THERE WERE THREE students in my small group practicing reading a paragraph. Neil, one of my 2nd graders, had come to the sentence “We can all pick up trash.” The word trash stumped him. He looked up at me pleadingly. Could I tell him what it was? When I asked Neil to sound it out himself, tears started to well up in his eyes. He couldn’t do it.
Matching letters to sounds is a phonics skill, which in itself is one of the five pillars of the science of reading and of effectively teaching literacy to children. The others are phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
I’m a second grade teacher and teaching literacy is core to my practice. Yet I have not had formal training in the science of reading and in teaching kids how to read. To help Neil and my other students, I have taught myself as much as I could about manipulating letter sounds and matching them to print. Based on this research and learning, I have altered my teaching to ensure my students are getting the strongest instruction.
To date, 37 states have adopted some type of science of reading legislation. Massachusetts is not one of them.
Here, there is no science of reading legislation in law to help teachers like me teach students like Neil. For a state that prides itself on being at the top when it comes to education, we are falling woefully behind and failing our children. Mississippi went from being ranked the second-worst state in 2013 for fourth grade reading to 21st in 2022; they did it by training thousands of teachers in the science of reading and by deploying literacy coaches to help them.
Now, dozens of states are rushing to replicate Mississippi’s success. Here in Massachusetts, we can’t say we’ve dropped the ball because we haven’t even picked it up.
Research shows that science of reading, with its emphasis on the five pillars of reading, helps young readers get to literacy faster. A bill before our Legislature, H.4423, would ensure high-quality, comprehensive literacy instruction in all Massachusetts schools by requiring districts to use the science of reading research when choosing a curriculum as well as assessing students’ literacy skills. This legislation would go a long way toward helping students like Neil learn to read no matter which classroom they land in.
In addition, Gov. Healey’s Literacy Launch proposal, with an annual investment of $30 million over five years, would similarly address the use of research and evidence-based curricula as well as necessary teacher training and support.
I appreciate the recent piece in CommonWealth Beacon by Michael Moriarty, a member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, acknowledging Massachusetts’s literacy crisis and uplifting the governor’s proposal and H.4423.
The growing popularity of the science of reading approach across the nation and the proposed bill here at home are shifting the discussion on literacy.
I have witnessed staff in my school join book clubs run by our literacy coach to learn more. The book we are reading, Shifting the Balance, has encouraged teachers to learn how to incorporate the science of reading into their classrooms in manageable ways. While the book points out strategies that are not effective, it does so without shaming and alienating teachers who have used those strategies. Our pre-kindergarten teachers have already seen an improvement in their students’ phonemic awareness skills by adding a research-backed program to their day. Without legislation this shift will not become statewide.
Passing the new legislation is just a start. We need instructional materials that support phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
Legislators and administration must ensure that the time and resources are provided to train educators across the state in the best practices outlined in the science of reading research. District-provided professional development time should be used as time for teachers and support staff to review the research and learn how to incorporate the teaching practices the research supports.
We have not been successful in teaching all of our students to read. It is time we all follow the science and research to do right by every student.
Due to the research and learning I did on my own, I was able to implement scientifically backed reading practices to help my class. Not all teachers have the time and the means to do this.
The time and energy put into learning and implementing research based instructional practices paid off when Neil left my classroom at the end of second grade able to read grade-level text with ease. He began to enjoy reading and his mother recently shared with me that he loves to be at the library and is currently reading Hatchet.
Every student in Massachusetts deserves to have the same success Neil had. Every student deserves to know how to read.
Jennifer Amento is a second grade teacher at Kenneth C Coombs Elementary in Mashpee and a 2023-24 Teach Plus Massachusetts Policy Fellow.
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