Today’s Literacy Headlines

How to integrate the science of reading, plan for effective review sessions with your students, think about inquiry-based learning, and more. Our understanding of what works in classrooms has shifted considerably in the last decade. Cognitive scientists have used powerful new technologies to peer into the learning brain, revealing the critical—and often underestimated—importance of downtime and brain breaks. Other researchers, meanwhile, have pored over hundreds of experimental studies to identify outstanding practices teachers can count on, and quantified the benefits when those practices are applied with fidelity.

The welcome and overdue shift to teach phonics explicitly and to align instruction more broadly with research from cognitive psychology and neuroscience has seen only green lights ahead and tailwinds in the last few years, but an important caution is being offered by one key figure in the movement. Margaret Goldberg, a teacher and co-founder of the Right to Read Project, has expressed concerns that weaknesses in implementation threaten the momentum behind “SoR.” Worse still, those threats are going mostly undiscussed for fear that speaking up will damage, slow, or setback the science of reading.

The reading “wars” have heated up again, but most teachers—and our students—could probably benefit from a “cease-fire.” These posts offer suggestions to find a path forward in ways that can support all teachers and students alike.

Starting around three and a half years of age, most children can comprehend simple stories and fairy tales. Audiobooks can be particularly useful during car rides, bedtime routine and quiet playtime. For school-aged children, they can engage reluctant readers by providing an alternative way to experience books. And most importantly, they can nurture kids’ intellectual growth – much more than videos. Here are five ways that audiobooks can enhance children’s ability to learn.

When students didn’t come back to Maple Elementary after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, Niki Espinoza, the school’s community school coordinator, noticed right away. Espinoza found a study by a Stanford education researcher that showed that sending mailers to parents about their child’s attendance could reduce absenteeism. Espinoza decided to try it out. Her experimentation revealed three insights that are pivotal in addressing absenteeism: Parents aren’t informed about the effect absences have on their child’s education, parents often don’t know how many days of school their child has missed, and schools must be prepared to address the root causes of absences.

Sometimes we forget that moving is not just about goodbyes. It’s also about hellos. These nine picture books, listed alphabetically — some brand-new and all published within the last 10 years — communicate to children that while moving has its costs, it can have benefits as well.

How do we ensure that our multilingual students are developing critical literacy skills in the target language as well as in English? As districts work to provide systematic phonics instruction, it is important to keep our perspective inclusive and ensure that we maintain a holistic approach to literacy instruction.

Until recently, there has been little good evidence for the effectiveness of online tutoring, where students and tutors interact via video, text chat and whiteboards. Now, some new U.S. studies could offer useful guidance to educators. Results indicate that tutoring via video, text chat and whiteboards can be effective, but the large gains of in-person tutoring don’t always translate to the virtual world.

During class, you might ask a student to say the morning message, share about their weekend, discuss a topic with a classmate, or even practice reading aloud. Their days are filled with speaking. With some practical tools from drama education, we can certainly help our students with their communication. As early as preschool, students can learn how to improve their speaking skills using techniques borrowed from actors.

Administrators eager to facilitate early community-building and social and emotional learning discussions on the topic of substitute teachers can invest in a small picture-book library (see below) that puts this topic front and center. Using the familiar platform of the daily read-aloud, students and teachers can consider a book’s story and illustrations to prompt questions and concerns associated with their own classroom protocols if their homeroom teacher is absent. Offering this list as a resource to parents/caregivers could additionally offer comfort and the opportunity for parents to continue the discussion at home.

The science of learning tells us that restoring children’s opportunities for joyful, intentional play—using a rigorous, research-based approach called Playful Learning—has the potential to improve children’s academic and social-emotional outcomes, at a time when doing so is particularly important. Decades of research on the science of Playful Learning show that children benefit most from a “balanced diet” of play opportunities across a spectrum of playful instruction, guided play, and free play.

