New York newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

The day before my first day of teaching middle school in 2018, I decorated my Brooklyn public school classroom with quotes from famous people reflecting on the importance of reading. Hanging on cream-colored cardstock were the words of Malcolm X, Toni Morrison, C.S. Lewis, Barack Obama, Maya Angelou, and dozens of other writers and thinkers. I hoped to inspire my students to fall in love with reading. I didn’t think to hope that all my students could do the very thing I was asking them to love. I didn’t know that part of my job as a sixth grade Humanities teacher would be to teach students to read in the first place.

There was a round table in the very back of my classroom that a group of five sixth-graders bee-lined to on day one. On day two, I asked one, then another, to read aloud to me. My request was met with silence, guessing, a fist slammed on the table, and a student storming out of the room. When those sixth grade students finally sat down for a reading assessment, their ability to decode print text was at a first or second grade level.

As a newly minted middle school English teacher, I was shocked by the number of students who entered my classroom unable to decode text. As I got to know them, I saw that herculean efforts to mask their reading disabilities revealed intelligence, determination, and traumatic relationships to school.

Since my first year of teaching, I have dedicated a lot of time to understanding why that happened. With the toxic combination of inaccurate reading assessments and a whole-word approach that encouraged guessing rather than decoding, the Matthew Effect (rich get richer, poor get poorer) has been in full swing in middle schools all around the country. The children who lived in text-rich environments and/or with families who could afford supplemental private tutoring got to “get it.” And those who didn’t? Many never acquired the literacy skills that are tied to power and privilege in this country.

Not everyone loves to read. Even in schools with strong reading cultures, some students just don’t feel the spark—yet.

Through helping reluctant readers find books that capture their imaginations, teachers and librarians can ignite a newfound enthusiasm for reading in students.

Here are six strategies for engaging hesitant students:

1. Hand it to them. Nothing beats putting books in the hands of reluctant readers—it’s the number one way to generate interest. But you must put the right books in the right hands. As part of our reader’s advisory services, we do lots of one-on-one conversations, learning what a student likes to do outside of school, or what movies, tv shows or video games they enjoy.

While some students love browsing the library for a great new read, others are intimidated by the sheer number of books and may be reluctant to ask for help. Those students likely won’t be motivated by learning how to use the catalog—and sometimes, it’s better to hand them a book by engaging authors like Nic Stone or Jason Reynolds.

2. Share your enthusiasm. An avid reader can sell a book to anybody. Encourage your own community of booklovers to share their reading finds with students. For example, create bulletin boards highlighting your students’ favorite books or even your own favorite reads. Doing so might help your students discover their next favorite book!

3. Teach them how to judge a book by its cover. Many students don’t know how to browse for books of interest. One of the most effective activities I do in my library is called “Five-Minute Mania”—a readers’ version of speed dating. I scatter brand-new books by diverse authors across the library tables and ask each student to pick up whatever one looks most interesting. They choose based solely on the cover—whether it’s the color, size, picture or typeface that attracts them. Students then spend one minute perusing the book’s front, spine and back cover. Next, they read the inside flaps of the dust jacket (including the author bio) and flip through pages. Finally, they take a test drive, reading as far as they can in three minutes. If that reading experience felt like the longest three minutes ever, the book’s a pass. If they hated to put it down, it’s a keeper.

The NAEP results in late 2022 revealed that reading scores fell for both fourth and eighth grade readers as a result of the pandemic. Only 33 percent of fourth graders are reading proficiently, which means that two-thirds read below grade level. For eighth graders, the scores are even lower with only 31 percent reading proficiently, and more than two-thirds reading below grade level.

While instruction informed by reading science is necessary for all students, it is essential for students who are at risk for reading challenges due to dyslexia, developmental language disorder, or other factors. Teachers need real-time progress monitoring data, data-driven action plans, and instructional tools that allow them to deliver the right instruction either inside or outside the classroom.

Schools and districts want to know the literacy program they choose is firmly grounded in the science of reading (i.e., more than 50 years of research) and has proven itself in real classrooms. Whether a literacy company has been in the market for 60 years or 60 days, there are ways to fact-check its solutions to determine if its research is valid, there is proven efficacy, and it can fulfill the promises they make to teachers and students. For district leaders, it is critical to understand the importance of the science of reading and the role of Structured Literacy as they review available literacy solutions.

The Science of Reading and Structured Literacy

Teaching reading is a complex process that incorporates decades of research into how students learn and how reading should be taught. Educators understand that teaching students to read fluently is the key to their overall academic success.

Almost every literacy program claims its solution is based on the science of reading, and some also claim its program follows a Structured Literacy instructional model. What does that mean, exactly? These terms are not synonymous. The science of reading is the evidence. It is 50+ years of gold-standard research about what works in reading instruction and the skills necessary to read proficiently.

