Advance for Reading Teachers

The teacher is the single most important factor in a child’s initial development of reading skills, according to the National Research Council. Yet, in the Los Angeles Unified School District many primary teachers hold emergency credentials and lack the academic training, classroom experience and educational tools needed to teach children in the early grades, especially those who come to school least prepared to learn to read.

Help, finally, is on the way. All teachers will be required beginning next month to use a new, structured reading program, a step-by-step guide developed by the district. Heavy on phonics and based on the prevailing scientific research, the guide explains in detail the key elements of reading instruction and the skills that students should master at each grade level.

Teachers will also be asked to immerse students in books, stories and other print materials, encouraging them to become fluent readers who love books. Children who get off to a good start in literacy rarely stumble, according to the research, while children who fall behind in reading rarely catch up.

In Los Angeles schools, only one of three children can read well by the end of third grade, a time when reading competence needs to be achieved. That means as many as 60% of elementary pupils could be held back next year when the district ends social promotion, the practice of advancing children who are not performing at grade level.

To prevent that catastrophe, the school district is also requiring elementary teachers to start spending at least two hours a day on reading instruction with children who speak English and 2 1/2 hours with children who are learning English. The district plans to offer remedial tutoring after school, on weekends and during vacations to help more children make the grade.

The majority of reading problems faced by teenagers and adults could have been avoided or resolved in their early years. A good teacher equipped with a good classroom reading program can teach most students to read at or near grade level by the end of the primary grades. In Los Angeles, the structured reading program and additional time spent on reading instruction represent a good start.