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Gulf Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Has California turned the page on its reading crisis?
Molly Gibbs, Tribune News Service For years California has faced a literacy crisis, with less than half of third- and fourth-graders reading at grade level in the 2023-24 school year and the state often trailing national reading achievement. Even before the coronavirus pandemic stalled learning, California students struggled to meet reading expectations. Recent state and national testing data shows they have been slow to regain ground lost during the pandemic. The gap between socioeconomically disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers is wider than ever, and the second largest in the nation. Now, though, with Gov. Gavin Newsom pledging to include $200 million in funding for evidence-based literacy instruction in the state budget and California schools preparing for the first time this year to screen every student in kindergarten through second grade for reading challenges, educators and literacy advocates are hopeful the state will finally turn a page in the decades-long struggle. But how did we get here? And why does California struggle more than most states with getting students up to reading standards? The best way to teach kids how to read has been widely debated in the Golden State, and educators and literacy advocates have said some students are capable of masking their reading struggles because of the way schools have taught reading for decades — a technique referred to as 'balanced' literacy. Using a blend of whole language and phonics, balanced literacy focuses on teaching students to memorize sight words and use context and picture cues to understand a word's meaning. Kim Tran, a K-5th-grade reading specialist and partner with the UC Berkeley California and Literature Reading Project, called it a 'guessing game' where students look at the first letter and last letter of a word they don't know and try to guess the rest. 'That's just kind of muddling through it and hoping there's enough pictures or context for you to understand what's happening,' she said. But decades of growing research — referred to as the science of reading — has revealed that balanced literacy isn't the most effective way to teach students to read. Also known as structured literacy or evidence-based reading, the science of reading uses cognitive research, focusing on phonics, comprehension and fluency. Most states have adopted this approach, but California has not amid pushback from teachers unions and English-learner advocates. 'The whole point is that you don't teach them to get proficient in reading by teaching them guessing and teaching them to pretend to read,' said Rachel Hurd, a San Ramon Valley Unified school board member. 'You teach them to read and they practice reading and in the meantime you read to them a ton so that they're interested.' The National Council on Teacher Quality found that California is behind most other states in implementing the science of reading and ranks among the worst in the nation for the quality of its reading programs. But a new bill — AB 1454 — is moving through the state Legislature and would provide state-approved training and textbooks to all teachers on evidence-based reading. Marshall Tuck, CEO of the educational advocacy nonprofit EdVoice — a key supporter of the bill — said one of the biggest reasons California has been slow to implement evidence-based reading curriculum is because of the state's emphasis on local control, especially in schools, meaning it's up to districts to decide curriculum and funding priorities. 'A lot of districts that maybe had been teaching kids to read a certain way for a long period of time without that very focused engagement from the state, it's quite hard for them to change,' Tuck said. New curriculum is expensive, school board member Hurd pointed out, and many Bay Area districts are already cash-strapped and short-staffed. The $200 million included in the budget for evidence-based reading instruction is one-time funding, so districts would need to pay for future training and instruction. Unlike oral language, reading is not a natural ability we're born with, explained Kristen Koeller, a San Jose-based reading specialist with more than 22 years of experience teaching California students. It's a skill that needs to be taught at a young age, usually by the end of 3rd grade. After that, it's much harder to rewire the brain, Koeller said. After third grade, California switches from an emphasis on learning to read to 'reading to learn,' said Chris Norwood, founder of the Bay Area Tutoring Association and president of the Milpitas Unified School Board. 'So if the skills aren't developed, then all of a sudden you start to see an increase in the skill gaps of individuals because now they're not able to read and comprehend and execute what the teacher may be asking,' Norwood said. Many students who spent their early education in distance-based or virtual learning — referred to as the 'COVID kindergarteners' — continue to face additional challenges. Tran, the reading specialist, said it was hard to teach students to read on a computer screen where you couldn't hear all of the kids, many were dealing with technology issues and students struggled to focus. But educators said it wasn't until those COVID kindergarteners hit fourth grade last year that the significant impact the pandemic had on their education was really clear — and shocking. Michelle Robell, a first-grade teacher in Palo Alto, said even kids who appeared to be reading weren't always understanding the material. 'They can be a super strong reader that can read super fast and super accurate, but they have no idea what they're reading,' Robell said. Technology has also had an impact. Robell said students are used to slouching in chairs and staring at tablets, so she has to spend more time teaching kids to sit up and look up from the ground before she teaches them to read. Kids are used to instant gratification from their devices and have shorter attention spans, Koeller added. And kids imitate their parents, Koeller pointed out. She sees parents drop off their kids at school while scrolling on their phones instead of engaging with their child. 'You learn to read in part through talking. ... Any verbal skills that are lacking have to be made up for in school before you can really start to learn how to read,' Koeller said. But even when parents promote a love for literacy, success isn't guaranteed. Karla Galvez-Lima, a parent of two young children in West Contra Costa County, said she exposed her 7-year-old daughter, Camilla, to reading at a young age, prioritizing story time and taking her to the library every week. But Camilla began to pull away from her love for reading after first grade, and she was no longer reading at grade level. Galvez-Lima said she doesn't know why, but thinks there is a disconnect between what students learn in school and what they practice at home. She wishes there were 'a bridge between the two' to support students. Still, educators say while it might be harder to teach students how to read in a post-pandemic and technologically advancing world, and California has trailed many states in reading, they're hopeful. 'I do feel like we've turned a corner in California,' Koeller said. 'The question is, will state leaders and district leaders recognize that this crisis needs immediate attention? This isn't something that we're going to work on for the next five to eight years. We need to get busy, and we need to get busy now because it's kids in the crosshairs. ... It's a crisis, but it's a solvable crisis.'