In the coming year and beyond, educators and students will continue to deal with fallout from the pandemic, but as they look for effective ways to help students become proficient readers, instructional practices based in the science of reading will become more widely used.

At the same time, teachers will focus on assessing individual students to understand their unique learning needs. Here are eight predictions about changes coming to the reading classroom in the coming months.

1. Students who were in grades K-3 during pandemic shutdowns may be most affected.

I think students who were in grades K-3 during the height of learning disruptions are the most likely to have lasting effects on their reading proficiency from pandemic disruptions. The focus of instruction at these grades is on foundational skills like phonemic awareness, phonics, background knowledge, and vocabulary. If students did not learn these skills in the earlier grades, they are likely to struggle in later grades as they read text that includes larger words and more complex vocabulary.

I also worry that different students will have missed different parts of this foundational knowledge, perhaps based on when schools were open or doing great virtual instruction versus when they had to close down. We cannot assume that all students have achieved in similar ways.

2. Diagnostic assessments will be critical to delivering the instruction individual students need.

The key to mitigating lasting effects from pandemic disruptions will be giving each student what they need, both to make up for what they missed and to help them move forward now. The only way to do this will be using assessments that help identify exactly what students need. Teachers don’t have time to waste, and they can’t afford to teach the wrong skills. If they know what to teach and use explicit and systematic instruction, their impact will increase.

Related:
5 reasons to use a literacy professional learning solution
6 tips for tech-enabled instruction in the early literacy classroom

3. Teachers will continue to step up for their students.

The sense of urgency that comes from acknowledging that many students need help learning to read and that teachers are the key may be one of the only bright spots from the pandemic. Students can’t get back on track without the amazing work teachers do every day with them. Everyone in education should celebrate and support them now more than ever as they strive to help all of their students learn to read.

4. The science of reading will be key to helping students develop reading proficiency.

I hope to see more educators using the science of reading, those instructional practices that decades of research have proven to have the greatest success of helping students learn to read. First, that means assessing the critical, foundational skills like phonics. Second, we must teach phonics skills along with language comprehension skills to ensure students can read the words and understand what they are reading. Finally, it means monitoring each student’s achievement to be able to step in and provide supplemental instruction when it’s needed. Administrators are key when it comes to supporting their teachers in implementing the Science of Reading. Some ways administrators can do this is by providing professional development to ensure teachers know how reading develops, how to assess critical skills, and how to teach these skills to ensure all students become proficient readers.

5. Phonics will play a primary role in helping students to become proficient readers.

Among the primary components of the science of reading, phonics will take center stage. Most students have difficulty with reading because of undeveloped or underdeveloped phonics skills. They struggle with connecting the correct sounds to the letters to efficiently read words. If students master the sounds of the letters, they will be able to read nearly any word on the page. It is not the only skill they need, but it’s one of the most important. People might think that because phonics is so critical, their reading instruction should focus solely on phonics skills. This is a mistake. Reading instruction should include all of the skills students need to learn to be proficient readers. This includes vocabulary, language comprehension, writing, reading text, and building background knowledge, along with teaching the most critical phonics skills necessary to read words.

6. Technologies that make teachers’ jobs easier will rise to the top.

Technology is definitely a teacher’s friend when it can save them time, give them good assessment data, and engage students with meaningful instruction and practice—in short, when it helps them do their job easier and better. I think of it as the teacher’s little helper, and I think it will continue to play a larger and larger role in the classroom.

7. PD that focuses on why phonics is important, how to teach using evidence-based practices, and how to administer critical assessments will deliver the best results.

Teachers need PD to understand why they need to assess and teach foundational reading skills. Knowing why is the first step, but teachers also need to know how to use reliable and valid assessments, and how to implement evidence-based instructional practices to help students gain what they may have missed. There are some PD programs that are really well developed and have been around for a long time. Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) is one of these. The developers Louisa Moats and Carol Tolman built a very comprehensive program that touches on all aspects of reading and spelling. Another one is Consortium On Reaching Excellence in Education (CORE) Learning’s Elementary Reading Academy. They have extensive experience and knowledge supporting evidenced-based practices to help educators understand the necessary components of teaching reading.

8. Policymakers will work to ensure teachers have actionable data.

The current legislative trend involves states taking the next step after universal screening. Specifically, now that the majority of states have passed laws requiring universal screening in K-3 to identify students at risk for reading difficulties, states are focusing on providing very brief diagnostic assessments for at-risk students to ensure teachers have data to make next-step instructional decisions.

In 2023, students will continue to feel impacts from pandemic-related learning disruptions, but teachers will step up to meet them where they are with targeted assessments and evidence-based practices that will continue to improve literacy instruction for years to come.

