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Executive Director's Update
Dear LPLC Community Members--
Last month, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), released the “Nation’s Report Card.” Once again, the average reading achievement of students in the U.S. declined significantly. Moreover, achievement gaps further widened for students of color and students who receive special education. NAEP’s first report card was published in 1991 and the chilling fact is that we have not moved the needle – average scores for this year were the same as they were 31 years ago. Yet, we must continue to work collectively and individually to improve the literacy skills of children living in the United States; therefore, I offer three recommendations as coupled with some rays of hope:
1. Adopt reading curricula that use a structured literacy approach.
Ray of Hope: The superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second largest school district, publicly shared his support of a structured literacy approach to teaching reading. Our largest school districts exert tremendous influence on what curricula are published and what curricula are adopted, so this is a move in the right direction.
2. Prevent the onset of reading difficulties through universal early education (much like health care).
Ray of Hope: Earlier this year, the Idaho legislature passed funding for full-day kindergarten, (although kindergarten is still not compulsory in Idaho).
Ray of Hope: Lee Pesky Literacy Pods provide small group reading tutoring to boost reading skills of English learners entering first-grade.
3. Provide teachers with adequate training to intervene when students encounter obstacles to reading.
Ray of Hope: Idaho recently passed sweeping dyslexia legislation requiring every public-school teacher to complete a multi-credit dyslexia course – and LPLC offers one.
Although national reading scores remain stagnant, we cannot give up. We must acknowledge group-level statistics, while focusing on the needs of individual learners. We must hold education researchers, teachers, and leaders accountable, while celebrating the 3.6 million teachers who strive daily to improve student outcomes. We must vote for legislation that reflects the science of learning, while encouraging our peers to do the same.
In this newsletter, we share other positive actions that LPLC is taking to move the reading achievement needle. We publish it in memory of Wendy Pesky, who respected the science and understood the data, but never gave up on the individual child.
In partnership,
Lindy Crawford
Lindy Crawford, PhD
Executive Director
lcrawford@lplearningcenter.org
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