6/17/2024

Educators as Advocates: Advocating for the Science of Reading at the School Level

By John Arthur

For as long as I've taught at Meadowlark Elementary School, we've had at least weekly PLC meetings as grade-level teams. At these meetings, we would do classic data dives, examining all of the information from assessments to identify gaps and determine where to focus our efforts.

In those meetings, our literacy coach would also join us. As a sixth grade PLC, we all agreed our students' language arts scores would be much improved with a program that better met our students' fundamental reading needs. Our students had difficulty breaking down words and other aspects of literacy that weren't part of our existing curriculum.

We asked our literacy coach for help, and she guided us into the world of the science of reading. She told us that if we were serious about helping our students, it would require new programs and extra training. We couldn't continue with what we had been doing; we needed to take on more and embrace new methods.

As a team, we looked at each other and agreed we wanted to improve. I, the veteran among us and our team lead, set the tone by expressing the desire to be better for the students. This involved admitting I needed help and being willing to take on extra work, even amidst the craziness of the pandemic. We decided to approach our principal to discuss the problem.

Communicating With Leadership

Before approaching leadership, we had to be sure we could justify our request. It wasn’t just going to our principal; the request had to go up the chain to get funding approvals and everything else. Our principal had a supervisor to convince as well, and it involved a lot of money. It's no joke.

We collected all of our grade-level data, showing how stagnant certain populations were, and used that to build a case for needing additional support. We also had to prove we were doing everything we were asked to do, and we were good teachers.

We had to prove we were using programs as intended. Our reputation was pretty solid to begin with, but we still had to show we were using districtwide literacy materials properly and they were just not yielding the results we needed. Once we were equipped with data and a clear ask, we approached our principal.

It takes the right leader to create meaningful, sustainable change. Luckily, we were fortunate enough to have Dr. Maggie Cummings as our principal, who was an extremely attentive leader and really listened to our input.

She conducted interviews with all of us, asking what we thought needed to happen to make the school better. With data in hand, we laid out the need for additional materials to help improve our literacy scores. We needed more training in the upper grades on the science of reading, because we were getting more students showing up not knowing the fundamentals of reading. I hadn't done a phonics screener or assessed phonemic awareness since grad school. She immediately worked with our literacy coach to investigate the best programs to address those needs.

With the ask in place, our literacy coach, along with our principal, made the case to the necessary authorities. They presented that our staff had identified clear needs and proposed a solution involving programmatic change. But more than just adopting a new program, we identified specific areas where we needed professional learning and coaching. For example, we needed training on administering phonological screeners and teaching students to break down words into prefixes, roots, and suffixes. This required time from our coach and occasionally other district personnel came to work with us.

Educators, let me be clear: We had to advocate for all these added pieces. And nothing buys you more credibility than asking for more work. If we’re begging to do more, even when our job is already incredibly tough, then you have to know our heart is in the right place. If we say this is what we need and we’ve proven we’re worth listening to, then you have to…and they did.

The Impact of Advocacy

For as long as I've been at Meadowlark Elementary School, we've been in school turnaround. With the addition of these new literacy resources, we felt like we’d finally be able to improve our academic standing.

We received the resources during the pandemic, so I was able to conduct a pilot program with the students who were still attending class. While the whole class had access to the resources, I was able to provide additional differentiated instruction using science of reading principles to my smaller cohort.

When we returned to a more typical classroom setting, I started taking more detailed progress measurements. I had never heard the term "pathways of progress" before, but suddenly we were asked to monitor our students’ progress on these pathways. By the end of the year, 100% of my students met their pathway to progress goals. From my classroom data, I knew the desperation I felt before—the need for new programming and support—was no longer there. The new program we had implemented was meeting my students' needs. That in itself told me we were doing the right thing. Now, with data showing our students' success, we exited school turnaround as a community.

This experience is a testament to the power of having a leader who listens and trusts the expertise of the teachers within a building. Those of us who stay through hard times know what our students and staff are capable of; we just need certain pieces put into place to succeed. With a leader who listens to their teachers and puts those pieces in place, you can make magic happen.

Embracing Advocacy in Your Schools and Beyond

It’s very easy to champion things that are effective.

Clearly, advocating for the science of reading is something I've done, and am continuing to do as I run for the Utah State Board of Education. Our state has embraced the science of reading, implementing mandatory Lexia® LETRS® training for K–3 educators. However, there are still those who resist this approach, viewing the science of reading as a corporate scheme. As a candidate, I've publicly debated these issues, defending educators and our data-driven, evidence-based direction. I remain committed to advocating for and voting in favor of the science of reading if elected.

I know how it works and what it can mean for children's lives. It's a crying shame we have to advocate for something effective, but change has to start somewhere.

My advice for teachers wanting to advocate for the science of reading in their schools is to recognize the reason it's called the science of reading is because it is based on evidence and studies that are reliable and valid. You don't have to spend time trying to build a case because the case has already been built. It's throughout the country, folks have already done that busy work. All you have to do is go out and collect it and communicate your and your students’ needs to key decision-makers.

Keep in mind solutions become clear when you are closest to the problems. When you are working with children and using your professional expertise and experience, you can recognize what a student needs to achieve at the level we expect of them. It becomes not only a good thing to do, but a must for teachers to stand up and say loudly what children need.

Too often, policymakers and school leaders removed from the classroom tell us what children need. If anything can be taken from our story, I hope it's that great change can come when leaders listen to teachers. No one else is going to advocate for us. We have to do it ourselves, and no one else knows what we need because they couldn’t possibly without being in our classrooms.

About the author

John Arthur is the 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year Finalist. He is also director of candidate recruitment for the Utah National Board Coalition and co-director of the Teacher Fellows, a nonprofit developing the next generation of Utah teacher leaders. In 2023, he was recognized as one of Utah’s Most Valuable Educators by Instructure and the Utah Jazz, a K–12 Hero Award recipient from eSchool News, and was named the 2024 General Education Teacher of the Year by the Council for Exceptional Children Utah for his work supporting students with disabilities.