NEWS
New Haven schools must turn page on reading instruction, advocates say
Linda Conner Lambeck
May 31, 2022
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Barnard Environment Studies Interdistrict Magnet School
Barnard Environment Studies Interdistrict Magnet School
Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo
NEW HAVEN — Fewer than half of the city’s youngest students can read at grade level, officials said, and a growing number of local educators say the way the subject is taught partially is to blame.
The district has until this time next year to settle on a reading curriculum to satisfy a new state law. For some, the wait is too long.
“It is a crisis,” said Eli Sabin, chair of the Board of Alders’ Education Committee.
“Every single student in New Haven deserves to learn how to read and we need our city leaders make sure all our students have the best opportunity to do that.”
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If that means making changes to how reading is taught — even if it’s difficult or costly — so be it, Sabin added.
Sabin’s committee held a recent workshop at which experts, district officials and teachers debated the flexible “balanced literacy” approach that is being used in city schools, versus a “structured literacy” approach that supporters argue has science on its side.
“Students should be learning words through decoding,” Sarah Levine, a reading specialist at Barnard Environment Studies Interdistrict Magnet School told the city school board at a recent meeting.
Phonics may be just one piece of the reading puzzle, Levine said, but it is a crucial one.
Students who are not taught how to sound out words but encouraged to guess based on pictures and other clues, she added, not only struggle to read but create a bad habit that is hard to break.
Standardized literacy test results in New Haven that show between 62 percent and 68 percent of kindergartners through third-graders not reading at grade level. Many are several years behind.
Margie Gillis, a literacy expert and founder of the Trumbull-based Literacy How, told alders that five decades of research has shown students who leave first grade unable to read have only a one-in-eight chance of catching up.
The science of learning to read is not easy and English a particularly complex language to master, Gillis said, but research suggests that with enough training, teachers can learn to teach a structured literacy approach that covers phonemic awareness, phonics, syntax, vocabulary and comprehension. All are needed to be competent readers.
Structured literacy is particularly beneficial for students with reading disabilities or who struggle with the complex skill, she said.
There are statistics to back up structured literacy in places such as Stamford and Hartford where grant-funded research was conducted in first-grade classrooms, according to Gillis.
When the funded dried up, Gillis said she continued the work anyway. “I knew we were on the right track,” she said.
Gillis said New Haven has been resistant to the structured literacy approach for some time. Still, this year, Gillis said she began working with a dozen New Haven teachers.
Separately, some teachers at Barnard also have been exposed to structured literacy.
Amber Moye, a third-grade teacher, called it different from anything she had ever done, teaching students phonics, the sounds that make up the English language.
“We gave them what they needed and it worked,” said Moye. “The amount of growth was disbelieving to me.”
Moye said she can’t imagine why the district could even be discussing the idea of continuing to do something that is not working.
Ivelise Velazquez, an assistant superintendent for curriculum for New Haven Public Schools, said while some teachers are advocating for more structured literacy, an equal number or greater continue to caution against a one-size-fits-all approach that may diminish the importance of rich text and deep comprehension.
“The superintendent and central office maintain that when it comes to reading instruction, teachers must be savvy about all areas of reading and be flexible about the approach they use to match the needs of students,” Velazquez said in an email. “We teach students, not programs or protocols.”
A former first-grade teacher who knows well the challenges of teaching children how to read, Velazquez said she is very passionate about the subject. She told the alders that there are other factors, such as native languages or how many books a child has at home, that play into the equation of learning to read.
Another challenge, Velazquez said, is not just zeroing-in on a particular curriculum but in getting it into the hands of teachers in an under-resourced, over-stressed district.
State legislation adopted last year requires every district to adopt a reading curriculum that focuses on the “science of reading” by July 1, 2023. The law calls on school districts to adopt one of five state-approved reading models based on structured literacy or get an exception from the Center for Literacy Research and Reading Success, also created by the law.
State Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, a speaker at the alders’ workshop, said it is clear that “what we do (now) doesn’t work.”
District officials said they are seeking more specific guidance about recommended models. Velazquez said the district is launching an eight- to ten-month review of existing practices using data to assess areas that are working and areas that need adjustment.
On June 8 and 9, the district will hold a virtual reading symposium on the science of teaching reading. Board of Education member Abie Benitez, a former teacher and principal who has a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, will be the keynote speaker.
Velazquez said the district ultimately will come up with a plan with input from stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers and reading specialists.
The district has not decided on a waiver, she said.
“Are you kidding me,” Gillis said upon hearing New Haven’s plan. “You are going to spend another year studying this? There is nothing to study. We know the vast majority of children in New Haven can’t read. We know why. ... And guess what, we know how to make it better. We know it can improve with the right professional development for teachers, the right instruction and training. That is not happening at the moment.”
Levine, the Barnard School reading specialist, is in the camp of wanting something done immediately to train teachers, administrators and central office staff in how people learn to read. Then, she said, the district needs to invest in a districtwide, high-quality curriculum that aligns with the research, and replace texts that do not emphasize phonics.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” she said, adding the upfront cost of training teachers would reduce the need for literacy interventionists down the road.
Sabin, meanwhile, said helping more New Haven students learn how to read is something members of his committee have as a top priority.
“Mainly, I hope that the district will listen to the science, the data and the experiences of teachers, students and parents who have used different approaches and found the strategies that work the best,” Sabin said. “Continuing on the same path when it’s not working and there are better options would mean failing our students and their families. That is not acceptable.”
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Written By
Linda Conner Lambeck
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Linda is a Bridgeport, Conn., native and University of Bridgeport graduate with a degree in journalism. She got her start covering education and other town news in Easton and Fairfield for the Fairfield Citizen News before coming to the Connecticut Post in 1985. (At the time it was still the Bridgeport Post and there was also a Bridgeport Telegram). She has covered Milford and Fairfield and, since 1996, education on a local, statewide and higher education level.
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