Gulf Today
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Aid at risk for California students receiving Pell Grants
Molly Gibbs, Tribune News Service Thousands of Bay Area students could soon face a new hurdle when it comes to paying for college: deep cuts to federal financial aid. Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are considering proposals to cap some federal loans and dramatically limit Pell Grants, which have for years served as a lifeline for low-income students. More than 700,000 California students rely on the Pell Grant, which does not need to be repaid. 'What is being proposed goes against pretty much all of the evidence about college affordability and college access,' said Christopher Nellum, executive director of the Oakland-based education research and advocacy group EdTrust-West. 'We're bracing for fewer students enrolling in college in the state. In particular the Bay Area, given what the data tells us, we'll see fewer students of colour. We're going to see fewer low-income students, perhaps fewer parenting students.' While the exact local impact of the proposals is unclear, leaders from the California State University, University of California, California Community Colleges and Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities wrote to Congress this week imploring lawmakers to reject cuts to the program and prioritise funding for students. A bill passed by the Republican-led US. House would cap graduate student loans, cut income-driven loan repayment options and eliminate schools' aid if students' earnings fall below a certain threshold. The bill also includes deep cuts to the Pell Grant program and makes part-time students ineligible for the funds. The Senate was expected to vote on its own version of the bill, which did not include changes to Pell Grant eligibility. After that, the House and Senate would need to negotiate a compromise to send to President Donald Trump's desk. Trump has called for widespread cuts to education spending. 'Individually, these policies are severely damaging,' the letter said. 'Collectively, they represent an existential threat to this vital federal program that serves half of all undergraduate students in California or 14.3% of all Pell Grant recipients nationwide.' Nellum said the proposed cuts are part of the Trump administration's larger attack on public education. 'I can't make sense of it, given everything I've seen over almost two decades of doing this work,' he said. 'I can't imagine a more legitimate investment than in education. I don't know who this benefits.' The potential changes come as California universities are still reeling from several other Trump administration policies, including the cancellation of millions of dollars in research grants and a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes. Currently, students who take at least 24 credits are considered full-time students, but under the House's proposal, they would need to take 30 credits a year to be considered full-time and receive the maximum Pell Grant, which is $7,395 a year. Students who take fewer than 15 credits a year would no longer be eligible for the funds. Trump's proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year would also decrease the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,710. For many California students, the existing funding of Pell Grants is already insufficient to cover the costs of college. Proposed cuts, which would take effect this coming school year, have sent them scrambling for scholarships or packing their schedules with additional classes to avoid dropping out or needing to take out student loans. Saidy Reyes, a rising senior urban studies major at UC Berkeley, transferred to Cal after completing two years at a community college. A first-generation college student from Marin County, Reyes said the maximum Pell Grant award was just enough to cover her education at community college but she still needed a part-time job to afford her basic needs. 'Now that I'm at Berkeley, the whole story is different,' Reyes said. 'I live on my own now, and I feel like it's not enough. And Berkeley is a really expensive place to live to begin with.' For a new student starting in the 2025-26 school year, Cal estimates the total cost of attendance, including tuition, living and personal expenses, is $51,904. Nellum, of EdTrust-West, said four in 10 Bay Area students don't have enough savings to cover three months of their basic expenses. 'We know the Pell Grant over the last three or four decades has already struggled to keep pace with the true cost of college,' Nellum said. 'So any cut to that program for students who have financial limitations or are unable to pay for the true cost of college, it's only going to make their situation worse.' Benjamin Diaz, a rising political science junior at UC Santa Cruz, said that despite receiving the full Pell Grant amount in his freshman year, he still had to pay around $3,000 out-of-pocket each quarter. As a full-time student, Diaz said he wouldn't be affected by the House-proposed eligibility cuts, but he worries about the potential decrease to the maximum award. 'I probably won't be able to afford to pay for college and attend,' Diaz said. The issue is particularly pressing in the UC system, which said it enrolled a higher percentage of Pell Grant recipients among all its undergraduate students — 33% — than any other top research university in the country for the 2022-23 school year, the most recent data available. UC Berkeley said that under the proposed changes to Pell Grant eligibility, about 50% of the university's recipients would be reclassified as part-time and see their awards reduced. The school said it will explore increased fundraising efforts for student aid to help offset any potential federal reductions.