Our school is one of just 12 “Science of Reading Spotlight Schools” in Alabama this year, but getting here wasn’t easy. Rewind the clock back to the fall of 2021 and just 15 percent of our kindergarten students were proficient in reading. A “full support school” since 2018, we were dealing with some major challenges. I stepped in as principal in 2020, and began looking for ways to solve the issues and get things on the right track.

I learned about Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling Suite (LETRS) from my mentor principal at the state department, which works with schools like Central Elementary to establish the specific benchmarks that each Alabama school must reach. It turned out that the professional learning platform was one of the offerings that provides educators with the deep knowledge required to be literacy and language experts in the science of reading which in turn will help teachers to address students’ learning gaps in literacy.

From my perspective, being a full support school described us, but did not define Central Elementary School, so I got all faculty and staff on board with our new literacy professional learning solution.

After completing the program’s administrative component, I jumped into the teacher’s portion along with my staff. Now, our entire staff of 27 is working through the program.

Here are the top five benefits we’ve seen so far:

1. Levels the playing field. This type of teacher training is so critically important right now because the research shows that when the pandemic hit, a lot of our kids suffered learning losses. I saw an opportunity for the Lexia LETRS professional learning program to bring us up to speed, to level the playing field. I played basketball in high school and college, and I’m always looking forward. I have that same mentality as a leader. I saw this as an opportunity for us to just take it to the next level with my faculty and staff also onboard with the idea.
   
2. Get results. We made gains in year one. In 2021, 15 percent of kindergarteners were proficient, and our teachers grew that number to around 75 percent. Now, 75 percent of our kindergarten students who are going into first grade—despite COVID and learning loss—are entering first grade proficiently. The other 25 percent attended summer school and received the remediation, resources, and support they need to get to where they should be.
   
3. Supports tier one readers. A literacy professional learning solution also helps bring teachers to focus on Tier 1 readers who need the most support. The professional learning program we use gives us the resources we need to get the students ready to do the work. I especially like the platform’s expansive video library and science of reading approach.
   
4. Gives teachers flexibility. I worked with my reading coach and a representative from our professional learning solution provider to schedule several meetings and training sessions. And on the days that specific teachers had training, they could either come to the school or do the virtual training from home. Once the initial four teachers completed the program—a process handled by grade level—they served as a support team for other teachers.
   
5. Goes beyond reading. Our students are also making gains in math, having increased both kindergarten and second grade proficiency in that subject by over 51 percent. Every grade level made gains for the last two years, and we’re all excited about year three.

To other school leaders that want to help level the playing field for students on the reading front, I’d say just jump in 100 percent and do it yourself first. This is important because if you want your teachers to get onboard and use it, it starts with the school’s leaders. From there, everything else will fall into place.

Related:
To help young students read, acceleration beats remediation
3 strategies we use to turn struggling students into confident readers

There are plenty of reasons that K–3 teachers tend to be less likely than their middle and high school peers to use technology in the classroom. From their focus on hands-on learning to a lack of district-provided devices in the lower grades, the reasons are both pedagogical and budgetary. However, by incorporating technology into their classrooms, K–3 teachers can add flexibility and personalization to their instruction—and even get some of their own time back.

That said, not all technology is created equal, and even well-made tools can be counterproductive when used improperly. Here are a few tips and tricks for integrating technology into your reading lessons.

1. Get to know the tech you already have.

For teachers who would like to use more technology in their classrooms, the first step I suggest is to get to know your existing technology as well as possible.

This was a lesson I had to learn early in my own career. When I was a new teacher, there was a program we were all supposed to use in class for a certain number of hours each week, and I made sure that my students met those requirements—but I didn’t really have any idea what they were doing.

When I finally took some time to look into it, I realized that, although it was a pretty great program, it was missing some important concepts. Also, while I thought most of the lessons were fantastic, there were a few that I just didn’t think held much value for my students. Once I understood where the program was effective and where it was less so, I was able to compensate by spending more time on the pieces I thought it didn’t handle well or missed altogether. I could just check for proficiency on the material I thought it did well to see how much additional instruction was needed, if any.

Even for something that seems like it should be plug-and-play, like an assessment, it’s enlightening to dive in and see what the program is doing. What are the items? How are they worded? What do students actually see as they interact with it? What are they asked to do?

2. Choose tech that works as an extension of you.

So much of the technology marketed to educators these days is designed to work by itself. We’re supposed to just plug it in and let it do the rest. But an iPad can’t wipe a nose, notice that a student seems distracted, or give a hug when it’s needed. As advanced as they are, computers can’t be sensitive to what children need in a given moment.

The most effective technology works with you to enable or extend the instruction you’re providing. In small-group work, for example, students can do so many things with technology, such as reading aloud, practicing decoding, doing a word sort, or practicing dictation.

