07-03-2025
Some Wisconsin school districts are turning to science of reading, despite lack of financial support from state
This is the second of two columns on the state of changes in reading education in Wisconsin.
If you're looking to see if the reading education reform law that passed in Wisconsin in 2023 is having any effect, don't look so much to state government, where disputes and delays have meant there's been limited action.
Look to places such as the suburban Milwaukee schools in Greendale and the Whitnall district. Or to districts such as New Berlin and Cudahy, which didn't wait for the state law to pass before embracing the phonics-oriented changes pushed by the state law.
More: Cudahy Schools' shift to a new reading curriculum looks like it's paying off
More: Cudahy's move to science of reading curriculum hasn't been easy, but test scores are encouraging
More: Reading looks different now in Cudahy Schools, as students g-r-o-w through science of reading
While more than $49 million of the $50 million approved by both legislative Republicans and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has been frozen by the legislature's Joint Committee on Finance as part of a power dispute in the Capitol, some districts have been moving ahead with implementing the "science of reading' called for by the law.
In Greendale, reading scores for students were not as alarming as in some other places. But school district leaders felt too many students were not mastering reading by the time they completed third grade. The district has made major progress in adopting curriculum and teaching approaches in line with the science of reading.
Superintendent Kim Amidzich said switching from what is often called a balanced literacy approach to teaching children to read using the science of reading was difficult for some teachers. Some were reluctant to change, while some felt guilty about previously using curriculum materials that left some students behind.
Maggy Olson, director of equity and instruction for Greendale schools, said a trifecta of patient and supportive work with teachers paid off. The approach emphasized professional training, learning different ways to teach reading and personal development for teachers.
Greendale tried several curriculums and settled on Core Knowledge Language Arts or CKLA, one of six curriculum choices endorsed by a statewide early literacy curriculum council created through Act 20.
Barb Novak, director of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Office of Literacy, said recently that CKLA has been the most frequent choice of school districts statewide that have purchased new curriculum.
Amidzich said the passage of Act 20 provided a good framework for change. As Olson put it, it added to the sense of urgency around getting more students to be capable readers.
What the state didn't provide, at least so far, is money. Greendale took a loan from a different state fund to pay for some of the cost of the new curriculum, with the expectation that part of the cost would be reimbursed from the $50 million approved under Act 20. The result of not getting that help is increased financial pressure on the district.
But Amidzich and Olson said they were pleased with the how the change was going. 'We see huge results,' Amidzich said. Olson said there have been double digit gains in proficiency rates, and 80% of students are hitting their reading targets. Greendale growth rates are in the top 5% of the state, Amidzich said, and all three of the elementary schools in the district were given five stars, the top rating, in the most recent state report cards for schools.
Olson said that at recent meetings of school administrators from across southeast Wisconsin, there has been more talk about reading and more urgency to the conversation. 'We needed a jolt to tell us this matters,' she said, and Act 20 provided that.
Brady Reinke, superintendent of Whitnall schools, is a firm supporter of the science of reading. He said, 'Now that we know (what works better), we've got to do something about it. ... It's a moral imperative.'
Getting some money from the state to support implementation would help, he said. But not getting the money shouldn't stop schools. 'We can sit here and whine about that, or we can do what's best for kids,' Reinke said. 'You have to prioritize.' If you really believe reading is so important, then you find the money, he said.
One recent morning at Seeds of Health Elementary School, a charter school on Milwaukee's south side, a third-grade girl and a reading teacher sat at a table. For one minute, the girl read a passage from a story about frogs, and then, for one minute, read from a story about a boy who loved socks. The teacher kept track of words the girl stumbled on. The result: a quick assessment of how many words she could read per minute and how accurate her reading was.
'Pat yourself on the back, my dear,' the teacher said, praising the girl's effort. The girl did her best to do exactly that.
This was a glimpse of one requirement of Act 20 that is being implemented statewide: screening all public school students from 5-year-old kindergarten through third grade to identify those who are in the bottom quarter of students in their grade nationwide. Act 20 calls for those students to get individualized help to improve their reading.
The first round of screening in Wisconsin was completed at the end of January. The law calls for screening to be done three times a year going forward — near the start, middle and end of each school year.
The DPI specified a specific screening program to be used in all schools. The cost of the screener is being paid by the state from money separate from the $50 million set aside for Act 20.
But there is no specific state aid for providing individual help for students or coaching for their teachers. Especially in schools serving low-income populations, well more than a quarter of students will score in the bottom quarter of the national results, which means the obligation to help will be large. How schools will handle that is one of the important unknowns about Act 20's impact.
The girl at Seeds of Health scored just above the 25th percentile. But about half the students in the school were below that point. Michael Pointer Mace, director of curriculum and instruction at Seeds of Health, said the school has added a half-hour a day to its reading efforts so there is time to give students both what they need to catch up to their grade level and still get reading and literacy work on their grade level.
What about Milwaukee Public Schools, where overall reading scores are among the lowest in the nation? Jennier Mims Howell, chief academic officer for MPS, said results from each student's screening would be included in that student's records, and students would be given help based on their needs. She said MPS also planned to encourage students who need additional reading help to attend summer school.
MPS has been using HMH Into Reading as its reading curriculum for several years. It is among those recommended by the state.
Act 20 calls for reading teachers statewide to receive training in how to teach reading and specifies a training program known as LETRS. It is not clear how widespread LETRS training is so far, but teachers in districts such as Greendale and some teachers in MPS have been getting the training.
Novak, the head of the DPI's literacy office, said she believes Wisconsin school districts as a whole have been changing their approaches to reading instruction in line with Act 20. Pressure is on nationally to get better outcomes, she said, and schools generally are putting more emphasis on teaching fundamental skills.
Buying better curriculum, screening children, dropping approaches to reading that have been strongly criticized — these are potentially good steps, she said. But 'none of this matters unless they change the way they are teaching.'
Holding back the $49 million that Act 20 said would be made available to schools means some schools have had 'a tremendous out-of-pocket cost,' Novak said. And not funding the coaching work that was intended to improve the teaching of at least some teachers around the state 'really weighs on my heart.'
Kathy Champeau, a veteran reading teacher and a leader of the Wisconsin State Reading Association, said her organization remains critical of the science of reading and of the requirements of Act 20. The real issues that are not being addressed, she said, are providing all students the expert teachers and the resources they need. That gets at the heart of why scores statewide have been flat for years and have declined recently, she said.
'Instead, we have a legislation that is based on speculation as to why our test scores are the way they are,' she said.
Act 20 relies on private companies to provide curriculum materials, training and screening procedures when reading instruction should rely on educators' expertise, she said. That means teachers are being given training in how to use products but not how to teach, Champeau said.
But even as Act 20 has encountered political headwinds — the hold-up on state funding, uncertain prospects for money in the coming two-year budget and continuing resistance from some educators —there appears to be significant action to change reading instruction on a fairly broad basis in Wisconsin.
Some if it is a matter of acting with more urgency, some of it is an eagerness to see better results for students, some of it is prodding due to Act 20. But overall, the pressure is on, even if overall scores haven't improved in recent statewide results, and patience will be needed to see if Act 20 pays off.
On an optimistic note, the DPI's Novak's said, 'If we move forward in the spirit of Act 20, we'll see a change.'
Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Some schools adopt Act 20 curriculum despite lack of state money
