A chunk of Gov. Mike DeWine\u2019s proposed budget zeroes in on what\u2019s called the science of reading method.<\/p>\n
Specifically, it includes $64 million for science of reading curricula, $43 million each year for the next two years to offer science of reading instruction for educators, and $12 million to support 100 literacy coaches in schools and districts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly believe there\u2019s nothing more important than the science of reading, and making sure that every single child in the state of Ohio, as they are learning to read, has the benefit of the science,\u201d DeWine said at a March 23 event<\/a>. DeWine has been making literacy stops in classrooms around Ohio to learn about how the science of reading method has been implemented in lessons.<\/p>\n Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. <\/em>Sign up for The 74 Newsletter<\/strong><\/a><\/p> The science of reading method incorporates phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, said Brett Tingley, the president of both Parents for Reading Justice<\/a> and OH-KID (Ohio Kids Identified with Dyslexia).<\/p>\n \u201cTeaching reading should be systematic, explicit, and direct based on the system of processing language,\u201d said DeJunne\u2019 Clark Jackson, president of the Center for Literacy and Learning<\/a>, a Louisiana-based literacy nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, some skeptics argue that the science of reading method doesn\u2019t do enough to provoke the kind of thinking that enables deep comprehension in realistic reading situations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must teach comprehension as a multidimensional experience,\u201d wrote educators Jessica Hahn and Mia Hood in Education Week<\/a>. \u201cWe want children to comprehend what\u2019s happening literally in the text (who did what when), but we also want them to be able to analyze how parts of the text (literary devices, figurative language, structural choices) work together to develop ideas. And we want them to interpret the purpose and significance of the text in relation to their lives and to society.\u201d<\/p>\n How children best learn how to read has been debated for decades, and a recent six-part podcast series from American Public Media called Sold a Story<\/a> has thrust this hotly-debated issue further into the national spotlight.<\/p>\n A little more than half of the states and the District of Columbia have passed laws or implemented new policies related to evidence-based reading instruction since 2013 as of August, according to Education Week<\/a>. DeWine is hoping Ohio can be added to that list.<\/p>\n Structured literacy is an approach to reading instruction <\/a>that applies the knowledge of the science of reading method, and it includes explicit and systematic instruction in foundational reading skills, including phonics. The science of reading says most children need explicit phonics when learning how to read.<\/p>\n \u201cPhonics isn\u2019t the only component of literacy instruction, but it can\u2019t exist without phonics,\u201d said Troy McIntosh, executive director of the Ohio Christian Education Network.<\/p>\n The science of reading method prioritizes this.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have a student say that they can comprehend what they\u2019re reading, there\u2019s two components to that, that go hand in hand, and it\u2019s word recognition and language comprehension,\u201d said Lindsey Roush, an assistant professor at Walsh University\u2019s division of education.<\/p>\n Walsh University, a private Catholic college in North Canton, converted all their education courses to be aligned with the science of reading method in 2019, Roush said.<\/p>\n The method focuses on how letter sounds and printed letters work together, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want their eyes to stay focused on the word and start from those little points of the sounds to bigger chunks of the word to analyze the word to be able to decode it and understand it,\u201d Roush said.<\/p>\n Which is where phonics comes into play.<\/p>\n \u201cPhonics is a very big part of this in terms of really getting down to those phonemes the letter sounds and understanding which sound each of those letters make, individually, and as they\u2019re grouped together in different formats,\u201d Roush said.<\/p>\n There is another approach to reading instruction called balanced literacy that does not teach phonics in an explicit, systematic way, but prioritizes students\u2019 comprehension of a text.<\/p>\n Critics of that approach say it\u2019s not based on the science. \u201cIt\u2019s not using the foundational skills,\u201d alleged Danielle Fontenot, vice president of program development at the Center for Literacy and Learning.<\/p>\n Balanced literacy incorporates the three-cueing method, which encourages children to read words by asking three questions: Does it make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right? For example, there could be a picture of a horse on a book\u2019s page and a student may say \u201cpony.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get to books without pictures your strategy\u2019s not working,\u201d Tingley said.<\/p>\n The science of reading method eliminates guessing, Roush said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want them looking at pictures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Whole language is another approach to reading that is more in line with balanced literacy that, as the name suggests, teaches students the whole word instead of parts of the word, Jackson said.<\/p>\n The balanced literacy and whole language methods teach children the \u201chabits of poor readers,\u201d Tingley alleged.<\/p>\n \u201cThe children are the ones who are suffering,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to have someone you love struggle to read. \u2026 If you can\u2019t read, you can\u2019t do a story problem. You have a hard time in math, you can\u2019t access science or social studies, so reading is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Linda Fenner, a founding member of Citizen Advocates for Public Education (CAPEOhio), said she wonders if there is a \u201cglobal solution or a one-size fits all program\u201d that works best for teaching all students how to read.