Education Week - June 12, 2019 - 18

COMMENTARY

The Hard Part About Reading Instruction

By Jared Myracle
poiler alert: The hard part about reading instruction is not figuring out how to teach reading. We
actually know quite a bit about that. There has
been renewed interest in discussing the findings
of the 2000 National Reading Panel report on
the importance of phonics-based instruction in
the early grades. The popularity of Emily Hanford's radio documentary "Hard Words" and
Susan Pimentel's Education Week Commentary "Why Doesn't
Every Teacher Know the Research on Reading Instruction?"-
and the conversations both stirred-underscore that how we
teach reading is far from settled, even 20 years after the publication of the panel's report. Earlier this year, I co-authored a
Commentary in this publication on the challenges we district
leaders face when it comes to the research-based findings on
reading instruction. We all have unfinished learning, but the
research is clear.
Reading isn't just about decoding words. Another critical element is the central role that background knowledge plays in
reading comprehension, which was demonstrated as early as
1988 by Lauren Leslie and Donna R. Recht's seminal baseball
study: If we want students to actually understand the words
they are decoding, they must build a critical mass of background knowledge in order to provide context and meaning to
what they are reading.
The hard part about reading instruction isn't even deciding
how to take action. Putting the research about reading instruction into practice has been simplified in recent years by the
abundance of research-aligned curricula. Finding a suitable
curriculum is now as easy as scrolling through EdReports.org
and reading summaries of the "all green" options that signify

positive standards alignment, usability, and quality. In my
school district in Tennessee, we provided teachers with a few
curricula options from this list, gathered feedback during a
pilot period, and made a decision about what to use.
The hard part is not about the funding required to make
these changes, either. On average, my district spent approximately $50 per student to replace all of our English/language
arts curricula in every grade, kindergarten through 12th.
For school and district leaders, the hard part about reading instruction is leading a highly effective implementation
and sticking to the plan long enough for the work to have a
meaningful impact. Putting a new curriculum in a teacher's
hand won't get the job done. He or she needs support in order
to teach it well. Teachers also need time to learn how to communicate the material effectively to students, and students
need time to develop academically while learning it. But "time"
is not a welcomed word in education.
The good news is that students respond quickly when
teachers deliver systematic phonics instruction. Students in
the early grades can more readily recognize letters and letter sounds, segmenting, and blending if they are receiving
systematic phonics instruction. (David Liben's "Why a Structured Phonics Program is Effective" is a great summary on
this topic.)
In my district's first year of implementation with our chosen
curriculum (Core Knowledge's Skills Strand), we doubled the
number of kindergarten students who scored above average
on a phonics screener. This progress was mirrored by significant gains in the oral reading fluency of our 1st graders. Great
instruction with strong materials can close skills gaps for our
youngest students in a relatively short amount of time.
While students are making strides with their decoding skills,
they must also be building the background knowledge on a

wide array of topics needed to understand what they read. Instead of learning to read and then reading to learn, students
can and should do both at the same time.
Many of the best curriculum options are structured this way.
Imbedding important historical figures and events, science
concepts, exposure to a diverse array of cultures, and wellknown fables and folktales in a coherent sequence within
individual grades and across grade levels allows students to
gradually connect meaning to otherwise unfamiliar topics as
they read. But the key word here is "gradually."
Vocabulary is like a tiny snowball at the top of a hill. If you
can guide it down the right path, it will gradually grow bigger
on its own. It just takes a plan and patience.
As a leader, developing this kind of vision for reading instruction requires the constant switching between a long-term
and a short-term view. Seeing gains in foundational reading
skills happens early and often. On the other hand, navigating
a multi-year process of building students' background knowledge is a more demanding journey. But the sooner we can all
agree that there isn't a bright and shiny program that will
save us tomorrow, the sooner we can do right by our students
by focusing on what will have the biggest impact in the long
run.
If you pursue this course of action, your 3rd grade reading
scores will be great, right? Maybe. It is possible to see signs
of progress. After a year, the state of Tennessee defined the
growth of our district's 3rd grade students as "above expectations." But deeper reading proficiency improves at a slow pace.
The knowledge-building required to turn proficient decoders
into proficient readers is a long haul, especially for students
living in poverty. Comprehension is dependent on understanding the vocabulary involved in any given reading topic, but the
topics on high-stakes reading assessments rarely align with

By Bettina L. Love

Getty

The 'Spirit
Murdering'
Of Black and
Brown Children

18 | EDUCATION WEEK | June 12, 2019 | www.edweek.org/go/commentary

n February of 2019, a positive behavior support coach who was
employed by the district in Madison, Wis., allegedly physically
assaulted and ripped the hair out of the head of an 11-year-old
Black girl. In the same school district, several teachers and substitutes have been fired or resigned earlier this academic year
after reports they used racial slurs in the classroom. In the neighboring school district of Middleton, Wis., a school bus driver was
fired after the district confirmed he had slapped a Black child.
All these incidents in Wisconsin happened within months of each other.
In Binghamton, N.Y., four 12-year-old Black girls reported they were
strip-searched at their school for acting too hyper and giddy in January.
School officials likely assumed the girls were on drugs because their Black
joy was unrecognizable. Of course, no drugs were found and the district
denies strip searching the girls. However, the district does admit that
asking students to remove some of their clothing is in compliance with a
"sobriety check." The girls' parents dispute the district's claims, and a civil
lawsuit from the parents and a third-party investigation are still ongoing.
Last Halloween, 14 staff members at Middleton Heights Elementary,
30 miles west of Boise, Idaho, were involved in dressing up as Mexicans
and the border wall for Halloween. The district's superintendent issued
a public apology and placed the teachers on paid administrative leave.
Sadly, incidents like these fill my social-media timeline on a weekly
basis. With regularity, school districts' spokespersons portray these incidents as isolated events, the work of a few overzealous, culturally insensitive but "good" teachers. These responses never acknowledge how racism
is systemic, institutionalized, and structural, or how racism breeds and is
maintained by violence.
Physical and psychological attacks on Black and Brown children's bodies and culture are more than just racist acts by misguided school educators; they are the spirit murdering of Black and Brown children. This
type of violence toward children of color is less visceral and seemingly
less tragic than physical acts of murder at the hands of White mobs and
White self-appointed vigilantes, the shooting of unarmed people of color
by police officers in their own homes and communities, or the senseless
violence in some Black communities, which are all conditions of racism.
What I am talking about is a slow death, a death of the spirit, a death
that is built on racism and intended to reduce, humiliate, and destroy
people of color.

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Education Week - June 12, 2019

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