Today’s Literacy Headlines

St. Louis is a poor city. Its school district serves a higher share of children living in poverty than 95% of communities nationwide. Decades of research has shown that growing up in poverty hurts academic outcomes. So what can reasonably be expected of children in places like St. Louis? Through no fault of their own, they are more likely to have lower reading and math scores. But how much lower? Based on demographics, 31% of the city’s third graders should be reading at grade level. The actual number is 20%.

When 19-year-old Aleysha Ortiz told Hartford City Council members in May that the public school system stole her education, she had to memorize her speech. Ortiz, who was a senior at Hartford Public High School at the time, wrote the speech using the talk-to-text function on her phone. She listened to it repeatedly to memorize it. That’s because she was never taught to read or write — despite attending schools in Hartford since she was 6. Ortiz, who came to Hartford from Puerto Rico with her family when she was young, struggled with language and other challenges along the way.

Just as technology has transformed the way we conduct research, it has also opened new possibilities for enhancing our educational practices. Similarly, the rise of generative AI presents countless opportunities for innovation in education. To illustrate, I share a few practical applications of AI across different educational settings. These AI tools are designed to enhance the teaching process, saving valuable time while ensuring that tasks such as creating rubrics, developing questions, and communicating with families are handled efficiently.

Across New York City, schools have changed curriculum materials and teaching strategies, a significant shift in a system where school leaders have long held autonomy over instructional choices. The mandate has prompted a torrent of debate and discussion—cautious optimism, on the one hand, that a standardized approach will lead to better outcomes; skepticism on the other that new materials will actually meet students’ needs, and fear that implementation challenges could derail the entire project.

A new graphic novel makes a powerful case that if these two men had never met, 20th-century pop culture might have taken an entirely different course. “The Mythmakers” takes us through 20 years of deep intellectual friendship between Lewis and Tolkien — which widened to include the social circle around them, known as the Inklings — but it’s just as interesting when documenting the slow, regrettable shipwreck of that friendship. 

In new book, child development expert Dan Wuori dismantles notion of early child care as a form of ‘industrialized’ babysitting. Wuori says babies learn from birth and their time outside the home should be treated as schooling, not as a place for them to be watched over while their parents work. “All environments for young children are learning environments,” he said. “The question ultimately comes down to, “Is your child in a good one?”

Exit tickets help students take responsibility for the content they’ve learned and encourage students to reflect about important concepts from class. They also serve as a formative assessment, providing immediate feedback for both teachers and students, and even allow teachers to check in on students’ social and emotional well-being. These ideas for using exit tickets for formative assessment and to quickly see how students are feeling may be particularly helpful for new teachers.

Just like many areas of reading instruction, we can look to the research to understand more about the relationship between foundational skills and reading motivation. A recent meta-analysis of motivation and reading achievement found that, on average across over 132 studies, early reading was a stronger predictor of later motivation than early motivation was of later reading (Toste et al., 2020). In other words, children’s skill in reading is likely to help drive their motivation over time, but their motivation may not drive their growth in skill to the same level over time. Highly motivated young readers need knowledge and skills, not only motivation, to drive their continued growth in reading.

When it comes to the topic of how to teach early reading, teachers have plenty to say. Their responses point towards a wide level of understanding and interpretation of what the term science of reading means and how to use it to inform teaching. A number of educators have cited concerns about the implementation of shifts in how kids are taught to read, such as a loss of autonomy for teachers. Many question whether it’s a tried-and-true strategy, or just great marketing. But plenty of teachers are taking quite well to the strategy. Educators in this camp are sharing examples of the strategy at work, giving tips for fellow teachers on what activities to try, and even attesting to how the “science of reading” has led to them replace activities that have, in some cases, been in classrooms for generations.

The English language instruction students encounter can run the gamut from submersion — where they “sink or swim” in all-English classes — to programs where literacy and subject matter is taught equally in English and a home language. While not all emergent bilinguals — as they’re also called — are immigrants, some districts may offer programs or schools for students who are new to the country.

Decades of research have shown that children who are born into low-income households have less access to opportunities like high-quality child care and afterschool activities. Now, a 26-year longitudinal study has quantified the severity of this opportunity gap for the first time, as well as the sizable impact this has on children as they grow into young adults. Researchers found that while most high-income children experience six or more “opportunities” between birth and high school, nearly two-thirds of children from low-income households have zero or only one opportunity.

