How to raise reading scores: 'We taught the research-based stuff and cut the fluff'

Science-backed teaching using high-quality curriculum and early intervention for struggling students can make a difference for early readers. Let's celebrate the signs of success.

Reading test scores climbed seven points for New York City public school students, two years after Mayor Eric Adams' administration made changes in elementary reading instruction, reports Troy Closson in the New York Times. Third-graders improved the most. "About 58 percent of third-graders showed proficiency in reading, a nearly 13-point rise from the year before."

Photo: Yan Krukau/Pexels

Starting in the 2023-24 school year, the city’s Education Department began requiring most elementary schools to adopt one of three reading curriculums, rather than letting the 700 principals choose their own program.

Reading scores are up nearly five percentage points for Indiana third-grader, reports Aleksandra Appleton in Chalkbeat. Statewide, 87.3 percent of third graders scored proficient, which means they've now caught up with pre-pandemic levels. Students in all groups showed progress, but black students and English Learners improved the most.

Indiana schools have switched to instruction backed by the "science of reading," such as systematic phonics teaching, writes Appleton. Schools that got literacy coaches to help with the change did the best, said state education officials.

In Evansville-Vanderburgh schools, several schools posted huge increases in proficiency rates, she writes. Glenwood Leadership Academy saw a 44 percentage point increase. “We explicitly taught the research-based stuff and cut the fluff,” said India Williams, a literacy cadre coach at Fair Lawn Elementary School, which saw scores rise by 36.5 percent.

Elementary schools are intervening earlier when students fall behind in reading because of a new law that requires third graders who fail the state test to repeat the grade, Appleton reports.

Second graders now take the IREAD exam to identify those who need extra help in class and over the summer. Students retake the test multiple times but if third graders don't pass by the end of summer school, they're retained. English Learners, special-education students and those who've already repeated a grade are exempt.

Few students repeat the grade in states with what's called a "third-grade reading gate." That's partly due to exemptions, but also because schools work very hard to get students to qualify for fourth grade.

In Louisiana, another state where reading scores are improving, state law requires schools to identify students who need extra help starting in kindergarten, reports Aubri Juhasz for WWNO.

Students who are held back tend to do worse than similar students passed on with weak skills, says Juan D'Brot with the Center for Student Assessment. But the retention law benefits students who get early intervention.