School officials urge the state to prioritize literacy

If students have not transitioned by the end of third grade from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” they will struggle for the rest of their academic careers, across all subjects — whether English, math, science or social studies.

As the leaders of school districts, we always have children at the center of our decision-making. This school year has been a long, hard and unconventional one. But now, with school recovery finally on the horizon, each of us recognizes that our students deserve the very best of us in vision, leadership and execution.

There’s over a billion dollars in much-needed federal relief funding coming into Connecticut’s K-12 public school system, and much of that will be earmarked specifically to combat learning losses. This is not a time to throw spaghetti at the wall or to fund haphazard ad hoc projects. Rather, we need to focus on students’ academic foundations to shore up some of the learning that has been lost during COVID-19. We need to double-down on the fundamental skills, such as reading, that will serve them throughout their academic careers. In short, we need state leadership and support on a research-based strategy to address early literacy.

In Grades K-3, students need to learn the specific skills, such as decoding and phonics, that will allow them to read words. This is the bedrock upon which a genuine love of reading in Grades 4 and up can be built. However, prior to the pandemic, only about half of all Connecticut third-graders were “meeting or exceeding” gradelevel expectations in English-language arts on state tests, and only 40 percent of Connecticut fourth-graders met national proficiency standards. The wide disparities by race are even more troubling, with Black and Hispanic students on average scoring over 30 percentage points lower than their peers. There is no post-pandemic statewide data yet, but we know that the absence of consistent, high-quality, in-person instruction has resulted in significant disruptions to learning. What was — pre-pandemic — an early literacy crisis in Connecticut has been exacerbated, especially for students from historically underserved communities.

If students have not transitioned by the end of third grade from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” they will struggle for the rest of their academic careers, across all subjects — whether English, math, science or social studies. We can’t, as educators, let that happen. We need all teachers to be trained to identify reading difficulties and to respond with evidence-based interventions that work for all students. We need explicit instruction that shows students how to lift words from the page if we want those students to develop a love of reading in later years.

There actually is a correct way to do this. We have each begun to do this work in our districts and have witnessed first-hand how our students and teachers flourish. Some of us have revamped our curriculum and materials, some have engaged outside experts in the science of reading, and we’re all doing the critical work of providing professional development to our educators. But we need consistency from the state, and resources, to do all these things in concert and in earnest. All districts do.

A promising piece of legislation this session, the Right to Read bill, would have the state meet this need by establishing a center to systemize an evidence-based literacy strategy for all K-3 learners; coordinate coaching, professional development and interventions; ensure that curricular materials are aligned; and collaborate with educator preparation programs to see that preservice teachers get the training they need.

The years of stagnant reading scores for far too many students show us that, as a state, what we’re doing just hasn’t been working for enough kids, and we need a new plan.

Literacy is an investment that will give students a strong foundation, will increase engagement, will reduce achievement gaps, will mitigate special education costs and dropout rates, and will produce a more prepared student population with a brighter future. We’re counting on the Legislature and the state to provide strong leadership and to begin our recovery strategy by targeting literacy.

It’s the long-overdue relief that our students deserve.

Michael Conner is the superintendent of Middletown Public Schools, Tamu Lucero is superintendent and Amy Beldotti is the associate superintendent of teaching and learning at Stamford Public Schools. Michael Testani is the superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools.

Donna Grethen