Nonprofit's report calls for broad-based approach to improving reading scores
Alice Tickler tries to stay positive when it comes to educating young children, but the longtime teacher admits there are some things that can make it hard — and it's not anything the students do.
Things like the legislature's failure to fund a training program, specifically for reading and math teachers. As a teacher for 28 years, she's seen the benefits of what educators call a 'coaching program' can have.
'Seeing other teachers in action, having a mentor teacher that knows how to teach reading alongside of you or coaching you, that's huge,' said Tickler, a first-grade teacher in Queen Anne's County public schools. 'That coaching model would really benefit teachers.'
Tickler's comments echo recommendations in a report being released Tuesday morning by Maryland READS, a nonprofit focused on the improvement of reading instruction. Providing consistent funding for teachers is just one of the recommendations in 'The State of Reading in Maryland 2025: It's Time for a Comeback after a Decade of Decline.'
While the General Assembly approved the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act last week without funding for a training program, it did approve funding for a national teacher recruitment campaign and a $2,000 relocation grant to 'incentivize an out-of-state licensed teacher to move to the state.'
The report's not all about funding, however, and acknowledges the state's financial difficulties. Similar to a report produced last year, Tuesday's document outlines recommendations to improve literacy, such as businesses providing employees time to serve as local tutors, and state and local leaders organizing town halls on digital education for families.
Because of the state's fiscal challenges, the report suggests philanthropists provide financial and other resources to help create 'thriving, reading ecosystems.'
According to the report, per pupil spending increased by 37% since 2013 through last year. During that time, National Assessment of Educational Progress math scores have constantly declined.
'Everything the state has done to put a system of support in place … gives us hope,' Trish Brennan-Gac, executive director of Maryland READS, said in an interview. 'But I think the legislature needs to get on board a little bit more and trust her [State Superintendent Carey Wright] leadership because she has a proven track record, and I don't think they did that this time around.'
Tuesday's document notes a report last year from the National Council on Teacher Quality. It gave Maryland and 19 other states an overall 'moderate' rating on teacher training programs based on five policy actions to strengthen implementation of the 'science of reading,' which Wright utilized as public schools leader in Mississippi and pushed to incorporate in Maryland.
The council gave three ratings – strong, moderate and weak – not only for the total assessment of training programs, but also separate reviews of each policy action. On the policy statement, 'Reviews teacher-preparation programs to ensure they teach the Science of Reading,' Maryland received a 'weak' rating.
Maryland READS recommends the state Department of Education 'should immediately exercise authority, including limiting grants and contracts, and hold Maryland teacher preparation programs accountable for aligning to Science of Reading by 2028.'
According to the report, what will help teachers with literacy instruction is an agreement the department made last year to implement a four-year, $6.8 million grant from the nonprofit Ibis Group of Washington, D.C.
About $5.3 million of that grant will be used for free online training in the science of reading for at least 30,000 paraprofessionals, teachers and other staff. The remaining $1.5 million would be for Johns Hopkins University and the department to research the impact of teacher efficacy, teacher background knowledge and literacy.
But Brennan-Gac said additional and consistent support is needed.
'Having a coach in the classroom actually helps the teacher change their practice,' Brennan-Gac said. 'While it's wonderful that we've brought these training programs into the state, [but] if they don't get the coaching, we're not really leveraging that wonderful resource we have and this whole movement that we're doing.'
Some other recommendations from the report to improve literacy include:
Starting July 1, the department should collaborate with educators and organizations to begin work on drafting an adolescent literacy policy;
The legislature should tie future funding to data related to proficiency rates at community schools, those that receive high concentration of poverty grants which provide a variety of wraparound and other services; and
State, local and community leaders should educate parents and guardians on limiting the use of electronic devices for their children.
