6/17/2024

Challenges and Opportunities to Drive Student Success

A deep understanding of current challenges and opportunities is required to take action and support student literacy success.

In the last episode of All For Literacy Season 2, host Dr. Liz Brooke explores the challenges and opportunities being explored by educators across the country. Featuring insightful clips from recent interviews and discussions with prominent educators, this episode drives home many of the ideas mentioned throughout the season.

As the school year comes to a close, it's clear that prominent voices across education agree on several best practices to effectively implement the science of reading. Throughout Season 2 of the All For Literacy podcast, these educators have consistently discussed the importance of empowering and equipping teachers, using an effective implementation strategy, bringing content-area teachers into the mix, and honoring literacy as a civil right.

Empowering and Equipping Teachers

Empowering teachers through professional development, evidence-backed resources, and accessible data is an important step for implementing the science of reading into classrooms. With teachers’ limited time, finding, understanding, and figuring out how to implement the latest science of reading data and resources in their classrooms is not always feasible.

In Episode 7 of All For Literacy, Elementary Reading and Language Arts Supervisor for Waterbury Public Schools Dena Mortensen explains that administrators need to empower and equip teachers to effectively use evidence-based practices. “In a survey, our teachers referred to themselves as hunters and gatherers, and we didn't want that,” she explains. “We want to be able to provide them with what they need, so they can focus on delivering it and doing it just doing the job.”

Providing teachers with easy-to-understand and implement resources alongside appropriate professional development like Lexia® LETRS® can increase the likelihood of students gaining much-needed access to evidence-backed practices, which can help improve literacy overall.

Effective Implementation Strategies

While many understand that science of reading-backed strategies can raise literacy rates, effective implementation can be the final push needed for a successful transition. Brooke explains one effective way to implement the science of reading, saying, “A common theme we heard…is that science of reading is not just phonics or not just one thing, but the importance of teaching a multitude of skills and connecting those in really important ways.”

The episode also includes a quote from Dr. Young-Suk Kim’s All For Literacy episode where she and Brooke discussed the connection between reading and writing skills. “Instructional approaches that emphasize one or one cluster of skills would not support overall development of reading and writing skills,” Kim says. “So, I just want to emphasize that instruction should address multiple skills comprehensively.”

Overall, an effective implementation includes a comprehensive combination of skill acquisition rather than siloing individual literacy and writing skills.

Bringing in Content-Area Teachers

While sometimes seen as separate from literacy-focused teachers, content-area teachers make a difference in student literacy success. Providing age-appropriate resources and support to content-area specialists provides an opportunity for students to deepen literacy skills in memorable ways and more time for effective practice.

Brooke highlights the All For Literacy episode featuring Dr. Sharon Vaughn. Vaughn brings to light the crucial importance of including literacy practice and intervention throughout a student’s day, as opposed to solely during the intervention block. This allows for more extensive practice, especially when around 85% of curriculum on average includes a reading component.

Thus, involving content-area teachers in the science of reading is often an excellent way to ensure the effective implementation of evidence-based practices.

Literacy as a Civil Right

Crucial to improving literacy rates is the belief that literacy is a civil right—an essential skill that everyone deserves the right to master. This nods to the idea of educational equity, a topic that is often discussed by key education voices. For example, in Episode 8 of All For Literacy, Natalie Wexler discusses the topic of narrowing the education gap—bringing up the importance of content knowledge when it comes to equity in the classroom.

Wexler explains that ”What's more important [than reading comprehension skills] is how much relevant knowledge you have to what you are reading about.” When kids know more about a topic already, finding the passage's main idea or completing similar tasks is often easier. “[The] gap in test scores comes in [when] kids from more highly educated families who tend to have more resources in our society are in a better position to pick up that kind of academic knowledge and vocabulary outside of school,” she explains. “And so that gives them an advantage on those standardized tests and in school and in life.”

Thus, Wexler makes an important point about creating in-school assessments that honor all students and their access to content knowledge. Best practices like this can help ensure educational equity and that literacy remains an accessible right for all.

Tune Into the Season Finale

Season 2 of All For Literacy brought timely conversations with researchers, administrators, and teachers to help listeners better understand how to help their students succeed.

Tune into the season finale—Episode 9—and join Brooke for a deeper discussion about the current issues on educators’ minds. Gain more actionable tools to implement the science of reading and support students on their literacy journey.