After ranking 44th in the nation for inclusionary practices—defined by how many students with disabilities are learning alongside their general education peers—Washington state began working to change that trajectory. Here’s how it’s working to improve the experience of special education students in K-12, and the research behind its efforts.

Why do so many young children struggle with word problems in math? Researchers believe one reason is that students often learn to interpret word problems by focusing on key words such as “and” or “total.” Relying too much on key words can lead students astray, particularly because word problems get more complex as students go through school. Because these types of math problems require so many skills beyond number manipulation — like reading and executive function, for example — excelling at word problems is a good indicator that a student is doing well in school overall.

The effort includes $90 million in grants awarded to more than 250 schools to adjust curriculum and support teacher training. It provides funding for the adoption of literacy strategies “that are developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive, and grounded in the science of reading and writing,” said Angelica Cruz, director of literacy at the Oregon Department of Education.

Classroom “churn” — when students leave a classroom midyear or new students join — can have a negative effect on third grade reading scores, according to a new study that examined Colorado census and state standardized test data. Classroom churn was one of many factors examined in the study, called “Social Factors of Academic Success.” 

PJ Library is a fantastic non-profit that sends 240,000 free high-quality books to children across North America each month. They’ve shared some handy tips with us to seamlessly integrate reading into your summer activities. Because if you’ve happened to read the #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Anxious Generation, then you know how important a “non-phone based childhood” is. 

As a new law goes into effect in Indiana that could lead to an increase in the number of students who are held back because they don’t pass the IREAD-3, it will likely have the greatest impact on students who come from low-income families. Research isn’t clear on how the tougher retention criteria will likely affect these students in the long run. But education advocates are optimistic that the other provisions of the law — like earlier identification, intervention, and summer school — will make a positive impact on their reading skills long before third grade.

Summer learning programs aren’t new, but in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued learning loss and student achievement gaps, these programs are on the rise. Because of the rise in usage of summer programs, NWEA researchers evaluated the current studies and identified 10 recommendations district leaders should consider regarding their design and implementation.

After switching its elementary reading curriculum to one aligned with the science of reading, Denver Public Schools is celebrating an increase in the percentage of kindergarten through third grade students who ended the school year reading on grade level. But the test scores are still below pre-pandemic levels — a vexing outcome the district is acknowledging by adopting a new intervention program to help the most struggling learners. Studies show that students who don’t read proficiently by third grade are less likely to graduate.

To the naked eye, a reader’s notebook is an ordinary spiral-bound notebook. However, over the course of a school year in my classroom, the notebook takes on its own identity. It becomes a space for students to reflect on what they are reading, and when students look back over their entries, they witness their growth as readers. The notebooks allow me, as a teacher, to take a genuine look at what reading strategies students absorb and what books they’re interested in.

Family members and summer instructors should think strategically if they want to help children hang onto what they’ve learned. In interviews with USA TODAY, education experts and school leaders offered five key ways to avoid backsliding. They said adults should encourage kids to read books, use technology to stay fresh on math equations and take kids on field trips to local museums where they can apply their science and math skills and learn new ones.

Two recent reports from Education Reform Now highlight strategies that high-poverty schools across Massachusetts and Colorado are implementing to drive higher academic achievement: ‘obsession’ with data, tiered supports, teacher development, and family engagement. High-performing schools use data as a guiding light to drive, monitor, and improve not just student achievement but every aspect of their operations. 

Mac Barnett has written more than 30 picture books and is a co-creator, with Jon Klassen, of the series “Shape Island.” Here, he reviews two new picture books [that] consider the playground, where so many children first figure out their place in the world, and “where a kid named Ryan made me swallow a rock when I was 4.”

Whether it’s a cozy corner in your living room or a special space in your child’s bedroom, creating a summer reading environment for your kids will inspire them to read and make diving into books even more enjoyable. This helps children experience reading as a fun summer activity — like going to the pool or playing outside — rather than something they have to do for homework, in which they might log reading by minutes and pages. As you begin to plan and brainstorm ideas for your child’s summer reading area, here are five tips to keep in mind.