'We should do everything that we can to make sure that our children can read,' said Tickler, who serves on a statewide teacher advisory council created by the department this year. 'We don't want our children to enter that pipeline that takes them to jail or drugs. We want our kids to be successful and we want our kids to be literate.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
09-08-2025
- The Hill
Trump changing the school year to 6 months? Not true
(NewsNation) — Videos circulating on social media claim President Trump is shortening the school year to six months. Is there any truth to the statement? The claim is completely inaccurate. The president cannot dictate the length of the school year; this is determined by individual states. Outlandish claims across the internet Videos are appearing on various social media platforms spreading the incorrect assertion. The origin of the rumor remains unclear. In one TikTok video titled 'Donald trump announces a new school system where kids attend school for only 6 months,' user @ starts off the video by saying, 'Breaking news, Trump decided kids don't have to go to school anymore, not as much as they used to.' The video has been viewed over 130,000 times. Trump committed to changing education in the US While not reducing the school year to six months, Trump has promised and made sweeping changes to education policy in the country. In March, Trump signed an executive order aimed at getting rid of the Education Department altogether. Although total elimination of the department would necessitate congressional action, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to lay off hundreds of workers in July. These changes come as recent studies indicate a stark decline in test scores since the pandemic. 'This year's National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math,' the executive order said. The Trump administration has also made efforts to shift policy surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion, higher education and protections for transgender students.
Newsweek
07-08-2025
- Newsweek
Fact Check: Did Trump Say Kids to Only Attend School 6 Months Out of Year?
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Rumors are circulating social media that President Donald Trump has said children should only attend school six months of the year. The Trump administration has embarked upon major changes to American education. In March, 2025, Trump signed an executive order to begin "eliminating" the Department of Education (DOE), marking a major change in the federal oversight of schools. A litany of concerns about the state of American education was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption that followed. A 2024 report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), a research group at Arizona State University, found that the average American student is "less than halfway to full academic recovery" from the impact of the pandemic. In January, a report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that the reading and math skills of fourth and eighth grade students have declined in multiple states to below the national average. However, in June of this year, Gen Z students reported their most positive evaluations of schools in years. The standard U.S. academic or school year can vary slightly depending on the state, but the majority of states require 180 days per school year. The state with the lowest mandated school days is Colorado, which requires 160, while Kansas requires 186, according to the Pew Research Center. The Claim On TikTok, claims that Trump is trying to change the school year, making it only six months, have swept across the app. The claims differ slightly in different videos. Some social media users claim that Trump has announced this change, while others claim that he is actively trying to pass a law. One video, shared to TikTok by the account @uiort05 features a talking head of a man over images of Trump. That video has the text overlay "Donald Trump just announced kids only attend school 6 months Out of the year," and goes on to count six months of the school year as being from August to January. That video has been viewed over 200,000 times as of reporting. The audio of that TikTok has been widely shared across the platform. Another video, from the account @solyapp, claims "Donald Trump is tryna pass a law where kids only have to go to school for six months." That video has been viewed over 400,000 times as of reporting. Both of those videos were made by adults, not school aged children. The Facts The claim is false. There has been no wider reporting about the post, which would be the case if it were real. There is no record of Trump saying anything about changing the school year. The minimum amount of time that school must be in session is set by individual states, not the president. As it stands, children attend school for roughly 180 days each year. Per day, that amounts to six months. In practice, factoring in weekends and breaks for holidays, the total number of days is spread across approximately nine months, with the school year generally beginning either in late August or early September and ending in late May or early June. The TikTok from @uiort05 states in the description, "disclaimer for entertainment purposes only," indicating that it is false. The Ruling False. Trump has not said anything about changing the school year to six months. There is no evidence of the claims. The initial claim came from a source that is not reputable. FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Los Angeles Times
04-08-2025
- Los Angeles Times
The White House intends to slash the education safety net