This time — more than 25 years after “Frindle” — the conflict is between Josh Willett, a tech-obsessed programming whiz, and his eccentric, technophobic sixth-grade E.L.A. teacher, Mr. N, also known as Mr. Allen Nicholas. In Mr. N’s class, laptops and e-books are forbidden, and essays must be written (neatly!) on lined paper, in blue or black ink. It’s no wonder Josh dreads his latest homework assignment. But circumstances quickly shift when he stumbles on an old Frindle while looking for a spare pen in his mom’s desk. This leads to an intriguing hypothesis: Might Mr. N be Nick Allen of Frindle fame?

The seven schools ranged widely. Some were large. Some were small. Some were city schools with many Hispanic students. Others were mostly white, rural schools. They used different instructional materials and did a lot of things differently, but TNTP teased out three traits that it thought these schools had in common: “… these schools shared a commitment to doing three core things well: they create a culture of belonging, deliver consistent grade-level instruction, and build a coherent instructional program.

Transitional books are in transition. To bolster these books’ appeal for emerging and newly independent readers, librarians are changing what they call them and how they shelve them, according to respondents to SLJ ’s 2024 Transitional Books Survey. And since an increasing number of transitional books are graphic novels, librarians are figuring out where to shelve those titles. With prose books? Other graphic novels? There are various solutions.

September 15th is the first day of Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month, so I’ve rounded up five new picture books and one board book by Latine authors and illustrators to check out this month. I’ll review middle grade books by Latine authors on Tuesday!

School libraries have undergone a significant shift over the years, adapting to changes in technology, education philosophies, and the dynamic needs of students. Once simply a quiet space to check out books, libraries have evolved to provide students with a holistic and interactive learning experience. These spaces have transformed into collaborative areas that encourage group work, discussions, and hands-on activities, promoting creativity and innovation–ultimately becoming instrumental in shaping well-rounded, adaptable learners. 

A slew of pandemic-era emergency aid for children—including universal school meals and Medicaid expansions in many states—led to the lowest child poverty rate on record. But new Census data show children—particularly children of color—have taken the brunt of the economic hit as those funds and flexibilities expire.

Antonio Brown, owner of Central Station Barbershop and Grooming in St. Petersburg, FL, is doing more than cutting hair—he’s shaping futures. With a mission to boost literacy rates among Black and Brown children in his community, Brown launched a book club that offers kids free haircuts as a reward for reading.

In my experiences supporting implementation over ten years, high-quality instructional materials have had less direct impact on instruction than I imagined they would but more impact on teacher support than I imagined they could. Changing perspective on why materials matter has changed what I see as important in their implementation. Because I believe their value lies primarily in improving teacher support.

By modeling self-talk and providing choices, teachers can encourage young children to think about their thinking. Rick Cohen and colleagues in The Metacognitive Preschooler provide valuable guidance with these 4 ways to engage young children: model self-talk, model parallel talk, ask choice questions, and ask open-ended questions.

After nearly twenty years of mandatory English-only education, California’s bilingual schools are growing because of family demand. By clarifying local priorities from the start in its Multilingual Learner Master Plan and insisting on treating Spanish proficiency and English proficiency alike as valuable assets, the Desert Sands Unified School District is taking advantage of new terrain California voters opened up in 2016. 

As educators, we are continuously searching for ways to create environments that enhance learning. One way is through biophilic design, rooted in the idea that humans have an inherent connection to nature. This approach, popularized by Richard Louv, emphasizes integrating natural elements into spaces to boost well-being and cognitive function. Here is how I’ve transformed my elementary school classroom.

With “Amazing Grapes,” the legendary cartoonist has composed a wondrous hymn to what’s lost and found. “Amazing Grapes” tells the story of two siblings, Curly and his sister Pearlie, whose adventures begin a year after their father walks out. Their mother has informed them and their older sister, Shirley, that they’re going to have a new father, named Lenny (who has three “younger than you” children: Penny, Benny and Kenny), and soon they’ll all be living with him on a mountaintop halfway across the country.

A year after Texas turned school libraries into discipline centers in Black and Latino neighborhoods, librarians have lost their jobs and teachers are quitting. Demonstrators gather in August 2023 in protest of Houston ISD’s plan to close libraries in schools. Instead, they would become “team centers,” where teachers would send disruptive students to work independently. The most high-achieving students would be funneled there, too, where they could do worksheets at their own pace and free up teachers to focus on everyone else.

