Don't wait for the state; districts can make reading a priority

Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

An elementary student reads on his own in class.

Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

An elementary student reads on his own in class.

Todd Collins

April 16, 2023

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Reading policies are sweeping statehouses across the US. Fueled by the “Mississippi Miracle” of dramatically improved fourth grade reading scores, especially for Black and low-income students, states are considering or have already passed legislation to drive new reading programs in their schools. Most go under the banner of the “science of reading.”

California has not joined the trend. Despite a true reading crisis — with 58% of all third graders reading below grade level, including 75% of low-income Black and Latino students — there are no bills calling for improved curriculum, in-service teacher training or other science of reading supports. Even a basic measure like Senate Bill 691 for universal dyslexia risk screening (a standard practice in 40 states) draws opposition from the powerful California Teachers Association and no support from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

But in the last three years, some prominent school districts have decided not to wait for the state. Los Angeles Unified, San Francisco Unified and Palo Alto Unified (where I am a school board member) have each made early literacy a top priority, established specific goals, invested in training their teachers and moved to adopt more effective reading programs. And they are starting to show results.

LA Unified has been quietly changing its reading program since 2020. Thousands of LAUSD elementary teachers, reading specialists and administrators have received training in proven programs for reading foundational skills (such as Orton Gillingham and LETRS), and more continue to be trained.

Los Angeles Unified has adopted Core Knowledge Language Arts, a program well-aligned with the science of reading, in about half its schools. And it has boosted more intensive interventions for struggling readers (including older students), investing to expand its network of reading specialists in high-need schools under its successful Primary Promise program.

As Superintendent Alberto Carvalho explained at last year’s California Reading Summit, “I believe that if we are going to follow the science, then we should really embrace all science, including the science of reading. We cannot afford to be selective in which science we focus on. That includes training kindergarten-to-third grade teachers in effective reading practices.”

Palo Alto Unified launched its Every Student Reads Initiative in 2021, bringing an “all-in” approach to improve shockingly low reading performance for the district’s low-income students. All Transitional kindergarten to third-grade teachers, reading specialists and principals received structured literacy training for Tier 1 foundational skills. New curriculum replaced the long-used Lucy Calkins Units of Study, along with new phonics materials and decodable books.

A new assessment tool, iReady, replaced the Fountas & Pinnell running record assessment. iReady was also used as a dyslexia screener, with all students screened annually in grades K-2. Monthly principal professional learning committee, or PLC, meetings focused on early literacy, with teaching support provided for all elementary schools.

The initiative has been championed by Superintendent Don Austin, along with the district’s first-ever director of literacy instruction, Danae Reynolds. Austin shared frequent updates with the board and the entire school community, keeping the spotlight on the effort throughout the school year.

San Francisco Unified is not as far along, but it has already made significant commitments to changing its reading programs. Based on an external curriculum and instruction audit, the district will replace its Lucy Calkins curriculum; the new curriculum will be chosen next year. San Francisco Unified has also announced that a new reading assessment tool will replace the long-used Fountas & Pinnell assessment, which the district found did not correlate with student achievement.

None of these districts have adopted scripted curricula, 90-minute phonics blocks or “one size fits all” approaches that concern some about “science of reading” aligned programs.

All three districts have strong support from the top. Each district’s board of education has declared early literacy a top priority and set specific improvement goals for third grade reading over the next several years; Palo Alto has even set goals for specific student subgroups. These goals are enshrined in key documents like LAUSD’s Strategic Plan, the Palo Alto Promise, and the San Francisco Unified Vision and Goals, and receive regular board review. The focus isn’t just on effort; it’s on results.

While the initiatives are all still young, results so far are promising. Palo Alto was named the state’s most improved district on the California Reading Report Card, with a 9-point increase in low-income Latino students reading at grade level compared to an average decline of 8 points in districts across the state. Overall, the district hit its first-year goals for every subgroup.

Los Angeles Unified, which began its changes before the pandemic, saw meaningful increases in both fourth and eighth grade reading on the 2022 NAEP, a national test of student achievement — a sharp contrast from significantly lower scores across the U.S. According to former Superintendent Austin Beutner, “Literacy is the holy grail of public education, and the Primary Promise [reading program] is the biggest story of what we did.”

These districts aren’t alone. Others, such as Lancaster Elementary (LA County), Lodi (San Joaquin), Pajaro Valley (Santa Cruz), and Twin Rivers (Sacramento) are also making strides, not waiting for state leadership or funding.

But in a state with an early literacy crisis, can we afford to wait for 1,000 local school districts to change their programs one at a time? If we want state-level impact, only a comprehensive statewide program — with state-level guidance, funding and accountability, and vocal support from state leaders — will give California’s 6 million students what they need to succeed.

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Todd Collins is a Palo Alto Unified school board member and organizer of the California Reading Coaltion.

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