The long arm of the law in Arizona is getting serious about creating proficient readers in K-3. Starting in 2013-14, all third-graders in Arizona must prove that they are reading proficiently. If they fail, they will not advance to fourth grade.

Last year, the Arizona Legislature passed House Bill 2732 called Move On When Reading, which is modeled after a 2002 Florida law. Massachusetts, Indiana, and Utah also have similar laws.

Unless educators get “moving” on reform this year, it’s going to be a tough job to get the more than 4,000 third-graders who are classified as “far below” their grade level reading standards up to par.

A report last year by Voices for America's Children found that states, including Arizona, are exaggerating students' reading levels. It found that too many students are passed through the school system even though their scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show their comprehension often lags. It found that two-thirds of the nation's fourth graders are not reading at grade level.

Starting early is key. Not only must a student learn to build words explicitly and sequentially but, additionally, they need the right online reading solution and direct instruction, coupled with progress monitoring.

So, while Arizona is scrambling to pull together more reading specialists, encourage additional reading at home, and look for other ways to bring reading levels up, we couldn’t be more astonished that no one has grasped this simple concept – every teacher, in every grade, in every school should be trained to be a reading specialist… armed with a qualifying, easy-to-learn phonics program and assessments.

Accountability in education for many states now means online assessments, accessibility, and direct instruction. Learn more about our reading solutions here>

Here’s what one customer had to say about helping struggling K-3 readers:

“As a teacher of reading since 2000, I was introduced to and used several different programs for teaching struggling readers. Needless to say, I was frustrated with the slow progress and no one program was flexible enough to help a wide range of students. Then one day, I happened upon Reading Horizons. I have loved it! Thank you Reading Horizons for saving me as a teacher, but most importantly, for giving hope to those students who thought there was no hope left.” – M.S., Austin, Texas

Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post wrote recently about … the mess we call middle school. Ms. Strauss states that, “Nobody quite knows what to do with students who are of age to be in what we call middle school.”

She goes on to say that, “Puzzled educators have experimented for decades with the K-8 model, junior highs, middle schools (different from junior highs because they have earlier grades), and then back to the K-8 model. Nothing seems quite right.”

The part that I keyed into was this phrase, “another part of the problem is that we keep trying to do the same kind of academic thing. Let kids spend more class time reading and talking about books --books that they select themselves. Give kids who need basic skills the time and support they need — and let kids who want to memorize ‘Hamlet’ have at it.”
 
“With a significant percentage of American adults practically illiterate, our current approach is obviously not working. (According to the National Adult Literacy Survey, 14 percent scored in 2003 at below basic — meaning they could no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills, and another 29 percent were at the basic level, meaning they could perform only simple and everyday literacy activities.)"

“Changing the grade configuration isn’t going to do it. More tests and a mountain-range of data won’t do it either. We need real reform.”

I agree Ms. Strauss. Real reform in my mind looks like dropping the pretense of teaching reading in favor of actually teaching reading. Of course, this means that we have to give teachers the tools and skills they need to teach decoding skills.

See what other educators and teachers are doing to introduce common core innovations for reading.

Today’s educators are constantly bombarded with higher expectations, less say about what to teach students, and fewer resources. Never before has the task of an educator been so challenging. Consider progress monitoring, RTI, AYP proficiency, Race to the Top, and other government mandates.

Recently eSchool News asked its readers: “What are the qualities of an effective 21st-century educator?”

Listed below is a summary of results.

1. Anticipates the future.
“Good 21st-century educators are always pushing the envelope to ensure that their students are not left behind in the wake of progress; in particular, he/she is one advocating constantly for change in educational thinking and planning to ensure that a district’s sub-group kids (minority and/or students at the poverty level) are not being left behind for lack of access to proper resources to allow them to compete with their suburban counterparts. Lastly, good 21st-century teachers are not teachers in a vacuum; they are progressive in pushing for systemic change via curriculum sequencing, prioritization of dollars, and prudent, strategic scrutiny of decision-making to ensure that the preparation of today’s children is always focused on preparing them for the world(s) in which they will live and work—not the current world in which the teachers have to navigate and dwell.” —Amy Baldridge, secondary curriculum supervisor, Xenia Community Schools

“The 21st-century educator must be a fluid thinker, ready to look at situations with fresh, creative eyes. He/she must go beyond the obvious to see the underlying patterns and core issues of a given circumstance. And—most importantly—an understanding of chaos theory is essential: The butterfly flaps its wings and 3000 miles away the weather changes.” —Donn K. Harris, executive director, artistic director, Oakland School for the Arts, Oakland, Calif.

2. Is a lifelong learner.
“A great … educator will embrace not only technology, but be willing to learn from colleagues and students.” —David Brandvold

“I believe that a good 21st-century educator should be able to pose open-ended questions to students without having to know one exact answer. This educator fosters students so that they become the captains of their own learning.  Learning becomes purposeful and meaningful for students as they work through real-world activities.” —Jonna Wallis, 6-12 Language Arts academic coach, Professional Development Center, Scottsdale, Ariz.