Shared experiences and teacher direction are necessary for high-quality instruction and a well-run classroom. Over time, I pieced together the idea that my students would benefit most from a teaching model that emphasized shared readings of challenging works of literature; memorization of poetry; explicit grammar instruction; contextual knowledge, including history; and teacher direction — not time practicing skills.

If you scroll through the average student’s digital textbook or reading, you will probably see multi-colored streaks scattered everywhere. However, new research reveals that excessive highlighting may do more harm than good. Notably, the group with limited highlights scored the highest on the reading comprehension test, with scores 11% higher than the unlimited highlights, and 19% higher than the no highlights groups. This difference is equivalent to one to two letter grades. 

The science of reading is generally used as a catch all expression for the body of research that helps teachers understand what students need to be taught to become effective readers. It is a multi-disciplinary body of research and knowledge from education, linguistics, cognitive psychology, special education, and neuroscience. This article unpacks the 6 key components that make up the science of reading.

Studies say students lose on average a month of learning every summer, known as the “summer slide” so NBC’s Vicky Nguyen joins TODAY to share activities and tips for parents and kids to stay sharp as a family all year long. 

While schools and school libraries are the official institutions responsible for educating our future generations, public libraries are one of the best community resources that schools can partner with to improve students’ literacy outcomes. Libraries are “educational support centers” rich in resources that can enhance learning. They offer not just a plethora of books in many languages but also literacy-focused programs for different age groups. Schools and the wider community must leverage these services if they want to see improvement in children’s reading and writing skills.

New data points to the pandemic’s profound and enduring effects on the nation’s youngest public school children, many of whom were not yet in a formal school setting when COVID hit. Researchers and other experts have suggested several potential reasons for this trend. One is that the pandemic disrupted early childhood education and made it harder for many kids to learn foundational skills — gaps that can compound over time. Fewer children enrolled in preschool and kindergarten, and many young children struggled with remote learning. Increased parental stress and screen time may also be factors.

A couple of years ago, Carlos Matias was living in Florida and feeling nostalgic for his hometown. “I just started writing little short stories about New York,” Matias says. “And then I started submitting them to the New York Times Metropolitan Diary.” His short story, Emergency Quarters, became a “Best of the Year” finalist in 2021 and this year, a children’s book. “Growing up, when I first started to walk to school by myself, my mom would give me a quarter every single day,” Matias says. She’d tell him, “‘If you need me, or if you’re going to come home late, or if you’re going to hang out with your friends, give me a call and let me know.’  Emergency Quarters is about a little boy named Ernesto who, like Matias, gets to walk to school without his parents for the first time.

Jacque Daughtry, CEO of Literacy Now, a Houston-based nonprofit focused on teaching children reading skills, said even a few-month learning gap can grow exponentially and especially hinder students who have already fallen behind. “If you’re losing that amount of time over the summer, then it builds every year,” Daughtry says. “Especially for a child who was already a little bit behind or a lot behind, it just keeps widening.” With the pandemic dropping student test scores to historic lows, this effect has become even more concerning. Here are just some resources and tips that can help mitigate this steep summer slide.

Westminster Public Schools was one of many districts in Colorado to receive a surge of new immigrant students after the start of the school year. With that help, Westminster budgeted $10,000 to create a new summer school program to help Spanish-speaking students keep practicing English, particularly hoping to enroll many of the new immigrant students who had just started to learn.

There are two kinds of story time: the one where listeners’ heads drop sleepily onto your shoulders and the one that feels, refreshingly, like a table read for the theater of the absurd. The former is sweet and cozy. The latter sparks audience participation and requests for an encore. If you’re going for this vibe and in the mood to strut your stuff as a raconteur, start here. From silly rhymes to lively sound effects to stealthily-building suspense, these old standbys and new classics have something for everyone. 

