![]() Los Angeles Unified was fifth from the bottom.Ĭredit: Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times/PolarisĬarvalho’s advice to the state would be the same as for LAUSD, he said: Insist on a rigorous and relevant curriculum follow the science of reading instruction, “which has proven to be most effective with young learners” and ensure that graduates of colleges of education are experts in the cognitive development of students who can produce “not only proficient readers, but also lovers of reading.”Īll of this, literacy experts say, demands a cohesive approach. ![]() ![]() In 2019, the nation’s fourth-largest school district was the top performer in fourth grade reading and math of the 27 urban districts that every two years take the National Assessment of Educational Program. Before becoming superintendent of Los Angeles Unified this year, he led Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Teachers and coaches must be trained in the science of reading textbooks should support it.Īlberto Carvalho agrees. Effective, focused instruction in decoding skills, such as phonics, in kindergarten and first grade, as well as attention to vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension, should be part of that effort. Literacy experts say these steps, while useful, will have limited impact unless California and other states take a more muscular and cohesive approach to early reading. ![]() In 2019, it was the only state to see a rise in scores.Īt the same time, articles and podcasts by American Public Media journalist Emily Hanford drew widespread attention to commonly used but ineffective reading methods and to research supporting phonics and other evidence-based techniques collectively called the science of reading.Ĭalifornia has taken some promising steps to adopt elements of the science of reading, including a plan to place reading coaches in some high-poverty schools, to better prepare new elementary school teachers to teach reading and to create a multilingual screening tool to recognize reading challenges in kindergarten through second grade. Since adopting a package of reading reforms in 2013, Mississippi’s reading scores rose steeply on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which all states take every two years. Meanwhile, galvanized by the success of Mississippi, the nation’s poorest state, many states have overhauled reading instruction in the early grades. The state’s largely hands-off early literacy policy, said Rosenbaum, is “mainly talk, barely walk.” the State of California case, said during an EdSource roundtable in April. It agreed to spend $50 million on a three-year reading improvement program for 75 of the lowest performing schools, where at some schools fewer than 10% of children were reading at grade level.Īnd yet in 800 schools, 75% of students failed to read at grade level, and the state has not recognized their plight beyond those in the settlement, Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney who represented the families in the Ella T. After initially fighting the lawsuit, the state settled the case in February 2020. In 2017, California was the first state to be sued on the grounds that it had denied children’s civil right to literacy under the state constitution. “We’re just not seeing that same level of involvement and intensity that other states have had,” said Linda Diamond, a retired executive of a California-based reading improvement firm who tracks literacy legislation and teacher preparation programs across the nation. Rose Ciotta, EdSource investigations and projects editor Read more about California’s Reading Dilemma.Įxplore the timeline on California’s Reading Wars History. This EdSource special report examines the state of early reading in California, the needs of special learners, teacher preparation and training, and curricula and textbooks that are driving instruction. This is the second in an occasional series on the dramatic national push to revamp how reading is being taught in the earliest grades.
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