Now that we have a clearer picture of how the nation’s schoolchildren are experiencing a literacy crisis caused by the pandemic, our schools must place a greater emphasis on the single, most-impactful resource that can correct this setback: teachers.
Reading development in our youngest students suffered dramatically after classroom instruction shifted to remote learning more than two years ago. There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates roughly one-third of our youngest school-aged children are reading below their grade-level benchmarks. More troubling, minority children and others with learning disabilities fell even further behind.
These assessments were based on foundational measures such as a child’s ability to write their name, identify front and back book covers and differentiate a single letter from a word – skills fundamental to literacy development.
A teacher I personally know reported there were so many students scoring in the lowest achievement category that the school district did not have enough intervention teachers to support them all. Many students went the entire school year without receiving the intensive literacy support they needed. It was a scenario repeated in school systems across the country.
Making matters worse is that literacy concerns were already rampant before the pandemic. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), reading scores have been stagnant, at best, since 1998. And the most recent assessment showed that scores for traditionally underserved students were lower than in previous years.
As school leaders grapple with how to address this crisis, there is a disturbing trend of school systems relying on commercial programs to help these children overcome this literacy gap. These commercial programs are costly, and large school districts spend millions of dollars on pre-packaged materials without fully evaluating the program’s effectiveness for their specific student populations.
While some offer evidence of effectiveness, many fall short in showing meaningful results for particular populations, such as students learning English as an additional language or living in high-poverty areas.
There is no single commercial reading program that can meet the literacy needs of all students, and, unfortunately, many teachers say they are required to implement these commercial programs to the letter, stifling any opportunity for the teachers’ own input.
This increased demand for standardization continues to leave many students behind in their literacy development. Educational research has clearly demonstrated that the greatest factor of influence in student achievement is the teacher.
Even a well-designed commercial reading program cannot supplant a knowledgeable literacy teacher. Now more than ever a paradigm shift is critical. To adequately address this crisis in reading development our children will need their teachers to be provided the space and flexibility to respond appropriately to their varying developmental needs.
Research from the Learning Policy Institute demonstrates the type of quality and characteristics of professional development that actually support change in teacher practice and improve student learning outcomes. This type of professional learning is about continuous improvement, providing teachers multiple opportunities to engage in active learning from models of effective practices.
Sadly, it is the opposite of what most U.S. teachers currently receive: short, after-school workshops or one-day lectures on topics that do little to move the needle meaningfully on literacy development. There is no silver bullet. Teaching reading is a complex task.
Educators are used to hearing the refrain “we can’t afford” to provide critical teaching resources. Perhaps it is time for a shift in our thinking, and maybe we should ask ourselves, “Can we afford not to?”
JaNiece Elzy is an assistant professor in the Department of Literacy and Learning at Texas Woman's University.