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Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Reading advocates want state literacy funds directed to teacher training, ‘most neglected' schools
A third-grader at Brooklyn Primary School in a reading lesson led by Eastern Oregon University Professor Ronda Fritz. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) More than 250 Oregon schools since 2023 have gotten some portion of the state's Early Literacy Success Initiative grants, a pot of $90 million meant to pay for new elementary reading curriculum, reading tutors and after-school reading programs, and to train teachers in reading instruction backed by scientific study and review. The term 'science of reading' is used to describe the large body of cognitive and neuroscience showing how the brain learns to read. Since the 1960s, hundreds of studies have been conducted to find the most effective ways to teach kids to read. Evidence shows that the human brain does not learn to read or write naturally but relies on explicit instruction in a specific set of skills. As Gov. Tina Kotek proposes tweaks to the program — and asks the Legislature to approve $100 million more grant funding in the next two-year budget cycle — some literacy advocates are asking that the state direct more of the money to nearly four dozen schools that have the highest needs and require grants be used to pay for training in the 'science of reading' for all K-3 teachers and administrators across the state by the fall of 2027. More than 100 educators signed an open letter drafted by the nonprofit advocacy group Oregon Kids Read asking the Legislature to tie the training requirement to Early Literacy Success Initiative grants. Over the past 25 years, nearly two in five Oregon fourth graders and one in five eighth graders have scored 'below basic' on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the nation's report card. That means they struggle to read and understand simple words. The nearly 10,000 elementary school teachers in Oregon learned different methods for teaching reading depending on where they went to college. Many colleges are failing to prepare teachers to teach reading, according to a recent analysis by the National Council on Teacher Quality. On Wednesday, Kotek's proposal to tweak her bedrock literacy initiative — House Bill 3040 — will get a vote in the House Education Committee. It updates the 2023 Early Literacy Success Initiative legislation so that schools could spend their literacy grants on training classroom assistants, not just teachers and administrators. It would also require grant money spent on new reading curriculum for grades K-5 to be used on instructional materials approved by the State Board of Education and would create a regional network of literacy experts housed in the Oregon Department of Education to support school and district literacy specialists and help with coaching. 'As we continue to roll out the Early Literacy Success Initiative, we owe it to our students to stay focused on the details and get this right,' Kotek said in a news release. SPECIAL REPORT: Oregon fails to turn page on reading: $250 million spent in 25 years But advocates at Oregon Kids Read want the governor to go further. In a news release Thursday, they said they are asking Kotek and Legislators to amend the bill to direct 20% of the $100 million grant funding to 42 of the state's 'most neglected' schools. Those schools have the highest percentage of third through fifth graders not reading at grade level since at least 2018. The schools, including Caesar Chavez K-8 School in Portland and Washington Elementary School in Salem, also have a higher than average percentage of students who are Black, Hispanic or Latino, Indigenous, rural or experiencing poverty. Of the 42 elementary schools Oregon Kids Read identified, 12 are in the Salem-Keizer School District, the most of any single district in the state. Salem-Keizer is the state's second-largest school district, with about 40,000 students and a higher proportion of low-income students than the state average. Schuberth, a volunteer with the group, said in an email that 20% — or $20 million — would be best used for targeted time with a literacy tutor throughout the school year. That isn't enough for all children in those 42 schools to access reading tutors, 'but it's a start,' Schuberth said. Targeting 20% to those schools would work out to about $476,000 per school, or roughly 20% more than the average $363,000 each school received during the last biennium in literacy grants. 'Families in California had to sue to get their state to do the right thing and target literacy funding to their lowest performing schools,' Angela Uherbelau, founder of Oregon Kids Read, said in the news release. In 2017, students in three LA-area school districts struggling to read sued the state of California for violating their civil rights by denying them a quality education. In a settlement reached three years later, the state agreed to allocate $50 million to improve literacy instruction in 75 California elementary schools where students have the lowest literacy rates. Uherbelau said accountability for spending and student outcomes in reading and writing in the coming years will certainly focus on districts, but 'the buck stops at the state.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Proposal to send schools $35 million for summer programs comes with literacy strings attached
A third-grader at Brooklyn Primary School in a reading lesson led by Eastern Oregon University Professor Ronda Fritz. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) With just a few months to go before programs would begin, Oregon's Legislature is once again scrambling to pass funding for summer school. A proposal to allocate $35 million in summer learning grants hit some turbulence at its first public hearing Thursday at a meeting of the House Committee on Education due to some last-minute changes and new strings attached. House Bill 2007 would allow schools to apply for summer learning grants if they're used to pay for programs that boost literacy skills and academic outcomes. Narrowing the focus of those grants drew the concern of some education and youth advocacy groups, including the nonprofit Adelante Mujeres, which has used summer grant money in the past to fund programs that foster leadership skills and community involvement among Latina girls and women in Washington County. 'By focusing solely on literacy, the bill undermines the vital work of community-based organizations that provide culturally relevant, wraparound support for students and their families,' wrote Angie Jimenez, family engagement manager for the group, in her testimony. Anna Higgins, a policy director at the nonprofit Foundations for a Better Oregon, expressed similar concerns that the narrow focus of the bill would be counterproductive to summer learning goals, which she said are also about making students feel like they belong at school and boosting attendance and participation. This often means enrichment opportunities and extracurriculars that aren't confined to the classroom. She said House Bill 2007 ignores the recommendations of a legislative work group she served on last year. 'We have a road map now that details a long-term, sustainable vision for summer and after school in Oregon, and this bill, as it currently is, does not yet follow that road map,' she said. 'We are particularly concerned about its ability to advance equitable outcomes for kids, especially those who experience the least support in a traditional school setting.' Bill sponsors state Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, and state Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, defended the literacy-specific focus of the bill, and said they would introduce an amendment expanding who can apply for grants and more clarity about for what purposes money can be used before a committee vote scheduled for Monday. Sollman said other money, including millions from the High School Success Fund, is available for other priorities like credit recovery. 'This isn't the only, singular summer learning program,' she said. 'We have these different patchworks that can provide this.' In the aftermath of COVID and school closures, the need for summer learning programs to help students catch up gained urgency in the Legislature. Former Sens. Peter Courtney and Michael Dembrow, Democrats from Salem and Portland, respectively, even proposed investing in robust summer learning programs could be a runway for eventually introducing year-round school. In 2021, schools received more than $200 million, and in 2022 they were allocated $150 million. But in 2023, the Legislature did not send schools any additional summer school money, and instead hoped they would spend the last of their federal COVID-relief dollars. Schools cut programs and some nonprofits stopped offering summer programs altogether. Last year, schools didn't learn until April whether they'd receive a portion of $30 million in summer grants. For some, the money came too late to expand their offerings. Most smaller school districts need to finish their summer program planning by April, and most larger districts start planning as early as October. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