Related:
The phonics fix?
3 strategies we use to turn struggling students into confident readers

Technology should enable your teaching, rather than replace it. While good classroom technology can suggest the most effective activities for students who need practice in a particular area, you still make the ultimate decision.

3. Use tech to focus on your students.

These days my teaching is at the college level, but I’ve found that at least one challenge never changes, regardless of the age of the students: There is so much to pay attention to all the time! When I’m presenting to the class, I have to focus on what I’m doing and still be aware of how my students are interacting and responding.

One great use of technology is to get students engaged so that the teacher can focus on the students. For ELA teachers, simply projecting decodable text on a screen at the front of the room and asking students to read it out loud frees the teacher to walk around the room, observe students’ facial expressions, and listen to their pronunciation. Or you can reverse this by having your phone dictate a list of words for students to write down while you walk around the room; this allows you to focus on what your students are doing and thinking instead of having to read words aloud from the front of the class.

4. Take advantage of tech’s ability to track progress and suggest activities.

Teachers spend so much time outside of work doing things like grading and trying to find appropriate activities for differentiated instruction. Reliable software can do a lot of that heavy lifting for you—if you let it.

If students are using software for daily practice, for example, that program should keep track of their progress and provide you with that information. This means that you don’t have to go home to grade everything, look for common gaps in understanding revealed by the incorrect answers, and determine your next steps (such as more whole-class instruction or small-group work). Because the software has already made all of that visible, you can make data-based decisions without the need to parse and arrange all the data first—which means you can go home to your life!

And software can help with decisions on next steps as well. Many teachers find it hard to identify engaging and effective activities for specific skills practice, especially for a whole class of students. While you’re still in control of choosing differentiation activities, software is really great at making suggestions, especially very specific ones. If you can simply choose from a list targeted to the needs of each student, you’ll get a lot of your evenings and weekends back, which will be healthier for everyone in the classroom.

5. Use tech to pre-teach.

One of my favorite ways to use technology in the classroom is to prepare students whom I know will need a double dose of a particular concept. Introducing students to a new idea or skill via software is a great, low-stakes way to get them familiar with an idea so they hit the ground running when you introduce it to the whole class.

Giving these students a head start means that they are familiar with a new concept, so it feels a bit less intimidating when it’s time to work with the rest of the class. In addition, the multiple opportunities to practice these skills—before and after classroom instruction—means that they are more likely to stick in a student’s long-term memory. For example, there are a lot of technological resources that provide students with opportunities to practice reading and sorting words in a game-like manner. This type of computer-based activity can also foster automatic word recognition for students while providing teachers with student data such as words read correctly per minute and percentage of accuracy.

6. Take it slow.

Finally, I suggest that you learn one piece of technology at a time and get to know it well enough to be totally comfortable with it. Remember, technology should enable your teaching, not replace it. To do that, the technology needs to feel as comfortable for you to use as a hammer feels to a carpenter.

I wouldn’t say we should go 100 percent “all in” on technology. It is still critically important for young students to read physical books they hold in their hands. They still need a teacher to care for and guide their learning. But if teachers can get a bit of help from technology, they’ll be more available to every child in their class.

Much like the return of Cabbage Patch Kids, He-Man, and the Lite Brite I saw at the store on Black Friday, we’re living in an era where what’s old is new. 

During the pandemic, renowned reading expert Lucy Calkins called for a ‘rebalancing’ of Balanced Literacy, alluding to an increased focus on linking letters with their sounds–or what those of us who went to elementary school in the 80-90s know as phonics class. 

While some teachers are not necessarily abandoning components of Balanced Literacy (like reading aloud, guided and independent reading, and word study) in favor of pulling out the old phonics workbook with the tear out pages, they are reconsidering the role phonics plays in modern elementary education and turning more often to a Science of Reading-based approach.

Because now, emerging from the pandemic, the nation’s report card published a sobering decline in reading and math scores among students. 

Reading coaches and teachers say the decline in reading proficiency and scores among kindergarten through third grade students was well underway before the pandemic.

So what does this mean for teachers who are struggling to fill reading gaps created during the pandemic?

And what should publishers who serve the education market do to help?

The Educational Book and Media Association hosted a webinar to discuss this very topic, seeking input from teachers, reading coaches, print and digital book wholesalers who sell to K-12 schools, and publishers on what’s needed now to begin remediation… to get our students reading.

Illinois reading coach Katie James began her career in education as a teacher spanning first, second, and third grades. James says the reading gap is a daily problem for teachers, which is why districts are adding new levels of intervention for more and more students who are reading at increasingly varying levels entering fourth grade. “The pandemic-created gaps are understandable,” James said. “In some cases, it’s decoding, others it’s comprehension, sometimes both. So, teachers can’t just start teaching 4^th grade content. They have to fill gaps between second and third grade but connect to the fourth-grade objectives. We have faith we’re closing those gaps but it’s going to take some time.”

