In the coming year and beyond, educators and students will continue to grapple with the consequences of the pandemic, but as they look for effective ways to help students become proficient readers, the science-based instructional practices of reading will be used more widely.
At the same time, teachers will focus on assessing individual students to understand their unique learning needs. Here are eight predictions about the changes coming to the reading classroom in the coming months.
1. Students who were in grades K-3 during the pandemic closures may be most affected.
I believe that students who were in grades K-3 during the height of the disruptions to learning are more likely to have lasting effects on their reading proficiency due to pandemic disruptions. The focus of instruction in these grades is on foundational skills such as phonological awareness, phonics, background knowledge, and vocabulary. If students did not learn these skills in earlier grades, they may struggle in later grades as they read text that includes longer words and more complex vocabulary.
I’m also concerned that different students may have missed out on different parts of this foundational knowledge, perhaps based on when schools were open or had great virtual instruction versus when they had to close. We cannot assume that all students have achieved similarly.
2. Diagnostic assessments will be critical to providing the instruction individual students need.
The key to mitigating the lasting effects of pandemic disruptions will be giving each student what they need, both to make up for what was lost and to help them move forward now. The only way to do this will be to use assessments that help identify exactly what students need. Teachers have no time to waste and cannot afford to teach the wrong skills. If they know what to teach and use explicit and systematic instruction, their impact will increase.
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3. Teachers will continue to step up for their students.
The sense of urgency that comes from recognizing that many students need help learning to read and that teachers are the key may be one of the only silver linings of the pandemic. Students cannot get back on track without the incredible work that teachers do with them every day. Everyone in education should celebrate and support them now more than ever as they strive to help all of their students learn to read.
4. The science of reading will be key to helping students develop reading proficiency.
I look forward to seeing more educators using the science of reading, those instructional practices that decades of research have shown to be most successful in helping students learn to read. First, that means testing critical and foundational skills like phonics. Second, we need to teach phonics skills along with language comprehension skills to ensure that students can read the words and understand what they are reading. Ultimately, it means monitoring each student’s performance so that you can intervene and provide supplemental instruction when necessary. Administrators are key when it comes to supporting their teachers in the implementation of the Science of Reading. Some ways administrators can do this is by providing professional development to ensure teachers know how reading develops, how to assess critical skills, and how to teach these skills to ensure all students become proficient readers.
5. Phonics will play a major role in helping students become proficient readers.
Among the main components of the science of reading, phonetics will occupy a central place. Most students have difficulty with reading due to underdeveloped or underdeveloped phonetic skills. They have a hard time connecting the correct sounds to letters to read words efficiently. If students master the sounds of the letters, they will be able to read almost any word on the page. It’s not the only skill they need, but it’s one of the most important. People might think that because phonics is so critical, your reading instruction should focus solely on phonics skills. This is a mistake. Reading instruction must include all the skills students need to learn to be proficient readers. This includes vocabulary, language comprehension, writing, reading texts, and background knowledge development, along with teaching the more critical phonics skills needed to read words.
6. Technologies that facilitate the work of teachers will rise to the top.
Technology is definitely a teacher’s friend when it can save them time, provide good assessment data, and engage students with meaningful instruction and practice; in short, when it helps them do their job easier and better. I think of him as the little teacher’s helper, and I believe he will continue to play an increasingly important role in the classroom.
7. PD that focuses on why phonics is important, how to teach using evidence-based practices, and how to administer critical assessment will yield the best results.
Teachers need PD to understand why they need to assess and teach foundational reading skills. Knowledge why is the first step, but teachers also need to know What use reliable and valid assessments, and how to implement evidence-based instructional practices to help students gain what they may have been missing. There are some PD programs that are very well developed and have been around for a long time. Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) is one of them. Developers Louisa Moats and Carol Tolman have created a comprehensive program that touches on all aspects of reading and spelling. Another is the Consortium for Achieving Excellence in Education (CORE) Learning Elementary Reading Academy. They have extensive experience and knowledge that supports evidence-based practices to help educators understand the necessary components of reading instruction.
8. Lawmakers will work to ensure teachers have actionable data.
The current legislative trend implies that states take the next step after universal screening. Specifically, now that most states have passed laws requiring universal K-3 assessments to identify students at risk for reading difficulties, states are focusing on providing very brief diagnostic assessments for students at risk for ensure that teachers have data to make the next decision. I pass instructional decisions.
In 2023, students will still feel the impacts of pandemic-related disruptions to learning, but teachers will step up to meet them where they are with targeted assessments and evidence-based practices that will continue to improve literacy instruction for years to come.
Laura Ascione is the editorial director of eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the prestigious Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
