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Education Dive
Teacher prep, equity top list of 'hot' literacy topics
The International Literacy Association’s survey comes as state chiefs
gather in Washington, D.C., to discuss what some call a reading crisis.
Linda Jacobson
Jan. 22, 2020
Teacher preparation programs are not adequately preparing teachers to
provide “effective reading instruction,” according to 60% of the
literacy educators, researchers and experts responding to this year’s
“What’s Hot in Literacy Survey” from the International Literacy
Association.
And the 1,443 respondents — more than half of which are teachers — said
the greatest challenge facing literacy is “addressing disconnects
between the school curriculum and students’ actual needs in terms of
literacy support and instruction.”
Respondents also said addressing inequity in education and instruction
is the area where they need the most support, and almost three-fourths
said variability in teachers’ knowledge is the greatest barrier to
achieving that goal.
“The majority of teachers shoulder the responsibility for equity in
education but more than half lack the support they need,” said
Charmaine Riley, a spokeswoman for ILA.
The organization has been conducting the survey for more than 20 years.
The respondents represent 65 countries and territories, with the U.S.
and Canada among the top responding countries.
Chiefs gathering to discuss literacy
The survey results come as several state education chiefs, literacy
experts and others gather in Washington Thursday to discuss a lack of
growth in U.S. students’ literacy performance on both national and
international tests — what some are calling a crisis.
State superintendents from the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Arkansas and Mississippi are among those
expected to participate. And many in attendance are likely to be
interested in what the District of Columbia Public Schools and
Mississippi are doing that led to growth in scores on the most recent
National Assessment of Education Progress while many states saw
declines.
U.S. results on the recent Program for International Student Assessment
showed similar patterns, with higher-performing students generally
improving over time and those at the lowest levels losing ground or
remaining stagnant.
The gathering is "the first step in what will be an ongoing
conversation among state chiefs," said Carissa Moffat Miller, executive
director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. "CCSSO’s
ultimate goal is to work with chiefs and experts in the field to create
a policy brief of actions states can take to help improve student
literacy skills and support states in making those actions a reality
for students.”
Training rated low
The ILA survey is also a timely preview to an updated assessment of how
teacher education programs are preparing educators to teach reading.
Next week, the National Council on Teacher Quality, which regularly
rates teacher preparation programs on a range of topics, will release
its review of how more than 1,000 pre-service programs train elementary
teachers to teach children to read. NCTQ’s analysis of syllabi looked
for how programs address five areas of reading instruction — phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension strategies.
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