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With election day at the top of American’s minds, voters across the country made educated decisions on who to choose for our next president. Despite strong bipartisan divides taking over many social, economic, and environmental issues, literacy and education have proven to be issues that both sides of the aisle believe are important to the success of our nation.

The science of reading

In July of last year, released its report which analyzed all the state legislation that has been passed related to literacy from 2019-2022. The science of reading, which Reading Partners uses to advise and develop our curriculum, served as a core pillar of their research as experts at the Shanker Institute began studying over 220 literacy-related bills enacted in 45 different states.聽

So what exactly is the science of reading? In 2022, Reading Partners published a blog that goes into much more detail on it and I鈥檇 highly recommend you check it out if you want to take a deeper dive into the subject. In short, though, the science of reading is a research-backed approach to teaching reading that focuses on how young students鈥� brains learn best. It shows that certain methods, especially teaching sounds and decoding in a structured way, are key to helping all students become strong readers.聽

With a better understanding of the science of reading, it is much easier to understand just how impactful the changes state legislators have been enacting across the country have actually been. Following the widely accepted evidence that the science of reading approach is more effective than a phonics-only approach, the Shanker Institute found that 46 states (including the District of Columbia) enacted at least one piece of legislation related to reading reform between 2019 and 2022. All 46 of the states included elements of the science of reading into their legislation and 18 of those states explicitly mentioned the expression 鈥渟cience of reading.鈥�

The importance of using legislation to support students

Nearly all states have implemented laws that cover students from kindergarten through third grade. This has proven to be incredibly important because third grade is generally the grade where curriculums shift from 鈥渓earning to read鈥� to 鈥渞eading to learn.鈥� In short, if students are unable to read by the end of third grade, it becomes much more difficult for them to engage and succeed in their other courses.聽

Reading Partners recognizes the gravity of needing to read at grade level by third grade and strategically chooses to tutor K-4 students to engage them at one of the most pivotal stages of their education.聽

It appears that after seeing a significant disparity between how we once believed how kids learned how to read versus how kids were actually learning to read, state legislators have been making positive changes across the United States to implement more research-backed curriculums that better support students鈥� learning needs.聽

Opportunities for future literacy legislation

One of the most important parts of the Shanker Institute鈥檚 report appears to be at the very end where the researchers note their suggestions and limitations of their study. After delving into the details of all the legislation they鈥檝e analyzed over the course of four years, their team created a list of the areas they believe future legislation could better cover.聽

Notably, researchers found that other supports outside of teachers aren鈥檛 included despite their importance to student success. In their summary, noted that, 鈥淥nly about one-third of states enacted legislation that delves deeply into curriculum or school leadership, with a mere 11 states extensively addressing both areas simultaneously in their laws.鈥澛�

Why is this important? Without additional support such as professional development opportunities for teachers to learn more about curriculum updates, in-depth principal engagement to give them a thorough understanding of the science of reading and its importance, and other similar opportunities, all the pressure will fall on teachers alone to improve student鈥檚 reading scores across the board without support for them to do so.

It鈥檚 also important to note that the Shanker Institute found that community engagement isn鈥檛 nearly as emphasized as other areas despite its importance in building up young learners. At Reading Partners, we鈥檝e recognized the importance of community engagement and recruit hundreds of volunteers every year from the communities we serve because we understand that they understand their students the best. By including community volunteers in the conversation around reading, we can support students in the best way possible.聽

Get involved

If you are interested in getting involved with Reading Partners, you can for as little as one hour a week. We serve eleven regions across the country and are always looking for volunteers to join us in our work towards educational equity for all.