Reading is fundamental yet so many children lack the basics

CHICAGO >> Listen in on any parentteacher conference and nine times out of 10, parents of elementary-school students say, “I want my child to read better.”

Difficulties with reading are a major roadblock to students’ academic success, and the statistics are startling.

Nearly a third of all fourth-graders failed to reach a “basic” level of reading ability, according to a 2017 report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ Nation’s Report Card on Reading. And by eighth grade, nearly a quarter of students couldn’t identify statements of main idea, theme or author’s purpose; make simple inferences from texts; or interpret a word’s meaning based on how it is used.

Reading scores for black, Hispanic and Native-American/PacificIslander students are even lower. Affluent white children are more often than low-income children to be taught literacy skills at home and arrive at school largely able to read.

This inconsistency is magnified by the preparation teachers bring to the singularly crucial task of reading instruction.

According to the National Council on Teacher Quality, 40 states (including D.C.) still do not have sufficient licensing tests on the science of reading in place for elementary and special-education teachers, even though 80 percent of students assigned to special education are there because of their struggles with reading.

States like Iowa, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska and Nevada license both elementary and special-education teachers without requiring them to pass assessments specific to reading-instruction knowledge.

To be fair, only 37 percent of elementary and special-education teacher-preparation programs can provide evidence they teach scientifically based reading methods to their teacher candidates, according to NCTQ’s new report, “Strengthening Reading Instruction through Better Preparation of Elementary and Special Education Teachers.”

And teachers may bristle at more tests, more hoops to jump through and more barriers to overcome in order to get into the classroom. Most states (40) use the edTPA, a highly rigorous, subject-specific assessment in order to gain certification. Having taken the edTPA within the last few years, I can tell you it wasn’t designed to test my ability to explicitly and systematically teach phonics skills and phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

The disconnect between how teachers are trained and how states license them to enter classrooms are at complete odds with how we evaluate student academic growth over time; we’re basically holding young students to a higher standard of proving proficiency via formal, standardized assessments than we do their teachers.

“If we are asking students to demonstrate their content knowledge, then we must ensure teachers have the content knowledge to teach,” said Heather Peske, the senior associate commissioner at the Center for Instructional Support in Massachusetts, a state that sets the bar high on reading credentials for both elementary and specialeducation teachers. She told NCTQ: “The (Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure) ensures that teacher candidates have critical reading and writing skills. Massachusetts’ fourthand eighth-graders have placed first in the nation on national tests of reading for over a decade. We believe this is linked to our educators’ solid and demonstrated content knowledge.”

It seems like plain common sense that all states should require elementary and special-education teacher candidates to prove they can produce the highest number of successful readers.

But is anyone even paying attention to improving education these days? Perhaps when our country starts investing in students again, we can prioritize reading instruction to give children — especially our most vulnerable readers — a fair shot at mastering this crucial skill.