Latest news with #EarlyLiteracySuccessInitiative
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
ACLU, Decoding Dyslexia join calls for state literacy grants to target highest needs schools
A student in the North Powder School District gets tutored in reading Feb. 20, 2023. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Literacy and civil rights advocates are calling on Oregon legislators to add targeted investment and accountability targets to Gov. Tina Kotek's bedrock literacy initiative or risk wasting it. House Bill 3040 would re-up funding for the Early Literacy Success Initiative first passed in 2023, providing schools with an additional $100 million to spend on improving reading and writing outcomes through 2027. It's currently in the Joint Ways and Means Committee, where legislators will negotiate funding and rules attached to the bill. The Oregon ACLU, the Oregon chapter of the national nonprofit Decoding Dyslexia, the nonprofit advocacy group Oregon Kids Read and several other groups in late May requested the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means require at least $17 million of that go toward 42 of the state's 'most neglected' schools. In the first two years of the Early Literacy Success Initiative, more than 250 schools received a literacy grant. 'Oregon risks spending $90 million or more without meaningful progress on closing the literacy achievement gap,' group officials wrote in a news release. The 42 schools advocates want to receive targeted funding have the highest percentage of third through fifth graders not reading at grade level since at least 2018. They include César Chávez K-8 School in Portland and Washington Elementary School in Salem, which also have a higher than average percentage of students who are Black, Hispanic or Latino, Indigenous, rural or experiencing poverty. The groups also asked that of the $17 million to be set aside, legislators should require that $4 million is spent on training more than 400 teachers at those 42 schools in the 'science of reading,' and that the remaining $13 million go toward tutoring more than 5,000 of the highest needs students in those schools. The term 'science of reading' is used to describe the large body of cognitive and neurological science 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. 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. Research has found that teacher quality is the most important, in-school factor when it comes to student achievement. Reporting from the Oregon Capital Chronicle found most elementary teachers-in-training at colleges and universities in the state take only one or two courses on reading instruction, and are more immersed in theory than in linguistics and the rules of written language. Some even learned flawed methods as part of an approach to teaching reading called 'balanced literacy,' which can include teaching students to guess at unknown words, to memorize words and to use pictures to decode a word. House Bill 3040 as written offers a few updates to the Early Literacy Success Initiative, including language that will allow schools to spend the grants on training classroom assistants, not just teachers and administrators. It also would add the requirement that any grant money spent on K-5 reading curriculum has to be spent on curriculum that has been approved by the State Board of Education and 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. In their request to the Joint Ways and Means Committee, the literacy and civil rights advocates asked that language in the bill currently prioritizing grant money to 'schools that have literacy proficiency rates that have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels,' be changed to, 'schools with the lowest rates of proficiency in literacy.' They also want the bill to mandate the Oregon Department of Education collect and report more data on what schools are doing with the grant money, including how many hours of tutoring students are offered, and details about the type and number of hours of professional development in reading instruction that teachers take, and who all is participating in the professional development. They've also asked that the Legislature require the Oregon Department of Education to monitor the efficacy of the Early Success Initiative by tracking and reporting regularly to legislators progress among 3rd graders at schools with the bottom 20% of reading proficiency scores. The latest request to the Joint Ways and Means committee follows an open letter Oregon Kids Read and more than 100 educators sent to the Legislature in March, asking that lawmakers require a portion of every literacy grant to go towards teacher training in the science of reading, ensuring all K-3 teachers and administrators in the state have received training by the fall of 2027. 'Literacy is a civil right,' Angela Uherbelau, founder of Oregon Kids Read, said in a news release. 'Families are calling on Ways and Means to use its funding oversight to prioritize students and schools that struggle the most.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
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
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oregon's graduation rate increases show a proven path forward
More students graduated last year in Oregon than in all but one previous year — 81.8% of students earned their diplomas. (Photo courtesy of Rob Kerr/OSU-Cascades) Each student who graduates represents both a personal achievement and also a step toward a stronger Oregon. These graduates are the innovators, problem-solvers and leaders who will drive Oregon's economy forward. And the good news is more students graduated last year in Oregon than in all but one previous year — 81.8% of students earned their diplomas, with Black and African American students graduating at 74.8%, Hispanic and Latino students at 78.8% and former English Learners at 87.7%. These are some of Oregon's highest rates ever. We applaud the perseverance and hard work of the class of 2024. We are especially encouraged to see the overwhelming success of students enrolled in two or more Career and Technical Education courses. They graduated at an impressive rate of 97.7%. This group made up about one-third of the senior class. An almost 100% graduation rate for students focused on CTE classes is evidence that when the state commits to investing in what works — which it did through Measure 98's creation of a fund to ensure students are on track in ninth grade, bolster career and technical education and promote college readiness — than students, educators and our workforce benefit. But our work is not done. We still have too many scholars not crossing the graduation stage, nor entering the workforce or college prepared. Employers across the state depend on a workforce ready to take on the challenges of a rapidly evolving world, but that journey starts with something as foundational as learning to read. If Oregon is going to see larger increases in high school graduation and more prepared scholars, we must get serious about ensuring all children are strong readers before they leave third grade. Why? Because students who develop strong literacy skills by third grade are far more likely to stay engaged in school, graduate and build the skills employers need: critical thinking, communication and resilience. Yet far too many children in Oregon still lack access to the support they need to develop these essential skills. The pandemic has widened these gaps, and every year we wait to address them, the challenges grow. That's why the Early Literacy Success Initiative, which passed in 2023 and is being implemented now, is so critical. By fully investing in proven strategies that ensure children can read proficiently by third grade, we set them up for long-term success — not just in school, but in life. When students don't graduate, it's not just their futures at stake — it's all of ours. The cost of inaction is felt in diminished opportunities for individuals and in the growing challenges faced by an economy that depends on skilled, capable workers. Fully funding the Early Literacy Success Initiative by investing the $300 million needed to support all students, is our chance to change that trajectory, ensuring that Oregon's children — and in so doing, Oregon's economy — are set up to succeed. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
