Missouri kids are way behind. Making them guess at words doesn’t teach them to read | Opinion
Missouri students are headed down a dangerous road. Only 30% of the state’s fourth-graders are reading at grade level.
The numbers are even more alarming for Black and Hispanic students in the state. They drop to 17% and 7%, respectively.
I used to teach fourth and fifth grade reading. Now I work at The Literacy Lab as the national director of elementary coaching. It’s a role that keeps me connected to the classroom reading experience.
Like most teachers, I had my fair share of students who could not read at a basic level. Seeing those students struggle in the classroom was heartbreaking, despite doing everything I could to help them.
You can’t ignore the warning signs of poor reading skills. You also can’t ignore its connection to high school dropout rates. Students who can’t read proficiently by third grade are four times less likely to graduate high school.
Turning a blind eye to poor reading skills is equivalent to pretending not to see your car’s check engine light. Something bad will inevitably happen if nothing is done.
We are in the midst of a reading revolution. The way kids are taught to read in Missouri — and across the country — needs to be overhauled. And any rebuild should be based on the science of reading, including phonics.
The popularity of phonological learning is growing nationally, and it works. Just look at Kansas City for proof.
Only 11% of pre-K students here who were tutored by The Literacy Lab were reading at grade level at the start of the last school year. That number jumped to 43% by year’s end.
The Literacy Lab uses evidence-based strategies focused on phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and phonics to improve student reading skills in Kansas City. And a majority of the gains are made by Black and Hispanic students, the demographic most at risk of dropping out of high school.
These gains are a step in the right direction, but there’s still more we can do to help kids read.
Students need equal access to effective literacy instruction. Without it, poor reading scores for Black and Hispanic students will climb precipitously.
Seismic shift in teaching: phonics and fluency
So why don’t more teachers use evidence-based strategies to teach reading? The answer is complicated.
For many teachers pursuing the science of reading in Missouri and other states, the demands to change require a seismic shift in how they teach and a complete rethinking of their best practices and beliefs.
I was one of them. While I was taught evidence-based reading strategies when I was in college, I was not equipped to apply those with my fourth and fifth grade students, especially those who were performing significantly below grade level and lacked foundational skills. My instruction was also mostly focused on the concept of guided reading.
The seismic shift I needed came from rigorous and continuous professional development after I became a teacher. It led me to data analysis practices, and helped me identify interventions for phonics and fluency skills, which are deeply rooted in the science of reading, and which my struggling readers desperately needed.
I applied what I had learned in the classroom and noticed improvements in my students’ reading skills. It permanently changed my outlook on how to teach children to read.
And the results speak for themselves.
Unfortunately, a lot of early reading teachers in the United States still practice what’s known as balanced literacy. That approach relies heavily on teacher choice and professional judgment. Teachers are taught to have many tools in their toolbox, and to use the methods that they think are most appropriate for their students.
One common practice in balanced literacy is guided reading, in which teachers coach students in a variety of comprehension strategies as they read a book matched to their level. Teachers encourage students who struggle over individual words to use pictures and context, in addition to looking at the letters, to guess at what the word could be.
But should kids be guessing at words when learning to read? There’s a ton of research that says no.
Many of these strategies aren’t the most effective for creating skilled readers. Studies have shown that explicit, systematic instruction in how letters represent sounds — phonics — is the most effective way to teach kids how to read words. And I agree.
We shouldn’t be teaching kids to guess at words. The stakes are too high. That leads students down a roadway filled with poor readers.
Instead, schools should invest in worthwhile literacy and reading programs that bring about real results.
Additionally, teachers have to understand that teaching reading is not just an art — it’s also a science. But the burden cannot fall on teachers alone. We need administrators and districts to invest not only in curricula and intervention programs that are based in the science of reading, but also provide continuous and rigorous professional development.
Our kids deserve it.
Emily Durig of Kansas City is the national director of elementary coaching for the 501(c)(3) nonprofit The Literacy Lab. She holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in education from the University of Kansas.