3. Fosters peer relationships.
“In this technology-driven era, it is more critical than ever that we foster relationships with and between our students. We must model and demand courtesy, we must model and demand communication, and we must model and demand respect and cooperation—our students need us to show them how to treat each other. They may have 500 friends on Facebook, but do they know how to be a friend? Technology can foster isolation, therefore interpersonal relationship skills must be taught in our classrooms so that our students can go on to be effective in the workplace and fulfilled in their lives. Helping students learn life’s lessons is becoming increasingly more important—interpersonal relationships, letting students know teachers genuinely care for them—and will help students be more successful in life.” —Julia C. Bernath, District 7 board member, Fulton County Board of Education

4. Can teach and assess all levels of learners.
“To be an effective 21st-century teacher, a teacher must first possess the very same 21st-century skills that their students are expected to have. And, in addition to those skills, they must be able to help all of their students obtain and develop 21st-century skills.” —Mamzelle Adolphine

5. Is able to discern effective vs. non-effective technology.
“School-age children are by far the fastest adopters of communications and information technologies. The education system doesn’t need to teach them how to use these technologies, but it should recognize that technologies can help students learn more and faster. Classroom technologies can also make more efficient use of a teacher’s time, whether it’s with tools for lesson preparation, lesson presentation, lesson feedback, grading homework assignments, assessments, or grading. The effective 21st-century teacher will need to be adept in judging the educative and non-educative use of technologies made available to them and to their students at school and at home. The potential downside of technologies is their potential for non-productive use—wasting time and resources. The upside though, is significant if used properly.” —Doug Hatch, president & CEO, Core Learning

Our addition? Reading Horizons company president, Tyson Smith, said it best, “Technology should augment what students are learning through teacher instruction and allow students to move at an appropriate, individualized speed. [Reading] software that is created solely for student practice and that is not tied to teacher instruction produces questionable results.”   

To learn more, sign up for a free, no-obligation online workshop for teachers and educators.

You’ve been hearing them more often. Phrases like Common Core State Standards, Government Mandated Competency Requirements, Lexile Reading Scores, and Progress Monitoring are becoming part of our everyday vernacular.

Knowing these popular terms is one thing, understanding how to practically implement these mandates with limited resources is quite another.

MetaMetrics President and Co-founder Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., writes, “At no time in the history of American K-12 education have the challenges and consequences of our actions been so great. As students across the nation settle into a new school year, administrators and educators are simultaneously attempting to implement the new Common Core State Standards in an economic climate plagued by budget shortfalls—an environment many economists have dubbed the ‘New Normal.’ While no consensus exists on whether our economy will double-dip or will just recover slowly, what is certain is that educators will need to do more with less."

Additionally, Dr. Smith goes on to say, “Graduation from high school no longer guarantees that students are prepared for the postsecondary challenges that await them. This reality—combined with disheartening trends in graduation rates and an increasingly global economy— informs and underscores the current national educational reform agenda. In January 2010, President Obama announced an extension of the Race to the Top program, already the most ambitious reform effort in history. And the initiatives and programs comprising this movement continue to gain momentum. The Common Core State Standards, released this past June, have been adopted by nearly all states and the District of Columbia.”

“So how, exactly, should we define “ready?” Numerous elements comprise readiness. However, one of the most important is the ability to read and comprehend complex texts. Whether a student is applying to a community college, attending an elite four-year university, or entering the workplace or military, grappling with high-level texts is likely to be a major component of the experience. And a student’s ability to understand said texts is one of the key predictors of success in these domains.”

Read Dr. Smith’s complete article here>

Clearly, corrective reading assessments and intervention solutions must begin much earlier than high school. Some states, like Arizona, have mandated that the State Board of Education adopt specific competency requirements for the promotion of third grade pupils and establish a Task Force on Reading Assessment.

We concur with the Great State of Arizona. Mandated accountability and solid reading improvement in the classroom is more than critical, it is a pattern for our country's future success globally. We cannot wait another school year to provide students (and teachers) with proven tools and methods that effectively teach the basics of reading.

Have you asked yourself these questions recently: How will we bridge the gap between high school graduates and reading readiness at the college level? What’s happening in my school or district that addresses these challenges?

CNN recently produced a story about how schools in the Midwest are trying to adapt to the population growth of ELL students. In part, the article states:
Nationally, 9% of students in the U.S. are considered to have limited proficiency in English, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

About 11% of those students attend school in rural settings like Columbus Junction, [Iowa]. A quarter of the Columbus Community School students are English language learners, a large enough number to have an impact on the classrooms.

"The English language learners don't have vocabularies big enough to learn at the rate and speed they need to -- that their native English-speaking counterparts do," Bridenstine said.

Columbus Community Schools is a majority-minority school district that pulls in students from Columbus Junction and four other nearby communities. Bridenstine says 66% of the 895 students are Hispanic and 31% are white.

To help with the language skills, the teachers in Columbus Junction are encouraged to have students explain what they have learned to a student partner using English.

"We are making gains, but it isn't enough with what No Child Left Behind is requiring of us," Bridenstine said.

Under No Child Left Behind, schools are required to reach 100% proficiency in math and English by the year 2014.

There’s no doubt that the landscape of what we need to do to teach English and reading is changing. This is complicated by the fact that many teachers are not given the right tools and strategies they need in order to effectively teach reading to all students.

The real question is, can we adapt quickly enough to provide ELL students with the reading resources they need while sustaining and growing the reading aptitude of native English readers?

Weigh in here. How will we serve the needs of our growing ELL student population?