Today’s Literacy Headlines

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.

An unexpected highlight of the Democratic National Convention on Night Three was an outburst of pride from the son of vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. The high school senior’s joy quickly went viral and his newfound fame is focusing attention on the challenges of people with learning disabilities. His parents recently revealed to People magazine that Gus has ADHD, an anxiety disorder, and something called a non-verbal learning disorder. There’s no standard definition for non-verbal learning disorder. It doesn’t mean people with it can’t talk. But according to the NVLD Project at Columbia University, people with it “struggle with a range of conditions that include social and spatial disabilities. Often they are marginalized and isolated; consequently, they can experience social barriers throughout their lives.”

This season’s books for kids and teens offers many stellar reads, including new books by Meg Medina, Jules Feiffer, Jason Reynolds and Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Looking for a World War II spy novel? See “The Bletchley Riddle.” For something funny, try “Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek.” And young picture-book lovers can choose silly, “The Man Who Didn’t Like Animals,” or thoughtful, “When You Find the Right Rock.”

Last year, Georgia passed a bill requiring schools to emphasize “structured literacy” when training instructors and testing students. It’s a method that teaches reading in a systemic and explicit manner characterized by word identification and decoding strategies. The method stems from the science of reading, which refers to a body of research examining the best way for children to learn how to read.

A majority of Americans worry more about children losing access to books that could teach them something about the world than they do about children being exposed to potentially inappropriate material. And most trust teachers and school librarians to make good choices about the books they stock at school. But they also think age appropriateness is a legitimate reason to restrict book access, especially for elementary students. And there are big differences on the issue between liberals and conservatives, between LGBTQ adults and others, and between parents and non-parents.

A machine learning model can identify most children with autism before the age of 2, research suggests, potentially accelerating the process of getting a diagnosis. In a study looking at data on about 12,000 people in the U.S. with and without autism, researchers said their artificial intelligence model dubbed AutMedAI could predict autism in children under age 2 with nearly 80% accuracy.

The more paraeducators know about the content and curriculum, class routines, and software programs, the more they can expand instructional options. Administrators must include paraeducators in training and ongoing professional learning to effectively support literacy instruction based on the science of reading. When paraeducators have knowledge and specific responsibilities, they offer greater flexibility and differentiation as true partners in the classroom.

According to a 2023 survey by the School Library Journal, graphic novels have risen in popularity at over 90% of school libraries. However, the same survey reported that a majority of librarians experienced opposition to graphic novels from parents, teachers and others who didn’t consider them “real books.” Resistance often stems from misconceptions that they lack academic rigor, are too controversial, and do not build reading skills, said literary specialist Shawna Coppola. When teachers dispel preconceived notions about comics and graphic novels, they can unlock these books’ potential as educational tools.

As the United States heads toward the semiquincentennial (!) of the Declaration of Independence and as many worthy groups strive to rekindle civics in American schools and colleges, it’s time to revisit and revive the superb animated video series named Liberty’s Kids. Aimed at elementary school-age children, but enjoyable well into middle school, these thirty-minute episodes feature Benjamin Franklin (narrated by Walter Cronkite) and four wonderfully engaging (and diverse) children as they experience the Revolutionary War and the early days of the new nation, starting with the Boston Tea Party and ending with Washington’s inauguration.

Starting this fall, Iowa City Community School District will pilot new AI guidelines governing how the technology is used in the classroom. The curriculum, for example, teaches the basics of using AI to K-2 students, along with discussing the technology’s pros and cons. Students in higher grade levels will dive deeper into safe and responsible use of AI, he said. 

A new study by researchers from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Carleton University has found the brain’s language network responds differently to a native language, than additional languages. The study published in academic journal Cerebral Cortex, further explored existing findings on the language center in the brains of people who speak five or more languages, otherwise known as polyglots.

Two dreamlike picture books explore the ennui particular to the colossus. “Giant on the Shore” with text by Alfonso Ochoa and art by Andrés López begins with the arrival of a giant to an unnamed island. Marine Schneider’s “Hekla and Laki”, translated from the French by Nick Frost and Catherine Ostiguy attaches the names of two Icelandic volcanoes to a bearded, blue silhouette of an old man (Laki) and a mysterious, orange child-being (Hekla). 

