Credits: Twitter / @LAUSDSup

Curtis Middle School students in Carson with Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho.

Credits: Twitter / @LAUSDSup

Curtis Middle School students in Carson with Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho.

Alberto M. Carvalho immigrated to the United States from Portugal As a penniless 17 year old with little knowledge of English.Los Angeles, now his second-largest school district in the nation.He is the Superintendent of Unifiedrict, he defends the pursuit of California.The science of reading in a literacy crisis.

“I’m a fan of science,” Carvalho, who moved to California after improving his reading scores through research-based practice in Miami, said in the opening rem.Wednesday’s ArkAnnual California Reading Summit, a statewide forum on literacy. “I believe that if we follow science, we must truly embrace all science, including the science of reading. We cannot afford to choose which science to focus on. It also includes effective reading habits training for kindergarten through third grade teachers.”

The risk is higher in states where less than half of California’s third graders read at grade level before the pandemic. In the wake of school closures and distance learning, his score dropped further to 42.2% from 48.5% in 2019. One way to combat the plummeting scores is to dig deep into exhaustive research, experts suggest. how the brain learns to read.

“We all recognize that the ability to read well is actually a game changer,” Carvalho said. It’s absolutely important that you do whatever it takes.”

Recent Smarter Balanced test scores show a decrease in the percentage of LAUSD students meeting criteria at all grade levels except 8th grade compared to 2018-2019 scores. However, eighth graders who met the criteria increased by 0.47 points to 41.67%. Carvalho has overseen efforts to train teachers in structured literacy. This is an approach based on decades of intensive scientific research.

change the way reading is taught emerged as an important theme A virtual gathering of teachers, advocates, and researchers exploring the challenges of “Improving Reading in California.”

In his keynote speech, Kareem Weaver, member of the Oakland NAACP School Board and co-founder of Literacy, said: fulcrum, He argued that to improve reading comprehension, it was necessary to find common ground. He described illiteracy as “a challenge for all of us” and argued that all students benefit from evidence-based practice.

“The science of reading is good for all children,” said Weaver, who has worked with bilingual learners and dyslexic students while teaching in East Auckland. “This is the foundation we all need.”

Weaver has long been an advocate for literacy as a matter of social justice, and has viewed learning to read as a civil right.

“We are an illiterate society,” said Weaver.

Documentary clips were also featured at the summit “Right to read” Also included are conversations with Weaver, groundbreaking journalists Emily Hanford and Kymyona Burke.He is credited with leading the turnaround in sheet music reading in Mississippi, all of which are featured in the film.

“Being in Mississippi, the poorest state in the country, we’ve finally reached a point where adults are on the same page about what we can really do in public education,” Burke said. “We were at a point where we had to grow up and go home. And now I think the country is at this point. We have to grow up.”

In his opening remarks, State Public Education Superintendent Tony Thurmond, who launched a campaign to have all third graders read at grade level by 2026, pointed to the investment in the new program. $250 million to hire and train reading coachesThat said, there was little specific mention of the state’s approach to reading education.

“We have a lot of work to do, but this is a big step in the right direction,” Thurmond said. “This is an important moment for California. …I am confident that I can help a child learn to read by her third grade, and I believe that helping develop a love of reading I am confident we can.”

One key panel included the needs of many bilingual learners in the state and how they differ from other students.some supporters For English learners, about 2 in 5 students in the state expressed concern about increased attention to basic sk.Illness can undermine efforts to develop oral language skills.

“Bilingual brain development is not the same as monolingual brain development,” said Martha Hernandez. Executive Director of Californians Together, an advocacy group.

Claude Goldenberg, professor emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, championed the need for basic skills such as phonics.

“Importantly, novice readers need instruction in basic skills until they have enough traction to take off.”

Another key panel discussion featured Natalie Wexler (Natalie Wexler). Natalie Wexler, author of The Knowledge Gaps, examines the flaws in method. reading comprehension I can teach you. She believes that this problem must be addressed in addition to strengthening phonics to resolve the reading crisis.

in short, many experts suggest, that students need to build a broad knowledge base in order to tackle complex texts with confidence. Instead, many schools focus on teaching reading as a set of abstract skills.

“You have to have basic skills and knowledge at the same time,” Wexler said, warning that phonics alone won’t improve your test scores. “Then the pendulum may move away from phonics again.”

Another concern is that dapart from National push to research-based methodsmany teachers are left in the dark about how reading works by teacher preparation programs. welcomed.

“They are self-taught in the middle of the night and on weekends, attending webinars and conferences and paying for the training themselves,” says Hanford. we need to thank them. ”

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