Teacher Beth Heidemann agrees with James. “There was a trend in this direction pre-COVID. There’s been a devaluing of the teaching profession. Too often districts are hitting the easy button and introducing a program. But we need to say to teachers, here’s the training you need if you didn’t already receive it in college and here’s my trust that you’re going to educate these students. There is an issue with literacy. But it’s more than just reading. It’s writing and skilled questioning. And COVID accelerated it. Today, I’m teaching kids who don’t know how to play with each other. So, there are profound development gaps… not just education gaps.” 

Related:
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How an AI tutor more than tripled my school’s literacy rates during the pandemic

Plagiarism is becoming ubiquitous in academia as an increase in AI-powered writing tools become more advanced and available to students. As a result, educators are faced with preventing, identifying, and stopping plagiarism even as plagiarism becomes increasingly harder to detect.

But why should educators even continue to tackle plagiarism? What are the documented and potentially long-lasting impacts of students plagiarizing their work?

According to a recent study, there was a marked increase globally in paraphrasing and text replacement during the pandemic in 2020 compared to 2019. The average similarity score, which is the score that comes from detecting what content was paraphrased versus what is original, increased from 35.1 percent to 49.6 percent. This is especially troubling considering the already negative effects the pandemic had on education. The National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that the pandemic erased over two decades of progress with drops in both mathematics and reading scores for students at record highs. 

When a student chooses to plagiarize, they are circumventing reading the material or using critical thinking skills to draw their own original conclusions and express their thoughts in their own words. This means that students are 1) not learning the material; and 2) not learning the skills that are only developed through learning which include critical thinking, identifying biases, identifying logical fallacies, problem-solving, the ability to discern objective versus subjective statements, etc. The rise in plagiarism is also correlated with an increase in illiteracy rates. According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Education, 54 percent of American adults are only able to read at or below a 6th-grade level. This percentage continues to steadily increase every year.

Related:
To help young students read, acceleration beats remediation
3 reasons literacy is essential in child development

The ability to read–and read well–sets kids on a path to success. That’s why at Cambridge School, we focus on helping students with learning differences learn how to read. Students attend Cambridge School because they have been diagnosed with a language-based learning difference, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, auditory processing disorder, or executive function difficulties, and have struggled in traditional academic settings. 

But if you walk into a Cambridge School classroom during one of our reading sessions, you will see engaged students reading both silently and aloud, using devices and books. You will see teachers working one-on-one with students checking their fluency progress and reviewing important comprehension skills and relevant vocabulary. You will see hard-working students becoming more motivated, confident readers. 

Each year our students make notable fluency gains, with many reading at or above grade level by the end of 8th grade or sooner. In the 2021-22 school year, all students in grades 2-8 made fluency gains from the fall to the spring, with a 52 percent average percent increase in words read correctly per minute. How do we accomplish this?

The right tools are key to reading growth

What we’ve found at Cambridge School is that effective, individualized and evidence-based educational instruction is vital to supporting our students’ reading growth. Thus, students have three separate blocks of ELA instruction daily, including direct, explicit phonics instruction, step-by-step guided reading and comprehension instruction, and systemic, hands-on writing instruction. 

We often utilize supporting technology in conjunction with our research-based programs, and studies support this use of complementary edtech tools. A meta-analysis of dozens of rigorous studies of edtech indicated that when education technology is used to help individualize students’ learning, the results overall show “enormous promise.” 

Understanding that our students have learning differences, we work to provide positive educational opportunities that are tailored to each child’s personal strengths and learning styles. The use of evidence-based programs and a variety of supporting edtech tools help our students boost their reading confidence, increase their fluency skills and foster their interest and love of reading.

Effective use of technology in the classroom produces powerful results

At Cambridge School, all of our students have a Chromebook or a tablet. We also use a range of different technologies to help our students access grade-level content, with the focus on improving reading abilities across any and all subject areas. If we use an audiobook in a class, for example, the text will be available online so the students can read while they listen to it. 

In pandemic and post-pandemic era education, teachers, school leaders, and parents have been concerned with getting kids back on grade level and closing the achievement gap. In fact, according to the most recent Educator Confidence Report from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 62 percent of teachers say students falling behind is a top concern this school year.

Across the nation, schools and districts have utilized additional funding to hire tutors who can provide additional support to students before, during, and even after school in efforts to help kids learn skills that they need to become proficient. 

At Brewbaker Primary School (BPS) in Montgomery, AL, we decided to leverage an AI tutor–Amira by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt–to help our students improve their reading achievement. Amira is a 1:1 virtual reading tutor that uses state of the art AI and voice recognition software. Our Amira implementation efforts have yielded astounding and significant learning outcomes.