As students prepare to head back to school, they may feel a range of emotions. Many may feel excited or anxious about starting a new grade or school. When it comes to having a successful school year, no one knows what they need more than students themselves. That’s why we asked kids across the U.S. to share their best tips on going back to school — and they delivered. Read on for advice from a second-grader all the way to a kid almost done with high school.

Schools in Ohio, like other schools across the country, are struggling to reduce chronic absenteeism, which spiked during the pandemic. But Ohio may have a head start on dealing with the problem, thanks to a 2018 state law encouraging a positive approach to discipline. This positive approach attempts to improve student behavior and a school’s environment by emphasizing prevention over punishment. The idea is to stop problems before they happen, reward good behavior and give extra help to students who need it the most. 

The first year of teaching preschool students can be overwhelming, but by making a few simple preparations, pre-K teachers can jump in with confidence. From maintaining a playful mindset to choosing comfortable clothes, from organizing your space with intention to planning effective transitions, from taking time to observe students to not being shy about asking questions, these tips for new preschool teachers can help them kick off their first year well—and make a more positive impact on their little learners from day one.

Working out of her basement, and with no teaching experience, Ms. Colvin created a nonprofit that helped people around the world learn to read. Literacy Volunteers, was chartered by New York State as a nonprofit with 77 tutors, 100 students. After a 2002 merger with Laubach Literacy International, the organization became ProLiteracy, with hundreds of programs and 100,000 tutors in 42 states and 60 other countries, offering lessons in scores of languages at homes, workplaces, prisons and other sites. For 60 years, Ms. Colvin remained a teacher and administrator, traveling widely and writing 12 books on her work.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a set of bills Tuesday aimed at improving student reading proficiency, which dwindled after the COVID pandemic, by mandating literacy screenings for K-3 students and implementing new educator training on reading instruction next school year, among other initiatives.

Nearly a decade ago, Cecil County Public Schools had some of the lowest-performing elementary schools in Maryland, and teachers used a variety of homegrown curriculum and curated resources to varying effect. Today, our schools all use Bookworms, a highly structured, open-source curriculum published by the University of Delaware. We adopted and implemented Bookworms districtwide at a rapid clip in 2016 and quickly saw gains in the share of students in grades 3–5 scoring proficient on statewide tests. We have consistently fine-tuned our practices to maintain progress in the years since. Most major changes don’t happen without a long lead time or thoroughly debated pilot. And many changes cannot be sustained over the long haul. Our experience with Bookworms is a counterexample to both. It is possible to move fast and build reforms that last. Here’s how.

Every teacher at the Health Sciences High and Middle College in San Diego shares in the responsibility of teaching students literacy skills, regardless of the subject they teach. That’s because so many students, even incoming ninth graders, arrive at the school without basic reading skills, according to Douglas Fisher, an administrator at the school. While some students also receive one-on-one remediation, Fisher said that research shows those interventions aren’t enough to close the gap.

Linda B. Gambrell, professor emerita in the Eugene T. Moore School of Education at Clemson University and a past president of the International Reading Association (IRA, now the International Literacy Association, ILA), died on August 6, 2024, at the age of 82. Considered a towering figure in the literacy field, Gambrell’s contributions as a researcher, educator, leader, and friend leave an indelible mark on the profession and the countless lives she touched.

D.C. students who got frequent, small group tutoring improved their reading and math scores after the return to in-person classes, attended more classes and had a stronger sense of belonging at school, according to new research into the city’s multimillion-dollar tutoring program. The findings from Stanford University are encouraging, researchers said: Although students have yet to fully recover from the pandemic-induced slump that saw test scores plummet and absenteeism rise, children in D.C. are making progress.

The practice of 3rd grade retention has trended upwards in recent years, but the research on the practice is complex, and it has been criticized by education experts who argue that such policies are ineffective over the long term. Why do these early literacy retention policies overwhelmingly focus on the end of 3rd grade? Is this target of when kids should know how to read warranted? Here’s what development and education experts had to say.

These tips from an experienced English language learning specialist can help you prepare for your first year, with a focuson strategies for supporting ELLs, communicating with classroom teachers, and maintaining a positive relationship with colleagues.