Author and entrepreneur Dr. Shawn Anthony Robinson describes to host Anita Rao how he learned to read at age 18 and how his struggles with literacy affected his mental health and sense of worth growing up. Shawn is the co-author of the graphic novel series, “Doctor Dyslexia Dude!,” which he and his wife wrote to show dyslexic Black boys their potential to do great things. Anita also talks with Dr. Maryanne Wolf, a human development and psychology scholar and the Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners and Social Justice at UCLA, about how our brains actually learn to read and the interventions currently available to help dyslexic readers of all ages.

As poverty rises, reading proficiency tends to fall. But it’s not fate. In this interactive article, see the districts in your state that are outperforming expectations. The authors set out to find districts around the country that succeed with the students they actually serve. They calculated each district’s expected reading proficiency rate, based on its local poverty rate, and compared it to its actual third grade reading scores. This methodology helped identify districts that are beating the odds and successfully teaching kids to read.  

Teaching multilingual students about Greek and Latin roots in words can help them systematically build their knowledge of English. Breaking words into parts helped students generate the meaning of unfamiliar words. This was especially true when I chose Greek and Latin roots that had English and Spanish cognates.

So what’s the trick to getting young people – and teens and 10-year-olds – to enjoy the act of reading? To stay in the moment long enough to appreciate the feel of paper pages and a cliff-hanger chapter? What can parents and teachers do? Educators the Monitor reached out to as the school year gears up have lots of advice: Set aside dedicated time for reading. Find materials that resonate with students. Offer a welcoming setting. Give students the chance to talk about what they’ve read. 

Ready or not, across the country, a new crop of kindergarteners has entered the K-12 school system. Their teachers will spend these early weeks determining where the 5- and 6-year-olds are developmentally, what academic, social and emotional skills they bring, and what support they need to set them up for a successful school year. The last few classes of kindergarteners have shown up lacking some of the basic skills and competencies that educators and school leaders had previously come to expect. These include following instructions, sharing, listening and participating during lessons, using writing utensils and craft materials, and toilet training.

“A primary source at its very core is the raw material of history,” said Lee Ann Potter, the Director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives at the Library of Congress. Many students today are learning history through primary sources. That shift, according to Potter, arose in the last two decades as museums and archival institutions began digitizing their collections, making them accessible to teachers and students online. At the Library of Congress, Potter and her team develop resources to help teachers use primary sources in their classrooms. 

This summer, the Durango district enrolled about 10 students in the program for four weeks before the school year started. Such programs fill a critical need for families and educators across the state. Colorado districts enrolled thousands of newly arrived immigrant students throughout the last school year. Teachers in places like Denver, Aurora, and Jeffco have described feeling overwhelmed at times by the arrival of so many new students, and the experience has prompted changes across schools. The same has happened in rural Durango, a district of about 5,200 students where about 4% of students identify as English learners.

Earlier this year, the prolific writer Percival Everett released a critically acclaimed novel, “James,” that adopts as its conceit the story of Jim from “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” as told by Jim himself. Though its intended audience is very different from that of “James,” Hope Jahren’s first novel and first book for young readers, “Adventures of Mary Jane,” tries something similar. It’s framed as the first-person story of a much less prominent — one might say fairly minor — character from “Huckleberry Finn”: the object of Huck’s affection over the course of about 50 pages in Mark Twain’s 1884 classic.

An analysis from Rand and CRPE estimates 19% — or 9.4 million students — were chronically absent during the 2023-24 school year. About one-quarter (23%) of school districts surveyed said none of the strategies they put in place to combat chronic absenteeism have been particularly effective. Rand and CRPE recommended three approaches suggested by district leaders and researchers.

Sweeping changes to literacy instruction are underway in New York City, with all elementary schools for the first time using one of three mandated curriculums this September. By requiring instruction in line with long-standing research about how children learn to read, known as the science of reading, the city is hoping to boost its literacy rates. Just under half of students in grades 3-8 are considered proficient in English, according to state exams.

Understanding the science of reading helps educators develop effective teaching strategies that are grounded in research. My districts were located in underfunded urban areas, where literacy issues hit the hardest in our country. Poor, marginalized communities are critically affected by educational inequities, but even well-funded districts can lack the appropriate resources for reading education. By using classroom volunteers, retired educators and high school seniors looking for volunteer hours, leaders can think outside the box when finding additional resources for their students. 

