money Cudahy Schools' shift to a new reading curriculum looks like it's paying off
A shift toward using “science of reading” curriculums that emphasize phonics in teaching students to read is occurring in Wisconsin and across the nation. This is the first of three columns describing what this means to students, educators and parents in Cudahy Public Schools, which has embraced this approach.
“Warm up your choppers,” teacher Jamie Dollhopf directed 16 first-grade students standing next to their desks. The students had just completed several rhythmic reading drills.
Then came the chopping: Dollhopf put words on the screen at the front of the room. With each word, the students sounded the phonemes, the units of sound, as they made a chopping motion with one arm.
Place: p-l-a-ce, four phonemes, four chops. Stump: s-t-um-p, four phonemes, four chops. Shrimp: sh- r-im-p, four phonemes, four chops.
Dollhopf then displayed letters and the students said — almost shouted — the name of the letters and the sounds they make.
There are various ways to teach kids to read. But much of the debate involves two camps. One, often called "balanced literacy," emphasizes reading passages of text or books, using surrounding words or adjacent pictures or the first letter of a word as cues for what an unfamiliar word is. It includes, but does not emphasize, teaching the sound of letters, and teachers do not generally lead exercises like the ones Dollhopf was leading.
More: By the Book: We're investigating why many Wisconsin kids struggle to read. We want to hear from you.
The other camp, using an approach called “the science of reading,” is what Dollhopf’s students are doing in their class at General Mitchell School in Cudahy. This emphasizes learning the sounds letters make and how to combine those sounds into words. There is an emphasis on structured work that builds letters into words, then sentences, then whole passages.
The public schools in Cudahy, a suburb on Milwaukee’s south shore, are nearing the end of their second year using the phonics-strong approach. Cudahy is among a handful of districts in the Milwaukee area implementing or moving toward implementing science of reading approaches. Others include New Berlin and Elmbrook schools and some private, religious and charter schools.
Across Wisconsin and the U.S., the science of reading is gaining momentum. In more than 30 states, not including Wisconsin, state laws or directives are fueling or requiring the use of the science of reading. In many places, that includes new curriculum materials and large-scale retraining of teachers.
More: A bipartisan consensus could be growing on how to teach reading statewide
Why the growing momentum for this approach? In a nutshell, because the approaches that have been widely used for a generation have not moved enough students to the point where they are capable readers by the end of third grade, a point that is widely held to be an important marker for kids’ future success in school. In a world where reading opens the gate to almost all other types of learning, large numbers of students — about a third overall and more than half in some schools — are struggling to get through the gate or simply failing to do so.
Balanced literacy is on the defensive, with an influential podcast, “Sold a Story,” sparking a nationwide wave of criticism that the way of teaching that has dominated American reading instruction in recent decades is not sufficiently effective and is not supported by good research.
Consider Cudahy a good case study in making the changes required by following the science of reading.
Changing curriculum to change results
Dollhopf is in her 29th year of teaching. She loves the work, loves the kids. But, she admitted, in fall 2021, 69% of her students were reading below expectations. Changing the way she taught wasn’t easy for her — nor for a lot of other Cudahy teachers. But standing pat wasn’t good either.
Cudahy Superintendent Tina Owen-Moore said that, in large part, the change in the reading programs for students in early grades was fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are two reasons for saying that.
One is that reading scores among Cudahy students weren’t that great before the pandemic began in 2020 — and then they slid. In the 2018-19 school year, 36% of third- through eighth-graders were rated as proficient or advanced in English language arts on Wisconsin’s Forward exams, while 28% were rated as “below basic” and 36% as basic. In 2020-21, the percentage of proficient or advanced students was 27%, nine points lower, while the “below basic” totally had gone up four points to 32%.
“What we were doing wasn’t getting us the greatest results,” said Owen-Moore.
The second reason was that federal pandemic aid to schools nationwide, intended to help students rebound from the COVID period, brought a substantial amount of new money to Cudahy.
School officials decided to change the reading program to embrace the science of reading and to use much of the pandemic money to pay for what was required, including bringing in the Colorado-based consulting company Schools Cubed to train staff members and oversee implementation.
Could the changes have been made without the federal money? “It would have been really hard,” said Owen-Moore.
Owen-Moore left a job as principal in Milwaukee Public Schools several years ago and went to Harvard to earn a doctorate in education. At Harvard, she took a course that introduced her to principles of the science of reading. She also was taught that a key to making changes in academic programs was first to get school leaders on board.
The science of reading isn’t “a thing,” Owen-Moore said. “It’s a commitment to following evidence-based practices. As we learn more, we do better.” She said a lot has been learned about effective ways to teach reading, including how sight, sound and activity within the brain can work together to succeed at reading.
“Science changes. When we learn more, we do more,” she said.
Things are looking up — for students and teachers
Cudahy began implementing the new approach in its four elementary schools, with an emphasis at first on training school leaders and staff members such as literacy coaches.
Dollhopf said that by the end of the first year, almost all of her students had moved forward on color-coded ratings the school uses to monitor how students are doing as readers. More were reading at the “green” level. That was an a-ha moment for Dollhopf. The kids were doing better, and she became convinced the approach was making her a better teacher.
During a break in a recent school day, Dollhopf and three other first-grade teachers at General Mitchell School talked about how reading is going for their students — and they were unanimous that things are looking up.
Lisa Fonk, in her 15th year of teaching, said, “I love it. I’ve never felt more confident teaching.” She has a class of about 16, and they are generally the ones who started the school year at the lowest level of reading. Midway through the school year, she said they had made progress, although the majority were still at the undesired red level on the progress charts. Fonk said, “We teach the rules. They know why they’re doing what they’re doing.” The result? “They’re reading, they’re really reading.”
Next: Alejandro Castillo becomes a good reader as Cudahy schools tackle a new approach aimed at better student success in achieving reading proficiency..
Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cudahy School District adopts science of reading curriculum