What can the news, features, essays, interviews, photos, videos, podcasts and graphics in The New York Times teach your students about composing for a real audience? Our writing curriculum is a road map for teachers as well as an invitation to students. For teachers, each of the 9 units focuses on a different genre or type of composing that your students can find not just in The Times but also in all kinds of real-world sources. For students, these units offer confirmation that they have something valuable to say, choices about how to say it and a global audience eager to listen. 

The school district, along with the advocacy group Philadelphia Alliance to Restore School Librarians (PARSL), applied for and received a nearly $150,000 federal grant to develop a plan for increasing the number of school libraries. Study after study has shown a positive correlation between having a quality school library program and student achievement in reading. It is a correlation, not a causation, she stressed: Schools with libraries are likely to be better funded overall, with a more stable teaching staff and other resources. But the research also shows that having trained librarians is especially beneficial for low-income districts.

11% of Black students in the city public schools read at grade level. Black Men Read is working to change that with tutoring, summer reading camp. Tutors worked with Webster University to receive proper tutoring training and used techniques from the University of Florida Literacy Institute, which teaches linguistic and reading comprehension, to guide their lessons. Founder Keyon Watkins hopes to offer this training for parents in the future so they can implement these methods at home.

Q&A with journalist Emily Hanford, creator of the hit podcast Sold a Story, on the national reckoning around how we teach kids to read in schools—and where we’re still getting it wrong. Hanford’s reporting tapped into decades of research in cognitive science, educational psychology, and neuroscience about how the brain learns to read—a body of evidence often referred to as “the science of reading”—and made the case that many schools used debunked strategies to teach the skill.

The increased popularity of the Science of Reading marks a monumental change in the U.S. educational system. Such a well-developed, scientific body of knowledge can be leveraged through easy-to-implement teaching tactics in the early years, when the brain is most pliable and receptive. It gives early childhood educators the tools to understand the cognitive processes in a child’s brain that lead to strong literacy skills. But without an effective “myth-busting” session, many of these misconceptions will continue to confuse educators and parents alike.

New teachers, classmates, routines and expectations – a new school year almost always means change for both kids and their caregivers. And that can be nerve-wracking for everyone. To help families ease into the transition, Life Kit asked teachers, pediatricians and child development experts for their best back-to-school advice. These tips have been edited for length and clarity.

It’s no secret that today’s students are coming of age in a complex and rapidly evolving world. Science fiction, educators say, may be able to help them make sense of it. From stories about robots to climate change dystopias, these books can help students grapple with the societal issues shaping their futures.

Show your students that you care by learning their names and pronouncing them correctly. This effort makes students feel seen and valued.  These strategies can help teachers commit students’ names to memory, even in large classes.

Colorful primers, inspirational biographies and books by former champions will get kids excited for the Paris Games — and teach valuable lessons along the way.

If solutions work for some children in some places, “why not everywhere for every student every day?” asked Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten. Local and state school systems should replicate and scale evidence-based promising practices for students with disabilities, rather than use new and quick fixes, said U.S. Department of Education leaders at the opening session of the Office of Special Education Programs conference this week.

In April 2021, the N.C. General Assembly passed the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021. Implementation of the law started in schools and districts with Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS)® training, which includes 160 hours of study across eight units and takes two years to complete, equipping teachers with instructional tools based on decades of research into the science of reading.  For the third year in a row, North Carolina’s kindergarten through third grade students outperformed the national average on end-of-year literacy assessments.

Teachers can encourage students to persist through challenges and share their stories by modeling the power of writing using picture books. Sharing books that connect to the writing process, demonstrate the benefits of writing, and highlight how authors craft stories can show students that writing is worth the risk-taking and challenges they may face in your classroom. Additionally, using these books as springboards that scaffold student writing can be an efficient and effective way to build a community of writers in your classroom.

A new wave of research over the past decade has looked at how much parents talk about numbers and shapes with their children, and whether these spontaneous and natural conversations help children learn the subject. Encouraging parents to talk about numbers could be a cheap and easy way to improve the nation’s dismal math performance. A team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Irvine, teamed up to summarize the evidence from 22 studies conducted between 2010 and 2022. Here are four takeaways from their meta-analysis.

Routine low-stakes writing should be part of every student’s literacy diet. Ungraded and low-pressure, this type of writing improves kids’ writing stamina and builds language fluency, says Rebecca Alber, an instructor at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education. Across grade levels, engaging and creative writing prompts encourage kids to explore their opinions, reflect on experiences, and build strong arguments.