When I became the principal of Brewbaker Primary School in July of 2020, the Alabama Literacy Act was already established. This law states that all 3^rd graders should be able to read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade or risk failing. Reading proficiency was only 18 percent at BPS in 2019 with no spring 2020 data when I arrived. 

Due to the pandemic, many students have fallen behind grade-level expectations. Educators are trying to get students caught up in the most efficient way possible. It may feel like we’re so far behind that we’ll never catch up, but by focusing on teaching students what they’ve missed while continuing on with grade-level material, I believe we can help close the learning gaps created over the past two years.

Despite teachers’ natural inclination to slow down when students are struggling, our district is taking a different approach to literacy. Instead of focusing on remediation, we are diving into acceleration. With the limited district data gathered over the past two years, analysis shows that we can’t slow down in order to get students caught up to grade-level reading. We have to continue on our path forward; otherwise they’ll be catching up until they get their diploma. Here’s how we’re implementing reading acceleration for our students.

Mastery Is Not Bound to Time

Many districts say they’re practicing mastery learning, but they have a traditional grading system where, if a student doesn’t finish their homework, they’ll get a zero. Mastery learning doesn’t align with that process. In a traditional classroom, educators tend to stop and slow down when a student is struggling instead of continuing on. We don’t follow that workflow.

We don’t practice a unit of skills for a set amount of time, test on it, and move on to the next unit without an action plan to support struggling students. If a student doesn’t master skills from unit 1, they’ll continue practicing those skills in unit 2. This is where our collaboration and use of tech tools come in to help. We use Reading Horizons Discovery for all K-3 students, but it’s especially beneficial for students who need extra practice and differentiated instruction on crucial foundational literacy skills. In all literacy domains, students get an opportunity to re-demonstrate their proficiencies after they have received reteaching and corrective opportunities. This approach allows us to differentiate instruction with individual students and run multiple lessons while still focusing on grade-level standards rather than learning loss.

Reading Acceleration in Action

Reading acceleration isn’t about bulldozing over topics and moving on despite struggles students might be facing. It’s about continuing forward down a path, analyzing data, and targeting students individually or in small group, when applicable. Instead of stopping what you’re doing and targeting obstacles in a whole-group setting, educators can utilize data to tailor instruction that meets the needs of students along the path to the next lesson.

Nearly all students can learn how to read, yet only 35 percent of them are reading proficiently. This widening gap seems insurmountable, but the bottom line is that teachers are the most essential factor in student reading success.

However, here’s the problem as I see it: only about half of all teaching institutions effectively prepare teachers for literacy instruction. And while it’s easy to assume that the schooling, master’s degrees, and pre-service training adequately prepare us to walk into the classroom and teach students how to read, the reality is that this training isn’t enough.

To truly master reading instruction, teachers need more. Fortunately, our cooperative’s previous director recognized this and started using LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) Suite. The program teaches the skills needed to master the fundamentals of reading instruction, including phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing and language.  

I was already familiar with the professional learning platform when I joined Monroe One BOCES and knew it provided a comprehensive learning experience for teachers. In fact, it supports educators professional learning through a modern, blended approach with the availability of digital and print resources and it offers virtual face-to-face interactive sessions and an interactive platform for asynchronous professional learning specific to each unit. At Monroe One, we encourage the use of the interactive platform as a supplemental tool, but we do not require it.

Imagine you are a struggling reader. You dread reading…in any class. You feel like a failure, and you are starting to hate school. One day, your science teacher brings in a Microsoft HoloLens headset. You put on the mixed reality glasses and pick up the science article that the teacher wants you to read. You begrudgingly begin reading.

After only a few sentences you are lost because you don’t know what “light energy” means. Because your eyes stopped on that phrase, an animation jumps off the page through the glasses demonstrating an example of the concept with a voiceover explanation. Several moments later you read the word “photosynthesis” and another animation appears with an audio explanation. Suddenly, reading in science class takes on a whole new emotion…you are feeling success and are even interested in reading more about science.

Characteristics of struggling readers

Some students struggle with reading, and it’s a complicated situation. First, they struggle with anxiety. High anxiety is often present for struggling readers, and they tend to have reading anxiety along with general anxiety. Second, low-proficiency readers struggle with motivation. Essentially, struggling readers have a low reading self-concept, which is linked to lower motivation. Third, struggling readers have low achievement. Given the high anxiety and low motivation, struggling readers only perform at a low reading level. For these struggling readers, common instructional methods are insufficient…and they fall behind.

Mixed reality science reading

At East Carolina University, we wanted to create something uncommon, so we created a science reading experience for 5^th grade students using the Microsoft HoloLens. The HoloLens is a mixed reality technology—it merges the real and virtual worlds to produce something entirely new. Young readers wore the mixed reality glasses and then looked at a page of scientific text in the real world. But we programmed the HoloLens to deliver supplementary content in the virtual world that could only be seen and heard within the glasses. Because abstract concepts can be intimidating for young learners, we focused on supplying additional information for difficult scientific concepts. When the students’ eyes paused on a particularly difficult word or phrase, the glasses would deliver audio-visual information to supplement the reading.

