Reading on or above grade level is essential for student equity and student success in school.

Learning to read is a complex task. It is not something that all children naturally learn even if they have been exposed to literate rich environments. This differs from how children learn to speak. However, there is a growing awareness that elementary school educators can teach all students to read if they follow the science of reading: ensuring that they include all of the components identified as necessary for reading along with the instructional practices that ensure all children are provided instruction that enables them to master grade level text.

With this growing awareness and a large number of students leaving grade three reading below grade level, states and school districts are looking to what is research-proven to ensure the all students learn to read and master at a minimum grade level standards in literacy. These efforts are resulting in an embracing of the science of reading for elementary reading instruction. This is an exciting development as schools put aside practices and programs that have not been proven to teach all students to read and embrace the scientific research of proven programs.

However, caution should be used in embracing research-proven programs. Just saying you are adopting or using the program can be very different than how it was used in the gold standard studies that resulted in it becoming research-proven. The curriculum content of the research-proven program is critical to it success. Even more importantly, the instructional strategies or pedagogy is critical to the success of all children. This is where schools often diverge from the research-proven programs.

All of us who have taught children know that our instructional skills were not master teacher worthy on our first day of teaching. We also know that our instructional skills continue to develop throughout our teaching career as we continue to learn and reflect on our practice. Becoming a master teacher of any content and especially of teaching young students to read, is a career long quest where we never stop learning and perfecting our practices.

Those of us who have worked in schools that are learning places for everyone, including the principals and teachers, know that essential structures for our continued learning included time spent working with our colleagues, observing master teachers, receiving instruction and coaching from experts (both inhouse and outside specialists), and reflecting on our own practice and our students’ learning. All of this requires an investment on behalf of each teacher and on behalf of the school and district. We must be willing to provide the time and resources for educators to learn and develop as master teachers in the science of reading.

Ensuring all of our children are readers, mastering at least grade level standards, is critical to their success in school and their eventual graduation from high school college and career ready. We must do whatever it takes to ensure all of our students are proficient readers. The success of our children is our success as it builds a strong democracy and strong economy for our country. To achieve this, we must not just say that we are using the science of reading, we must invest in providing the time and resources teachers need to become and continue to develop as masters in teaching our children to read.

We must provide time every week for teachers to meet in teams to continue to review student data together, plan lessons, evaluate lessons, and learn from each other. We must provide time through out the year when teachers can spend time observing experts and receiving instruction and coaching from experts. Yes, this will require financial resources as we provide teachers this time during their contact time and ensure there are experts available to frequently support and coach them. However, failure to do so will result in teacher frustration, burn out, throwing in the towel on using the science of reading, and children failing to become the readers they need to be.

Schools and districts do not need to try to recreate the wheel and develop their own science of reading instructional programs. There are research-proven programs that provide extensive and in-depth professional learning and ongoing coaching so that all teachers become master teachers of reading. The Success for All Foundation’s whole class reading program is an incredibly strong program with multiple gold standard studies proving it effectiveness and includes built in ongoing professional learning and support. I have seen this program develop every single teacher within a school into master reading teachers. I first learned to use the program as a reading specialist and a principal. Despite my extensive experience and training, it made me a better teacher.

In addition to this program, there are other research-proven programs that can be found on the website Evidence for ESSA. The important thing is that schools and districts use research-proven programs that use the science of reading and instructional strategies so that all students learn to read. Schools and districts must tap into the rich professional learning and educator supports that these programs provide to the novice beginner as well as the experienced master teacher in continuing to improve their practice and ensuring every child is a reader.

This blog is written by Dr. GwenCarol Holmes, a long-time educator and passionate advocate for all students mastering rigorous standards.