Before there was a feature film or a book, there was Crockett Johnson. Harold first appeared in 1955 and has been a familiar presence on bookshelves ever since. He is not quite as famous as the Cat in the Hat, who arrived two years later; he is certainly less of a show-off. Johnson, far less prolific than Seuss, never became a household name or a pop-culture brand. Harold is another story. 

Educators and parents of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities are optimistic about artificial intelligence’s potential to create more inclusive classrooms and close educational gaps between students with disabilities and those without, concludes a report from the Special Olympics Global Center for Inclusion in Education. However, both groups are also concerned about the possibility that AI use in schools could decrease human interaction and that schools with fewer resources could be left behind, the report found.

Writing for an audience — even just a single reader — can have a positive impact on students’ motivation and enjoyment when completing writing assignments, particularly if they have someone in mind while writing. By thinking about who may be reading what they’re writing, students will consider how they craft an assignment, whether that’s jotting down thoughts in a journal, finishing an essay that will be read by their teacher, or creating materials shared with peers, said writing expert Steve Graham. 

While children’s stories and rhymes that serve up spoonfuls of comfort are nothing new either, a growing number of post-pandemic picture books seem precision-tooled to pre-empt specific childhood fears with soft-edged scenarios that encourage and reassure. These two books about falling and being scarily on one’s own exemplify the well-meaning but sometimes overly message-y trend.

Starting around three and a half years of age, most children can comprehend simple stories and fairy tales. Audiobooks can be particularly useful during car rides, bedtime routine and quiet playtime. For school-aged children, they can engage reluctant readers by providing an alternative way to experience books. And most importantly, they can nurture kids’ intellectual growth – much more than videos. Here are five ways that audiobooks can enhance children’s ability to learn.

As we prepare for a new school year, we have an opportunity to make our classroom spaces function in allyship with our students. Small changes and a deliberate setup can positively impact students’ focus, independence, and performance. In fact, research shows that factors like light, greenery, and even the height of the ceiling can impact human behavior. A tweak to your desk setup can also significantly increase student engagement. Leaning on concepts of Universal Design for Learning and executive function, we’ll explore easy ways to set up a brain-friendly room. 

Dramatically reducing chronic absenteeism requires attention to “everything, everywhere, all at once” to understand and address the ecosystem of root causes identified by Attendance Works that include barriers to attendance, disengagement from school, aversion to school, and misconception about the impact of absences. We propose a three-pronged approach that includes re-engaging students, supporting families, and generating timely data. 

For some authors, finding their book on a “banned” list can feel almost like a badge of honor, putting them right there with classics like The Bluest Eye and To Kill a Mockingbird. But the reality is, most banned books never get the kind of recognition or readership that the most famous ones do. And books by underrepresented authors have been disproportionately targeted by bans.

Dr. Gary Willow writes about how he’s brought in support and built homegrown expertise to boost literacy skills in Maryland. Bringing the science of reading to the classroom requires careful research, strong collaboration and consensus-building, aligned professional learning, and robust ongoing support for school leaders.

Boxes of new science of reading workbooks sit at the front of classrooms at East Woods Intermediate School in Hudson, Ohio, ready for teachers to start using when students return to school next month. Like a third of the 600 districts across the state, the Hudson schools near Cleveland didn’t use science of reading books until Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the state legislature ordered districts last summer to implement the curriculum by the 2024-25 school year.

“Tree. Table. Book” and “Not Nothing” feature young people whose friendships with the very old unlock fading memories. What’s seven decades between friends? The narrator of Lois Lowry’s “Tree. Table. Book”, 11-year-old Sophia Henry Winslow (who calls herself Sophie), has a best friend who’s 88 years old — another Sophie, last name Gershowitz, who lives next door to her in their small New Hampshire town. In spite of the age gap, the two have “a friendship of the heart,” as Sophie the younger puts it.

Juicy sentences, a term used by Charles and Lily Wong Filmore, describes rich, complex, meaning-packed sentences that students closely examine with teacher guidance. Breaking one complex sentence down into small parts enhances students’ awareness of vocabulary, syntax, and sentence structure.