Multiple states across the U.S. pass legislation regarding reading instruction. For example, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed into law the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy legislation, which would “amend teacher education programs to improve classroom instruction in reading,” adhering to “evidence-based research on phonemic awareness, phonetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.” The bipartisan bill would align higher education and K–12 resources to retrain Kansas educators in the science of reading, structured literacy, literacy screening, and assessment tools. 

Knowing their writing has an audience besides their teacher helps motivate students to do their very best work. Students need an authentic audience beyond the school to generate purpose, value, and engagement. Teaching author’s craft skills also becomes more engaging and relevant to students when given a specific audience. The focus provides opportunities for reflecting and experimenting with different writing skills.

Learning about civics can begin in kindergarten with the simple understanding that everyone is part of a community and that every single person, for better or for worse, has a role in shaping that community. The goal of civics education is to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to be responsible citizens who contribute positively to their communities and the broader society.

Two new studies suggest that the largest single federal investment in U.S. schools improved student test scores, but only modestly. “The money did contribute to the recovery,” said Thomas J. Kane, an economist at Harvard University, who helped lead one of the studies. “Could the money have had a bigger impact? Yes.” In a country of nearly 50 million public school children, it’s difficult to achieve large results at scale. And even small improvements in test scores can have long-term benefits, increasing students’ future earnings.

Offering students a chance to select their own reading material, such as a favorite book, can deliver more than just reading gains — students can experience social-emotional benefits, too. Choice may be of particular help for older students, especially those in middle and high school grades.

Boys are falling behind in school. They are less likely than girls to be ready for kindergarten. They read at lower levels. They graduate from high school at lower rates. This gender gap in education has significantly widened just in the last generation. One group is uniquely positioned to help put boys on the right track in their first year of formal schooling: men who teach kindergarten. Yet only around 3 percent of kindergarten teachers are men. We interviewed a dozen men with the job about being a rarity in their field. The teachers spoke about drawing on their own experiences as boys in school to address the challenges boys face today.

English learners accounted for 10.6 percent of all public school students in fall 2021, up from 9.4 percent in fall 2011. That’s according to federal data updated in May which tracks this student population’s growth over time and other statistics of note including English learners’ racial/ethnic identities, home languages, and English learners identified as students with disabilities. Data on the percentage of students that were English learners in fall 2021 by state shows how this population of students has grown in parts of the country not historically associated with large numbers of English-learner students.

Aficionados of the arts have long argued that art transforms us, but in recent years, neuroscience has shown just how music can shape the architecture of the brain. This cognitive research illuminates the connection between music and learning and gives heft to longstanding arguments for the power of music education that are newly relevant in the wake of California’s Proposition 28, which sets aside money for arts education in schools. 

Nearly 15 million children were chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year, doubling pre-pandemic numbers, and millions have lived through at least one traumatic experience, such as parent death or abuse. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2024 Kids Count Data Book examines the causes driving the “astonishing” rates, resulting in bleak educational outcomes and disproportionately impacting Native, Black and Latino children. 

It may seem counterintuitive to focus on student attendance during the summer, but the break can give schools crucial time to connect students at risk of disengaging during the school year. The five recommendations are: review attendance data to target students at risk of absenteeism; reach out to families at home; leverage your summer programs; ensure students return to school healthy; and plan to start your school year off right by building a strong sense of school connectedness among students.

The 2024 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards were announced this week, honoring books in three categories—Picture Book, Fiction, and Nonfiction/Poetry. The Picture Book winner is Do You Remember? by Sydney Smith, the Fiction winner is Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson, the Nonfiction Award winner is The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day, and the Poetry winner is Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford.

In a recently published study in the journal npj Science of Learning, researchers have discovered a significant relationship between the way children tell stories and their reading abilities. This research found that children who displayed more complex narrative structures in their oral stories tended to perform better on reading tests several months later. This link appears to be independent of the child’s intelligence and understanding of others’ perspectives.

Scientists detect differences in brain activity that could explain why comprehension is better on paper. The advantage for paper is a small one, but it’s been replicated in dozens of laboratory experiments, particularly when students are reading about science or other nonfiction texts.