Donald Trump has it in for public education. Don't be fooled by last week's release of DOE billions for the coming school year. Education Secretary Linda McMahon claimed that since the surprise decision in late June to withhold the funding, the government vetted all the programs to make sure they met President Trump's approval. In reality, the White House was inundated by protests from both sides of the aisle, from teachers, parents and school superintendents all over the country. A week earlier, 24 states had filed suit against the administration for reneging on already appropriated education funding. The reprieve will be temporary if the president has his way. Shuttering the Department of Education, and its funding priorities, was a marquee Trump campaign promise. Already, about 2,000 DOE staff members have been fired or quit under duress. That's half the agency's personnel. On July 14, the Supreme Court lifted an injunction against the firings as lawsuits protesting the firings work their way through the courts. In essence, the ruling gives Trump a green light to destroy the department by executive fiat now, even if the Supreme Court later decides only Congress has that power. The high court majority did not spell out its reasoning. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, deplored the 'untold harm' that will result from the ruling, including 'delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended.' McMahon touts what she considers her agency's 'final mission': ending federal funding for school districts that cannot prove that they have eliminated diversity, equity and exclusion initiatives, or what Trump calls 'critical race theory and transgender insanity.' The stakes are high: What's at issue is the withdrawal of nearly $30 billion in aid. The DEI threat rejects a 60-year bipartisan understanding — based on Title 1 of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act to the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act — that Washington should invest federal taxpayer dollars in closing the achievement gap that separates privileged youth from poor and minority students and children living in poverty. Those funds support smaller classes, after-school programs and tutoring. Research shows that Title 1 can claim credit for disadvantaged students' improved performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — NAEP — the nation's K-12 report card, which the administration is also targeting. The most innovative programs, including the Harlem Children's Zone preschool, charter schools and after-school and summer-vacation programs and one-on-one, face-to-face learning through Tutoring Chicago, have recorded especially dramatic results. Support for students with disabilities would also become history, along with the requirement that schools deliver 'free and appropriate education' to youngsters with special needs. That would have a disastrous impact on these students, historically dismissed as hopeless, because needs-focused special education can change the arc of their lives. In demanding that districts 'prove' they have eliminated DEI as a condition for receiving federal funds, McMahon claims that focusing exclusively on 'meaningful learning,' not 'divisive [DEI] programs,' is the only way to improve achievement. She's flat-out wrong. DEI initiatives, while sometimes over the top, have generally proven to boost academic outcomes by reducing discrimination. That's logical — when students feel supported and valued, they do better in school. Wiping out efforts designed to promote racial and economic fairness is a sure way to end progress toward eliminating the achievement gap. Clearly, the studies that show the gains made by DEI programs are irrelevant to an administration whose decisions are driven by impulse and ideology. Its threats to the gold standard test of American education, NAEP — an assessment that's about as nonpartisan as forecasting the weather — gives the game away. If you don't know how well the public schools are doing, it's child's play to script a narrative of failure. Tucked into Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a nationwide school voucher program, paid for by a 100% tax deduction for donations of up to $1,700 to organizations that hand out educational scholarships. There's no cap on the program, which could cost as much as $50 billion a year, and no expiration date. The voucher provision potentially decimates public schools, which will lose federal dollars. Since private schools can decide which students to admit and which to kick out, the gap between the haves and haves-less will widen. Students with special needs, as well as those whose families cannot afford to participate, will be out of luck. What's more, vouchers don't deliver the benefits the advocates promise. Studies from Louisiana, where 'low-quality private schools' have proliferated with the state's blessing, as well as the District of Columbia and Indiana, show that students who participate in voucher plans do worse, especially in math, than their public-school peers. Michigan State education policy professor Joshua Cowen, who has spent two decades studying these programs, reached the startling conclusion that voucher plans have led to worse student outcomes than the COVID pandemic. Vouchers 'promise an all-too-simple solution to tough problems like unequal access to high-quality schools, segregation and even school safety,' Cohen concludes. 'They can severely hinder academic growth — especially for vulnerable kids.' The defenders of public education are fighting back. Twenty states have gone to federal court to challenge the Department of Education's demand that they eliminate their DEI programs. 'The Trump administration's threats to withhold critical education funding due to the use of these initiatives are not only unlawful, but harmful to our children, families, and schools,' said Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Andrea Joy Campbell, announcing the lawsuit. The White House may well lose this lawsuit. But litigation consumes time, and the administration keeps finding ways to evade judicial rulings, sometimes with the help of the Supreme Court. It could be years before the judges reach final decisions in these cases, and by then the damage will have been done. That's why it is up to Congress to do its job — to represent its constituents, who have consistently supported compensatory education programs and special education programs in public schools, resisting the siren song of vouchers — and to insist that the administration obey the dictates of legislation that's been on the books for decades. Will a supine Congress rouse itself to protect public education? After all, that's what the rule of law — and public education — requires. David Kirp is professor emeritus at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley. He is the author of numerous books on education, including 'The Sandbox Investment,' 'Improbable Scholars' and 'The Education Debate.'