During their ILA Webinar From Facts to Fascination: Using Nonfiction to Drive Curriculum and Enthusiasm, speakers Patricia Newman and Kirsten W. Larson (find her on all social media as @KirstenWLarson) shared how effective nonfiction can be at engaging young readers. This naturally leads to the question: Where can I find high-quality nonfiction books to bring into my classroom? Larson provided a list of some of her sources.

When Newbery Medalist Meg Medina was a kid, she had a babysitter — señora Mimí. She was a wonderful babysitter but kind of a pain in the neck, as well … “She loved us,” says Medina. Now, Meg Medina is honoring señora Mimí — and caregivers everywhere — in her new children’s book, No More Señora Mimí, illustrated by Brittany Cicchese.

Matthew Kraft, an associate professor of education and economics at Brown University, was an early proponent of giving tutors — ordinarily a luxury for the rich — to the masses after the pandemic. The research evidence was strong; more than a hundred studies had shown remarkable academic gains for students who were frequently tutored every week at school. Sometimes, they caught up two grade levels in a single year. 

Nikki Corbett was desperate. The mother and small business owner had searched online and in stores near her home in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, but she could not find any books to teach her young children the Yup’ik language.So Corbett – and her friend, Katie O’Connor, an illustrator and mother – decided to create their own Yup’ik alphabet coloring book. In Alaska, there’s a market for primers like this. More than 20% of the state’s population is Native. Of the estimated 21,000 Alaskans who identify as Yup’ik, nearly half speak the language.

Dyslexia is often discussed as a catch-all explanation for reading difficulties, affecting millions of children worldwide. Despite its common use, the term is surrounded by misconceptions and varied interpretations, making it a complex and sometimes controversial diagnosis. The question remains: what exactly does it mean to be dyslexic, and how does this label influence the way we approach reading difficulties? Imagine this scenario – one that is unfolding not just across the United States, but in cities, towns and clinics around the world.

In the two pilot elementary schools, 90% of families and 70% of teachers opted in. At year’s end, literacy and attendance were up — and now more schools are taking part. Fairfield Court Elementary’s early-literacy proficiency rates jumped from 61% to 82% in just one year. It now has the seventh-highest early literacy scores out of 26 elementary schools in the district, despite having the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students (97%). 

Have you ever read a children’s book where the main character is… the book? Dictionary has noticed that even though her pages contain all the words that exist, she doesn’t really tell a story like all the other books on the shelf do. So one day, Dictionary decides to change that and bring her contents — guts? pages? definitions? — to life. “It’s a book about chaos. Chaos and order. Fine line,” says Oliver Jeffers who — along with Sam Winston — wrote and illustrated The Dictionary Story. 

In 39 states and Washington, D.C., laws have been passed or rules have been made requiring schools to follow the Science of Reading approach. That generally means new books and new teacher training with a focus on phonics. Jason Borges is overseeing New York City’s new reading program, which began with a partial rollout last year and will be in every classroom this fall.

While starting at a new school may cause anxiety, it can also, as these 10 stories illustrate, create opportunities for growth, resilience and an increased capacity for compassion. And despite all the awkwardness and jitters, the benefit of being the new kid is that it always makes for a good story.

The way I’ve learned how to instill a love of reading, even when a school doesn’t promote it, is to establish and incentivize reading in such a way that no child leaves their book behind. In doing so, I not only promote the love of reading but also create a classroom culture that has become fundamental to who I am as a teacher. Here’s a guide for how to do it at any grade level. 

When teachers find ways to promote oracy in the classroom—from oral storytelling to small-group discussions and Socratic seminars—it helps students develop social and self-regulatory skills while supporting language and vocabulary acquisition. In fact, a wide body of research shows that the benefits of building speaking skills and learning to express oneself well is a significant factor in long-term social, emotional, and academic success.

Students in schools that had a dual-language immersion model of English instruction showed more growth over time in reading. Schools that lack such a program, do not offer English learner families opportunities to connect, and are overcrowded were associated with worse performance on the growth measure. Last year, the Education Department planned to focus a federal grant program meant to improve English learner instruction toward decreasing multilingual educator shortages.

What do the Montauk lighthouse, a school mural, a trampoline accident, a forced migration, and the Quartering Act of 1765 have in common? These are the subjects of winning podcasts submitted by fourth graders to NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge.

