Put strong instructional resources where they can maximize later school success. School leaders in fourteen states are doing this by ensuring that all K-3 classroom teachers not only are highly qualified in elementary instruction but also are certified to teach reading.
When teachers of my generation were hired to their first classroom positions, it was accurate to say that elementary teachers were generalists and secondary teachers were specialists. Teachers in grades K-5 majored in general education and teachers in grades 6 – 12 majored in a subject area, like math or English/language arts. This statement remained accurate for the vast majority of regular education teachers in K-12 public ed through the first decade of the 21st century. Generalists were responsible for teaching reading to all children during their formative years, K – 3. For most of the adults who attended public school in the 20th century, the level of reading required for an industrial-age career was adequately met by an elementary reading instruction taught by generalists. However, the demands of the information-age require adults to have better developed reading comprehension, analysis and application skills.
A growing number of state departments of public education are recognizing the need for all elementary classroom teachers to be specifically certified in reading instruction. “Reading proficiently by the end of third grade (as measured by NAEP at the beginning of fourth grade) can be a make-or-break benchmark in a child’s educational development. Up until the end of third grade, most children are learning to read. Beginning in fourth grade, however, they are reading to learn, using their skills to gain information in subjects such as math and science, to solve problems, to think critically about what they are learning, and to act upon and share that knowledge in the world around them. Up to half of the printed fourth-grade curriculum is incomprehensible to students who read below that grade level, according to the Children’s Reading Foundation. And, three quarters of students who are poor readers in third grade will remain poor readers in high school, according to researchers at Yale University.”
http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/AECF-Early_Warning_Full_Report-2010.pdf
These states are making the right move to strengthen K-3 reading, and several are going beyond to ensure reading expertise in K-5 instruction.
State-Developed or Unspecified Test of Reading Instruction Foundations of Reading Test Praxis Teaching Reading Test
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California (EC, EM, SE)
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Mississippi (EM)
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New Mexico (EM)
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Ohio (EC, EM)
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Oklahoma (EC, EM, SE)
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Virginia (EC, EM, SE)
Foundations of Reading Test
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Connecticut (EC, EM, SE)
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Massachusetts (EC, EM)
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New Hampshire (EC, EM)
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North Carolina (EC, EM, SE)
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Wisconsin (EC, EM, SE)
Praxis Teaching Reading Test
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Alabama (EC, EM)
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Tennessee (EC, EM, SE)
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West Virginia (EC, EM)
The following shows how Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin have added reading requirements to their statutory language for teacher licensure.
Indiana: IND. CODE § 20-28-5-12(b)
“The department may not grant an initial practitioner license to an individual unless the individual has demonstrated proficiency in the following areas on a written examination or through other procedures prescribed by the department:
(1) Basic reading, writing, and mathematics.
(2) Pedagogy.
(3) Knowledge of the areas in which the individual is required to have a license to teach.
(4) If the individual is seeking to be licensed as an elementary school teacher, comprehensive scientifically based reading instruction skills, including:
(A) phonemic awareness
(B) phonics instruction
(C) fluency
(D) vocabulary
(E) comprehension.”
Ohio: OHIO REV. CODE ANN. § 3319.233(A)
“Beginning July 1, 2017, all new educator licenses issued for grades pre-kindergarten through three or four through nine shall require the applicant to attain a passing score on a rigorous examination of principles of scientifically research-based reading instruction that is aligned with the reading competencies adopted by the state board of education.”
Wisconsin: WIS. STAT. ANN. 118.19(14)(a)
“The department may not issue an initial teaching license that authorizes the holder to teach in grades kindergarten to 5 or in special education, an initial license as a reading teacher, or an initial license as a reading specialist, unless the applicant has passed an examination identical to the Foundations of Reading test administered in 2012 as part of the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure. The department shall set the passing cut score on the examination at a level no lower than the level recommended by the developer of the test, based on this state’s standards.”
http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/01/16/81/11681.pdf
Prior to 2014, a reading specialist was a unique assignment in a school. Students with significant reading deficits were assigned time with the specialist, but for most, this time was small and sporadic. Specialists were itinerants in the schools and could not spend enough time with the most reading-needy children. Wisconsin’s DPI has taken significant steps to ensure that all children, especially those with special needs, get consistent instructional attention to their reading needs from teachers who are trained in reading.
“Beginning on January 31, 2014, candidates in Wisconsin applying for an initial teaching license in grades Kindergarten through 5 or special education, or for a license as a reading teacher or reading specialist, as listed below, will be required to take and pass the Foundations of Reading test:
• Early Childhood – Regular Education (70–777)
• Early Childhood – Special Education (70–809)
• Early Childhood – Middle Childhood (71–777)
• Middle Childhood – Early Adolescence (72–777)
• Middle Childhood – Early Adolescence Cross Categorical (72–801)
• Middle Childhood – Early Adolescence Specific Learning Disabilities (72–811)
• Middle Childhood – Early Adolescence Emotional Behavioral Disabilities (72–830)
• Middle Childhood – Early Adolescence Cognitive Disabilities (72–810)
• Early Adolescence – Adolescence Cross Categorical (73–801)
• Early Adolescence – Adolescence Specific Learning Disabilities (73–811)
• Early Adolescence – Adolescence Emotional Behavioral Disabilities (73–830)
• Early Adolescence – Adolescence Cognitive Disabilities (73–810)
• Early Childhood – Adolescence Visual Impairments (74–825)
• Reading Teacher (316)
• Reading Specialist (17)
http://www.wi.nesinc.com/PageView.aspx?f=GEN_FOR.html
These are the academic objectives of the Foundations of Reading test.
Foundations of Reading Development
1 Understand phonological and phonemic awareness
2 Understand concepts of print and alphabetic principle
3 Understand the role of phonics in promoting reading development
4 Understand word analysis and strategies
Development of Reading Comprehension
5 Understand vocabulary development
6 Understand how to apply reading comprehension skills and strategies to imaginative/literary tests
7 Understand how to apply reading comprehension skills and strategies to informational/expository texts
Reading Assessment and Instruction
8 Understand formal and informal methods for assessing reading development
9 Understand multiple approaches to reading instruction
Integration of Knowledge and Understanding
10 Prepare an organized, developed analysis on a topic related to one or more of the following: foundations of reading development, development of reading comprehension; reading assessment and instruction
http://docs.nesinc.com/SA/SA_090_FW.pdf
Given these new credentials, a new hire to an elementary classroom will have the instructional tools to cause all children to be better readers by the completion of third grade.