The Fall 2021 PALS Report found that reading skills in young learners are at a 20-year low. Over the past three years, reports have shown there had been little growth in reading and in some cases, states were backsliding. The majority of students who are exiting our school system do not have the reading skills they need to be successful at a job that requires reading skills.

I have analyzed how literacy education has evolved, exploring why we are where we are today and how we can improve. Educators can improve their K-3 students’ reading achievements by focusing instruction on structures of the English language. By applying findings from the science of reading, educators can positively affect students’ confidence in their academic careers and beyond. Here’s how to get started.

Assessing Your Curriculum for Elements of Structured Literacy

The science of reading is massive, and there’s much to learn from it. Structured Literacy is the practical approach that helps educators implement that science.

A few of the key elements of this approach include:

• Phonology is the study of the sound structure of spoken words. Phonemic awareness gives students the ability to distinguish, segment, blend, and manipulate phonemes and is highly relevant to reading and spelling.
• Sound-symbol association is the alphabetic principle of how to map phonemes to letters— known as phoneme-grapheme correspondence.
• Syllables: Knowing syllable patterns help readers know which sound the vowel is representing—whether in single syllable or multisyllabic words. Syllable division rules guide readers in dividing and decoding unfamiliar words of any length.
• Morphology is the study of the units of meaning in words, which involves using base elements and affixes to help readers decode and unlock the meanings of complex words.
• Syntax, the set of principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence, includes grammar, sentence structure, and the mechanics of language.
• Semantics, which is instruction in the comprehension and meaning of words.

While I’m a far cry from a Newbery, once a year, I’ve gotten into the habit of writing a picture book for my nephew Knox. My goal is to keep the eight-year-old excited about reading, because what little boy doesn’t want to read a book about himself?

For the purposes of this article about using picture books in instruction, I invite you to listen as I read aloud to you The Great PunkaKnox.

When I was in school, my teacher would have read the book out loud and asked us questions to test our comprehension, such as:

Q) Who did Knox live with? A) His aunt and uncle.
Q) What color was Knox’s pumpkin? A) Green.
Q) What animal visited Knox’s pumpkin? A) A fox.

A slightly more sophisticated question might be:

Q) Who is the narrator of the book? A) The pumpkin.

In “old school” school, teachers would pass along information; students would listen, memorize, and regurgitate. Fast-forward (yes, a 1980’s VCR reference is highly appropriate) a few decades, and students today have answers to every question in the world with a click or a swipe. Content and information are readily available to everyone; therefore, standing at the front of the classroom and sharing information is no longer an effective form of instruction. 

Yet, books have never been a more important delivery tool.

In a recent webinar, Using Books as Mentor Texts, teacher and author Adrienne Gear shared, “The books are my teaching partners to get to deep thinking. You don’t have to be a proficient reader to be a proficient thinker.”

With 640 students in grades K-4, our Mississippi elementary school serves a diverse population. In 2020, we were at a point with the third-grade reading test where we weren’t as prepared as we should have been. We knew we had to dig deeper to better prepare our K-2 students, and we also knew this was an ongoing journey.

We started working with the Barksdale Reading Institute to help improve our students’ reading capabilities. Through our experience with the Institute’s Literacy for Leaders, we learned more about Lexia Core5 Reading and the role it could play in helping improve our younger learners’ reading capabilities and test scores.

5 reasons we needed an online literacy platform

We’ve had our online literacy platform in place since January 2020 and have seen significant benefits since then. We renewed our focus this year knowing just how valuable it was for our students, teachers, and parents.

Here are five reasons we focus on Core5:

1. Helps us prioritize reading.  We set aside daily “WIN” or What I Need time during the day. This is when each grade level focuses on interventions and enrichment. Some teachers use the adaptive literacy program during WIN while others use it during their regular class instruction time as part of a center. The follow-up literacy small-group lessons and personalized skill builders takes place either during reading instruction or during WIN time.

At Rockford Public Schools, we have a strong commitment to literacy growth. We take a comprehensive approach beginning with our foundational curriculum.

Foundational literacy instruction accounts for 50 minutes of the literacy framework; this includes up to 30 minutes for core instruction and 20 minutes engaged in the aligned software. Extended transfer beyond the Daily Core 4 is embedded within the framework as well. Other components of the RPS literacy framework include Integrated Literacy which integrates English language arts standards, Next Generation Science Standards, C3 standards, and some health standards. The elementary schools use Units of Study Writing as the core writing resource aligned to standards. 