For young magazine readers with literary pretensions, it wasn’t just our best option; it was our only option. Cricket was beautiful. Its logo looked as if it had been painted by a calligraphy brush, moving from elegant but clear lettering into a delicate image of its namesake insect. The cover of the first issue I remember seeing featured a Margot Zemach illustration of a regal tiger reclining on a green bench; the back cover showed the equally regal back of his head. Inside were poems, stories, cartoons; work by Madhur Jaffrey and Hilary Knight — but also by other children, my age and younger.

The integrated English language development (ELD) service model guides educators to combine content and language instruction. The model provides inclusive, equitable access to core content while improving linguistic and academic outcomes for emergent multilingual students.

To counteract the imbalance in information about Indigenous people, teachers can respectfully share resources that highlight important and deeply rooted knowledge.

From bedtime stories to storytime on the classroom rug, read-alouds are a powerful educational tool for students across grade levels. Reading aloud can capture young people’s interest in stories and can help them process their emotions. Over 80% of children aged 6-14 who are read to said they love or like read-aloud time, according to a Scholastic survey. The same report found that despite positive feelings towards read-alouds, the frequency of read-alouds tends to decrease as children get older, peaking at age 5. 

Every fall, I look forward to the challenge of matching our students with books they don’t want to put down. However, even with comfortable seating, ample book access, consistent time, supportive classmates and a knowledgeable teacher offering recommendations, not all students embrace our reading routine right away. Each student is at a different point in their reading journey. While we can all agree that labels suck, in my experience, many (but certainly not all) students fall into one of three reading categories: instant starters, bike riders and smart skeptics.

In California, for example, more than 1 in 3 kindergartners was chronically absent. But the tiny town of Livingston, in California’s sprawling Central Valley, is an outlier – and a powerful lesson in the ways a district can proactively prevent wide-scale absenteeism. Three key factors: teaching young parents that kindergarten attendance matters; helping parents make sense of pandemic health rules; and making school a place children want to be.

Principals can conduct these a few times per semester, perhaps accompanied by instructional coaches and district literacy specialists. Through learning walks, principals can determine what additional support and resources—like extra professional learning community sessions or training—their educators need. Principals usually spend about 15 to 20 minutes in each class on their learning walks, to check on how teachers are implementing the lesson plan.

When a school begins to move its practices closer to the “science of reading,” the large body of knowledge about how kids learn to read, they must manage a number of significant changes. Schedules may need to adjust. Teachers and leaders both need training. Students will need to adjust to new routines. Often, all these parties will also be working with new curricula. Large or small, districts largely follow a three-step plan to roll out a new, science-of-reading-based curriculum: build knowledge, train, and sustain.

By offering flexible spaces and creative activities that give students a chance to relax and connect, the library can become a haven for belonging—and the heart of a school.

Kids don’t need to know what zydeco is, or that Mandy and the Meerkats are a nod to Diana Ross and the Supremes, to dig this spoof of vintage vinyl: “Animal Albums From A to Z,” by Cece Bell. This elaborately conceived yet winningly goofy picture book comprises 26 album covers — all allegedly vintage — beginning with “Accordion Americana,” by the Tejano musician Arnie Dillow (an armadillo who recorded for the Musica Avocado label), and ending with “Zigzag Zinnia,” by the Zydeco Zebras (on Zucchini Records). 

Tennessee fourth graders showed significant improvement on state tests for English language arts, while third grade scores were mostly steady after achieving historic gains last year, state officials said. In a news release, Gov. Bill Lee credited the state’s comprehensive literacy strategy, including early investments in tutoring to help struggling readers improve after the pandemic disrupted schooling in 2020. Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds praised the hard work of students, educators, and families.

Governor Laura Kelly signed into law the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy legislation, which would “amend teacher education programs to improve classroom instruction in reading,” adhering to “evidence-based research on phonemic awareness, phonetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.” See also updates for California, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Maryland.