by AFT President Sandra Feldman
February, 2002

Teaching reading
is rocket science and
teachers need support.

Most people would agree that teaching children how to read is among the most important of our schools’ many important missions. When children don’t learn to read well, they generally can’t do well in most other subjects, including math and science, and this effect worsens as they go through school. What is more, without reading, life loses a great deal of the joy and comfort and continual learning that books can give us.

The good news, as the recent Harry Potter phenomenon made clear, is that our youngsters—and our nation—enjoy reading. (I loved watching kids come out of the movie discussing whether it was true enough to the book.) Contrary to popular belief, international comparisons put the reading of U.S. students on a par with the reading performance of students in many other industrialized nations. And even in our lowest-performing schools, reading achievement is rising. Yet, a lot of new research shows we can do better, and we have to keep working at it, particularly with respect to the lowest-performing readers.

Certainly, poor students account for a large share of struggling readers—and to close the current education gap we have to ensure that our most vulnerable students learn to read early and well. Yet wealth is no guarantee of success; reading difficulty extends across all income levels—and with the proper instruction and support, the vast majority of students can learn to read well by the third grade.

Equipping our teachers

This means, first and foremost, making sure our teachers are equipped with the knowledge and skill they need to be good reading teachers.

There has been an emerging research consensus about how to teach reading effectively. In 1995, the AFT devoted an issue of its quarterly education journal, American Educator, to this subject. Since then, the AFT has created professional development programs on beginning reading instruction based on this research. It has also published a model reading instruction curriculum for teacher education and training (“Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science”), made information about research-based programs and practices available to teachers, and worked with other education and public policy organizations to translate this research into practical classroom strategies to improve student performance.

One piece of the recently enacted “No Child Left Behind” Act, which builds on legislation signed into law in 1998, gives a boost to improving the teaching of reading. Now called Reading First, the law extends the reach of federal reading initiatives and triples previous funding levels. Another piece, Early Reading First, also provides funds to develop language and pre-literacy skills of preschool students, ensuring that they begin school ready to read.

It is still unclear how much money from this new law will go to improve the preparation of prospective teachers, to ensuring that existing teachers have access to research-based professional development, and to upgrading the quality of student and classroom materials. But, if used well, this funding could make an enormous difference.

Even experienced teachers need and welcome access to new, research-based information about effective reading instruction. A teacher-training program started by the AFT three years ago with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education offers a case in point. In three urban districts, Cleveland, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C., teams of teachers and school officials selected struggling schools where kindergarten through second-grade teachers would receive extensive training in effective reading instruction.

Reading experts and master reading teachers demonstrated age-appropriate methods for the systematic teaching of phonemic awareness and phonics, how to incorporate reading comprehension strategies into regular classroom discussions, and how storybooks and other literacy materials can be used to build vocabulary and background knowledge. Master teachers provided classroom teachers with in-class coaching and advice.

The “missing piece”

This kind of support made a real difference for teachers. As one experienced first-grade teacher in New Orleans commented, this program provided “the missing piece” that helped her reach those students she never could.

Last summer, First Lady Laura Bush emphasized the need for early reading success at a White House conference on early childhood education. She also noted the historic gap between education research and classroom practice. The First Lady, who taught second grade before becoming a school librarian,
admitted that “I had instruction in teaching reading, of course, but in practice, I didn’t really know how to teach a classroom of students to read.” As a former first-grade teacher, I know just how she felt.

Just as doctors and other health professionals need to learn continuously about new developments in the field so that the treatment of their patients will be the best they can offer, so too do teachers and other educators need to have access to new methods that work in teaching reading. With this kind of support, teachers can help more of our children enter magical worlds like Harry Potter’s, and allow them to imagine wonders and possibilities they wouldn’t otherwise contemplate.