What happened?
- Tennessee has invested in training all teachers in the science of reading. In the summer of 2021, every pre-k through fifth-grade teacher and administrator participated in a two-week Early Reading Training where they were introduced to and encouraged to consider new practices based on the science of reading. This included a shift from balanced literacy to high-quality foundational skills such as phonemic and phonological awareness.
- The goal of the administrators and coaches was to combine new, high-quality foundational skills instructional material with the district’s current curriculum by supporting teachers as they took risks in how they taught early literacy to their students. This was accomplished by a “year of grace,” where teachers were not required to fully implement the new material until the following year. Administrators and coaches made it very clear that they would try to meet the teachers where they were and provide the resources they need.
- The Tennessee Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement (TNFSCS) provided the material and practices that teachers could use to make this shift. One of the significant changes was introducing “sounds first'' teaching (10-minute, advanced phonological awareness block). Teachers saw huge and immediate results in their students, which then led to more and more teachers wanting to implement this new curriculum.
- This new curriculum was introduced mid-year, so teachers themselves had to put in a lot of effort, even with all the support provided by administrators, coaches, and peers.
- The proof of success (unprecedented rates of reading growth in students) was very powerful in the adoption of this new curriculum by many teachers. One teacher said that just after two months into the new curriculum, the number of students that were reading on grade-level doubled from 7 to 15. One parent noticed that her first-grade daughter went from “really behind” to now being able to write her own stories and read chapter books.
- Intervention group sizes have also dwinded as this explicit and systematic reading instruction has been made accessible to all students.
Takeaways:
- Improvement in early literacy success rates require investment by government, administrators, coaches, and teachers.
- Support from administrators, experts, and peers is vital to success in any kind of curriculum change.
- Proof of success is an effective way to encourage others to follow your steps.
- Early literacy instruction that is rooted in the science of reading can lead to tremendous success in almost all students, even those that struggle the most.
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