When you think of students receiving speech therapy, you probably think of a student who has difficulty pronouncing sounds.While these students may need help from the school speech therapist, let’s identify some other students who could benefit from a speech-language evaluation by looking at what speech-language pathologists (SLPs) target in the school setting and what to do if you think a student needs to be referred to your school’s SLP. 

The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance has launched Empowering Young Writers, a series of slideshows and educational resources—culled from more than 500 children’s trade books—demonstrating various writing elements and techniques for fourth through ninth graders. The online tools, which are available for free, are designed to assist educators, librarians, and parents as students return to the classroom this year.

Teachers in grades 3-8 reported that nearly half (44%) of their students always or nearly always have difficulty reading their written instructional materials, according to a recent Rand Corporation report.However, 40% of the teachers surveyed had misconceptions about how students develop word reading skills, and 46% said their primary source of knowledge about reading instruction comes from personal experiences in the classroom. Only 22% cited professional development as a primary source of their reading instruction knowledge, and even fewer (10%) cited other teachers and mentors. 

When many Washington, D.C., schools launched intensive tutoring programs after the COVID-19 closures, staff observed a pleasant surprise: More kids started showing up each day. The higher attendance rates – on top of improved math and reading skills – proved a welcome side effect of an initiative aimed at bridging students’ learning gaps. Amid the flurry of activity in recent years, researchers and policy advocates are increasingly pointing to a specific kind of tutoring as the most effective. Known as “high-impact” or “high-dosage,” it generally refers to tutoring that happens at least three times a week for 30-minute sessions with groups of four or fewer students. And if it occurs during the regular school day? Even better.

The joys and anxieties of this rite of passage are fertile ground for storytelling, which has led to a lot of excellent books on the topic. Anxiety, making new friends, learning to share: These nine titles will prepare young readers for whatever their first day of school may have in store.

By knowing what to look for, teachers can work with parents and create supports to help girls with ADHD succeed in school. Girls are more likely to have the inattentive type of ADHD and display “internalizing” symptoms, while boys typically have the hyperactive type of ADHD and display “externalizing” symptoms. Because of this, boys are more likely to receive treatment, medication, and other supports, while girls with ADHD may grow up struggling with their relationships, mental health, and self image. 

Children should learn about history in ways that promote critical thinking and encourage them to better understand the world by making connections between past and present. This means learning how to analyze primary sources, like photographs and artifacts, to understand important ideas like chronology, how the human experience has changed throughout time, and the causes and consequences of historical events. I’ve found photographs powerful in fostering students’ historical thinking; they provide a visual entry point and prevent the reading barriers that students sometimes experience with text-based sources.

Due to nationwide early intervention (EI) provider shortages, personnel recruitment and retention strategies are critical. Children under age three with developmental delays or disabilities are entitled to these services by federal law under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). To address the need for a stronger pipeline of early interventionists, Virginia universities formed a unique consortium called the Virginia Early Intervention/Preservice Consortium. The Consortium brings together faculty and staff from seven universities across Virginia to strengthen relationships with local EI systems, conduct research, and increase placement opportunities and share education resources for EI higher education students. 

Throughout rural America, non-native English speakers are less likely than their urban peers to get proper support in school, sometimes leading to a lifetime of lower educational attainment. But some rural schools are developing multilingual education strategies to rival those found in urban and suburban districts.

Carey Wright, who was lauded for her work as the top education official in Mississippi, is beginning her first full school year as Maryland’s state superintendent. As the interim, she has used some of the same strategies — improving literacy instruction, expanding early child care education, and reviewing accountability measures — that her administration was known for in Mississippi. Among the changes: a resolution directing all Maryland school districts to align their literacy curriculum around the “science of reading,” a method of teaching that emphasizes pillars such as phonemic awareness, vocabulary development and reading comprehension.

The start of the school year can be stressful, but parents of neurodivergent children are more likely to report feeling overwhelmed, unprepared and scared than other parents, according to a new survey. Elementary-age children who think and learn differently may struggle more with the back-to-school transition because they have a harder time expressing their needs than their older peers, said Andrew Kahn, associate director of behavior change and expertise at Understood.org. “You’re much more likely to see this in behavior, and in avoidance and escape.”

Language development in the early grades not only has short-term benefits in learning how to read but also is linked to long-term benefits of academic language success in middle school. In terms of student learning, not all student talk is created equal. Teachers can intentionally structure activities to focus on high-quality talk as a way to promote literacy and to facilitate creativity and thinking skills.