<\/p>\n \u201cDifferent kids need different things in order to learn how to read,\u201d she said. \u201cThe kids who need the most support really need different things and in different combinations.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear which Ohio school districts are using which methods when it comes to the reading curriculum. Ohio law gives local schools and districts sole authority regarding decisions<\/a> about curriculum, so there is no required state curriculum, said Ohio Department of Education Spokesperson Lacey Snoke.<\/p>\n But one thing is clear \u2014 there are Ohio school districts not teaching the science of reading method and DeWine is working hard to change that through his proposed budget.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a problem that we know how to fix,\u201d Tingley said. \u201cAnd we owe it to these children to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n Athens City School District in Athens County currently uses what would be considered a balanced literacy approach, but supports DeWine\u2019s science of reading method budget proposal, Superintendent Thomas Gibbs said in an email.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have continued to see stagnation in our reading scores and have been internally training and reviewing different curriculum that is more in line with the Science of Reading,\u201d Gibbs said. \u201cThe allocation of dollars in the budget to purchase new materials that are in line with SOR and dollars to support the additional time and commitment our teachers will have to put into professional development is necessary and would be a good investment.\u201d<\/p>\n Athens Schools third grade English Language Arts reading scores from the 2017-18 to the 2020-21 school year have been between 9% to 29% for limited scores, between 17% to 25% for basic scores, between 13% to 22% for proficient scores, between 11% to 20% accomplished, and between 12% to 34% for advanced scores, according to ODE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ohio\u2019s test scores dipped in the latest report from the <\/a>National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which published in October.<\/p>\n Eighth grade math proficiency dropped from 38% in 2019 to 29% in 2022. In reading scores for the same grade level, proficiency went from 38% in 2019 to 33% in 2022, according to the NAEP data.<\/p>\n Fourth graders saw decreases as well, going from 38% in 2019 to 33% in 2022 in reading scores, and from 38% in 2019 to 29% in 2022 in math.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that one of the biggest educational mistakes we have made over the last three to four decades is abandoning direct phonic instruction,\u201d McIntosh said. \u201cThat has been disastrous for Ohio\u2019s kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Roush distinctly remembers being introduced to the science of reading method through Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) professional development training about four years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just one of those moments, I feel as an educator, like one of those \u2018aha moments,\u2019 like, why haven\u2019t we been doing this?\u201d Roush said.<\/p>\n She previously taught for 13 years at McKinley Elementary School, part of Lisbon Exempted Village Schools in Columbia County, and remembers seeing frustrated students struggling to read before the district switched to the science of reading approach.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can prevent that, of course, we should want to do that as educators,\u201d Roush said.<\/p>\n She remembers students looking at a picture in a book that was near the word on a page and say something that might have started with the same letter, but was ultimately incorrect.<\/p>\n \u201c(It) made zero sense whatsoever, because they were just simply guessing by looking for context clues in the pictures rather than trying to decode the word,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She starting noticing a difference after incorporating the science of reading method in her third grade classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cIt started to click with students,\u201d Roush said. \u201cThe big thing was seeing them start to problem solve and how to break apart a word. If they came to a word that they didn\u2019t know, they had the strategies to decode that word.\u201d<\/p>\n Educators say it\u2019s worth putting in the time to learn the science of reading method.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our obligation to do what\u2019s best for students and if we have been doing it one way for so long and it isn\u2019t working, then we have an obligation to our students to know better and do better,\u201d Fontenot said.<\/p>\n Ohio Capital Journal<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com<\/a>. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A chunk of Gov. Mike DeWine\u2019s proposed budget zeroes in on what\u2019s called the science of reading method. Specifically, it includes $64 million for science of reading curricula, $43 million each year for the next two years to offer science of reading instruction for educators, and $12 million to support 100 literacy coaches in schools […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":704321,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[190],"tags":[5785,1020,5732,1375],"series":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/707102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/707102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":707214,"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/707102\/revisions\/707214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707102"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=707102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/span>\nStructured literacy<\/h3>\n
Balanced literacy<\/h3>\n
Ohio school districts<\/h3>\n
Ohio\u2019s tests scores<\/h3>\n
“One of those \u2018aha moments\u2019”<\/h3>\n