Georgia education officials will help train teachers to improve reading instruction, as some prominent lawmakers say the state Department of Education is not doing enough to enforce a literacy law passed last year. Therefore, we would like to provide a literacy coach.
Georgia's efforts to improve children's reading comprehension are an example of a national effort to make the science of reading a major influence on teaching and learning. New York Governor Cathy Hochul, for example, is pushing to retrain teachers and transform learning for children, and has proposed $10 million to support those efforts.
Georgia is a relative latecomer to literacy reform, with the Legislature passing a law last year requiring districts to retrain teachers by August 2025. The law is modeled on a decade-long effort in Mississippi that significantly improved the state's lower-class areas. reading music scores. Mississippi modeled its efforts on Florida.
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The majority of Georgia's young students are behind in reading comprehension. The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress found that 32% of her fourth graders were proficient in reading, about the same as the nation. State Superintendent Richard Woods prefers a different metric: He says only just over 40% of third-grade students are ready. This number has since improved, with 60% of students being ready by eighth grade.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp proposed a budget Thursday that includes $6.2 million for literacy instruction and more than $5 million for screening tests to detect dyslexia and other problems starting in kindergarten. The project included $11.3 million for the initiative. The funding, recommended by Woods, would be the first significant state spending on the legislation.
Most experts now agree that effective education should include detailed instruction on the components of reading, such as the sounds of letters and how letters are combined into words. But Georgia's 181 school districts have broad autonomy to chart their own paths. Some school districts have adopted the method that has been favored for years, while others have adopted it more recently, in part because of children left out of position during the pandemic.
An Atlanta student uses bookmarks to advance his reading during an after-school literacy program on April 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz, File)
The Georgia Department of Education does not closely track instruction in schools, so some school districts may not have started classes yet. A study by the Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy could help answer that question by spring.
Some lawmakers say Woods, a Republican, isn't doing enough.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia) told The Associated Press: “I hope the Department of Education embraces and defends the literacy plan being pushed by the Literacy Committee and the Legislature.'' ” he said. “I don’t think they’re ready.”
For example, lawmakers are unhappy that the State Board of Education approved 16 different screening tests in July following Woods' recommendations. The Deal Center subsequently rated three of those screeners as weak, and lawmakers said at a December hearing that too many screeners would make district comparisons impossible. The state is also developing its own screening device, which will be provided free to districts.
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Woods touted the online training classes the department is offering through the Rollins Language and Literacy Center, noting that 600 teachers have signed up.
“One of the things we try to focus on is providing teachers with the resources and support they need to be effective reading teachers in their classrooms,” Woods said this month at the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. He told reporters at the conference.
But Georgia has more than 27,000 K-12 teachers. In contrast, Mississippi retrained all of its existing teachers over two summers. The state estimated last year that such efforts could cost Georgia more than $60 million.
And coaching funding doesn't go directly to most teachers. In exchange, the money will be used to hire 32 community coaches and pay stipends to district employees who lead literacy efforts.
Coaching is considered essential because it helps teachers put their learning into practice.
“Research shows that simply going to a workshop, listening to a talk, or attending a webinar is unlikely to change behavior,” said Lindy Morgan, executive director of the Deal Center. “There is,” he said.
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A recent survey by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement found that 58% of 149 school districts already employ at least one literacy coach, with more than 500 working across the state. But Morgan said it's unclear what these coaches are doing.
“Are they receiving structured literacy training?” she asked. “Are they trained in effective coaching strategies?”
Matt Jones, Woods' chief of staff, said the goal of the regional coaches is to bring “consistency and standardization” to the way they teach. The ministry said it may seek to hire coaches directly to schools in the future.
But some lawmakers may try to legislate a more aggressive approach this year.
“Congress is screaming, 'Literacy matters most,'” Tillery said in December.
