Colorado’s rules on reading curriculum apply to Aurora

Mandate was news to district officials

Some Aurora schools will have to switch to a new reading curriculum to comply with a state law requiring science-backed reading materials — even though district leaders initially denied they would have to change.

About one-third of the district’s elementary and K-8 schools use a program that has been rejected soundly by state reviewers. But when asked by a reporter in mid-February about replacing the program, district officials pushed back and said the law didn’t require them to switch. The next day, after receiving confirmation from state education officials that the 2019 reading law applies to them, they softened their stance.

“No timeline has been established by CDE for districts to make changes, and we will continue to work with CDE to make any necessary updates,” district spokesman Corey Christiansen said in a written statement, referring to the Colorado Department of Education.

Compared with some large Colorado districts where the vast majority of schools use unacceptable curricula that will have to be replaced, Aurora faces a relatively light lift. But between the district’s confusion about the reading law, fuzzy communication from state officials and ongoing friction between Aurora Superintendent Rico Munn and the school board, there’s no telling when reading curriculum will rise to the top of the district’s to-do list.

Only about a quarter of Aurora

third-graders scored proficient on state literacy tests in 2019, below the state average. Of the district’s 38,000 students, 47% are English learners, a group that makes up a disproportionate share of students identified as having reading difficulties.

State education officials have long said improving reading instruction — and boosting Colorado’s stagnant literacy scores — is a top priority, but they traditionally haven’t gotten involved in decisions about how educators teach reading. That’s changing because of a 2019 reading law that required reading curriculum backed by science and new training for K-3 teachers.

But some advocates, while heartened by the stricter provisions in the law, worry that state officials won’t follow through.

So far the signals are mixed. State officials have told Chalkbeat they have the power to lower districts’ accreditation ratings if schools don’t make a good-faith effort to comply with the reading curriculum rules. At the same time, they’ve acknowledged that some district leaders are still confused about the law. In addition, state officials don’t plan to contact districts to flag unacceptable reading programs till later this spring — a full two years after the law’s passage.

“I do think this is normal in any new situation, any new law as people come into compliance,” said Melissa Colsman, associate commissioner of student learning at the state education department. “Until we follow up with them, it may not quite be real yet.”

Colorado’s 2019 reading law — an update of the state’s 2012 landmark reading law, the READ Act — has two key pieces that deal with reading curriculum choice. The first, more well-known provision requires districts to buy state-approved reading programs if they use READ Act dollars for the purchase.

Since many districts use other pots of money to buy reading curricula, administrators may assume they can choose anything they want. That’s where the second provision in the 2019 law comes in.

It requires all schools to use scientifically or evidence-based K-3 reading curricula.

Wonders, the most widely used reading program in Aurora schools, is one of the programs approved by state reviewers. But a second program called “Units of Study for Teaching Reading,” or more commonly “Lucy Calkins,” didn’t make the cut. The same is true of a supplemental phonics program called Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, which is used at all of Aurora’s Lucy Calkins schools.

That means that one-third of Aurora’s district-run elementary and K-8 schools, enrolling more than 5,000 students, use unacceptable reading curricula and are out of compliance with the law.

Three years ago, when Aurora adopted Wonders and Lucy Calkins, district-run schools were allowed to pick which one they wanted. About two dozen chose Wonders. Nearly a dozen chose Lucy Calkins, along with the Fountas & Pinnell Phonics supplement.

(The district’s eight charter schools with K-3 grades use a variety of reading programs, including Wonders and other state-approved options.)