Science of Reading: Some will improve but not enough.

The Hechinger Report’s recent article, “Many kids can’t read, even in high school. Is the solution teaching reading in every class?” (Roberts-Grmela, J., 2024) discusses the lack of reading competency and what some districts are doing to help students decode and understand content in all disciplines. One charter school in San Diego with a population of 500, The Health Sciences High and Middle College, has 80 percent of studnets who qualify for free or reduced lunch. To improve the low literacy skills of incoming freshmen, the school has 80-minute teaching blocks with 20 minutes devoted to learning new words through basic literacy strategies. Also, all teachers receive ongoing professional development in reading. While the article doesn’t document the school’s academic success over the years, which opened in 2007, it does highlight what teachers deal with, “On the 2022 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), known as the Nation’s Report Card, nearly 70 percent of eighth graders scored below “proficient” and, of those, 30 percent scored ‘below basic.’” Interestingly, too, NAEP tracked thirteen-year-old students’ interest in reading outside of school and the results show that those who scored above basic proficiency were more likely to read at home for fun. Unfortunately, the trend dropped from 27 percent of pupils in 2012 to 14 percent in 2023, while 51 percent of high-performing students in 2023 said they read at home.

So, what are we to make of this?

First, NAEP tells us what teachers,--especially this former ELA one, who had students in grade 9 reading so poorly in 1995 that some were given graphic novels before graphic novels were a thing—already know: curriculums, instructional pedagogies, and strategies have changed, but improvement hasn’t. The retelling of classics like “Romeo and Juliet” in comic book form was so basic a third grader could read it. Did this simple reader improve their skills? Unlikely. Ultimately, it was a way to say students learned grade 9 content—and passed the course--but were they reading and comprehending at an appropriate level for a ninth grader? Despite the many changes to reading and writing instruction over the years, have disadvantaged students ever read on grade level? Nope. Some did gain ground, but not enough.

Second, the research-based, “Science of Reading” is upon us and we do expect reading ability to improve, right? Nope. Some will improve but not enough.

Third, textbooks are denser in the upper grades and more complicated to read, and flat-out boring. They are written by experts, not storytellers, and those who struggle to read face a few obstacles: decoding complex words, processing the meaning of those words to understand sophisticated thinking, and then sticking with a text that’s boring. Nope, not happening. Even motivated students sometimes skip or skim to meet the class requirement.

Finally, if the best students only occasionally read at home for fun, what makes us think others would carry three or four textbooks home to read? Only the highly motivated do--and not just because they're readers—they have other intentions: grades, status, matching future goals, and other personal motivators which predominantly arise from being raised in a stable home that had them school ready.

If the Science of Reading fails, then what? Certainly, there will be lots of scholarly hand wringing leading to the eventual adoption of “new” scientific research and another set of national standards with a prescriptive reading strategy—again, the wheel reinvented, usually every five years or so... .

Obviously, I’m skeptical. I’ve seen many changes with little result that frustrates everyone including those parents with children who struggle. In the next post, let's look at what might be a better solution for a complex issue.