Our students spend about 210 to 220 minutes per day in the area of literacy instruction and practice. One area we’ve recently been working on improving is the consistency of language and approach when it comes to explicit phonics instruction and the science of reading. We have a number of students with gaps in literacy. It is imperative that all of our teachers, instructional coaches , and administrators share a common language and instructional practices to support all students in the area of literacy.

With approximately 29,000 students and 42 schools, including 21 elementary schools, special program schools, and four early childhood centers, Rockford Public Schools is quite large, so implementing changes takes a lot of time. I have learned how important it is to ensure teachers understand the reasons behind instructional shifts so that they are fully invested in using effective resources and practices.

Aligning on the ‘why’

To offer students explicit and systematic phonics instruction and practice—and to ensure the approach and language we used to deliver it was consistent across grade levels and schools—we implemented Reading Horizons Discovery in kindergarten through second grade in 2017; many third grade classrooms opted to implement the program as well. Since the original roll-out of the program, much research in the science of reading has confirmed that this program aligns to best practices in phonics instruction.

We live in a world where learning and technology are intrinsically linked, especially in the minds of our youth. But do today’s students process information differently because it comes on a digital device? Is there a correlation between technology use and plummeting literacy rates?  And is the way our young people consume information negatively impacting their growth as learners?

I recently discussed these questions with two education experts on my podcast, What I Want to Know. Earl Martin Phalen is the founder and CEO of Summer Advantage and the George and Veronica Phalen Leadership Academies, and Dr. Maryanne Wolf is the Director of the UCLA Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice. Phalen is well-known for his work improving literacy in marginalized populations, and Dr. Wolf has done extensive research on brain development and literacy.

Technology can engage students and enhance their literacy skills

Phalen is a firm believer in the power of literacy. “Practicing reading and getting comfortable with language helps you become a better writer, helps you become a better critical thinker, and allows you to express yourself better when you’re speaking,” he explained. And he is enthusiastic about the role technology can play in engaging students.

“Technology can stimulate our scholar’s imaginations in different ways,” Phalen said. “A scholar at one of our campuses reenacted Rosa Parks. They wrote the play. They modernized it, as if Rosa Parks lived in 2020. They directed it. They did the sound on it. They did the green screen and learned about all those things. And that’s just one example of using technology to enhance writing skills, public speaking skills, and stimulating imagination while learning about a critical historical moment.”

But integrating technology into lesson plans can be a challenge. “Some of our teachers had never really used technology so we stumbled,” he shared. “But I loved the fact that folks stuck with it to help the children learn.”

This is one of the more clear-cut examples of how technology can have a positive impact on literacy. But it’s also important to know the potentially negative impacts so we can address them head on.  

Digital devices inhibit the development of deep reading skills

Dr. Wolf explained that thirty years ago, 60 percent of children read weekly. Today only 12-15 percent of kids pick up a book each week.   

Students are still acquiring knowledge from digital devices, but there are complexities in reading paperback or hardcover books that today’s children are missing.

“The reading brain is plastic, that will reflect the affordances or characteristics of the medium,” Dr. Wolf explained. Adults who grew up reading a printed book or a magazine weekly have what she calls a “deep reading brain,” which is better equipped and developed to use “deep reading processes” such as empathy and critical thinking.

Today, young people are reading on digital devices at an increasingly fast pace. This causes students to miss much of the information, the smaller details that contribute to a holistic, deep-reading brain.

“There’s a lot of data now that shows that kids are not comprehending what they’re reading in the same way because that attention is being so distracted,” Wolf said. “They’ve learned a mode of reading that’s more involved in just getting the main words and doing it fast, which literally neglects the most important parts of reading,” like comprehension and analysis.

Parents and teachers should take a measured approach to technology

With all of that in mind, what I truly wanted to know was what should we be doing differently? What can we do to get kids to focus on the most important parts of reading? What can teachers and parents do to help their students develop a deep reading brain?

“The first five years [of life] I want all children and all parents to be involved in reading, at the very minimum, make it a nightly ritual of affection and association with books,” Wolf said. “And no child can be allowed to go into fourth grade without being as fluent and automatic [with reading] as possible because fourth grade is when we lose our kids.”

Data from Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that students who were not proficient readers by the end of third grade were four times more likely to drop out of high school. 

Reading kids physical books while they are young might sound like an obvious solution to this problem, but in reality, that isn’t happening enough. Parents and educators need to do a better job of finding a middle ground between technology and literacy that starts when kids are born.

Technology has become a pivotal tool in expanding the possibilities for how we learn. But that doesn’t mean we can simply abandon our roots. There is tremendous value in picking up a physical book and carving out that reading time to stimulate our students’ brains.

To discover more about how literacy education needs to evolve in a modern society, listen to Episode 7 of my What I Want to Know Podcast and join the conversation using #WIWTK.

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