Choices Narrowed For Schools’ Reading Pivot

The city’s public school district is now down to five choices for which state-sanctioned program to adopt as it builds out an enhanced K‑3 literacy plan that is required to follow the ​“science of reading,” which emphasizes learning how to sound out words instead of looking for other clues.

That’s the latest in the ongoing New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) conversation around how the district will improve city public school students’ reading proficiency.

In the wake of the state legislature’s passage of a Right to Read law, New Haven and all other public school districts in Connecticut are required to implement a ​“science”-based reading curriculum for kindergarten through third grade to improve student reading scores by the 2022 – 2023 school year. That refers to a curriculum that is based more on phonics than ones used in New Haven before, and less on ​“cueing” techniques that have been shown either to fail to teach kids to read or even make it harder, like guessing words based on pictures or story context.

On Nov. 22 and Nov. 23, the local public school district hosted a two-day ​“reading expo” at the Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School’s Parish House on Kimberly Avenue in the Hill to showcase seven such state-approved programs, two of which have already been dismissed by the city for not including a robust Spanish component.

The expo saw more than 70 attendees throughout the two days, and it targeted local educators, school administrators, community members, and students to gather feedback on the programs to consider before NHPS makes a final decision.

Meanwhile, at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, NHPS Supervisor Of Literacy Lynn Brantley and Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Leadership Keisha Hannans updated the board with a schedule breaking down what professional development offerings have occurred and will occur for educators in all core subjects. They also detailed the district’s next steps for selecting the new universal K‑3 reading program in NHPS. (Click here to view that presentation.)

With feedback gathered at the expo, the district will next pilot new reading programs in 12 schools, including Conte West School, Barnard, Nathan Hale School, Worthington Hooker, Truman School, John C. Daniels School, Clinton Avenue School, L.W. Beecher, Lincoln Bassett, Troup, John Martinez School, and Bishop Woods.

The reading expo and ed board presentation come several months after NHPS released in September its draft for a new ​“structured literacy” reading plan. The literacy program also comes after NHPS released in July preliminary reading and math assessment data from last school year that showed that 84 percent of third-graders were reading below grade level. 

The Board of Education, alders, clergy, and other community members dubbed the scores a​“crisis,” and demanded new plans to address the ​“emergency.” At the center of that debate has been a larger controversy about how NHPS teaches students to read. Claiming that the old way of teaching doesn’t need to be overhauled, officials, including the superintendent and several board members, have previously pushed back against a new state requirement that all schools move from​“balanced” to more phonics-based​“structured” literacy in the face of new brain research on how kids learn to read.

The district is now working on steps to decide on a comprehensive structured literacy program to implement in all K‑3 classrooms next school year.

The district started out with a list of seven programs to choose from, all of which the state has approved as abiding by a science of reading-based model and curriculum.

Brantley and Hannans are spearheading the district’s work to pilot, choose a partner program, and implement its enhanced reading plan for next school year. 

As a part of the process for deciding which state-sanctioned literacy program the district will use in all public schools to improve K‑3 phonics instructions next year, NHPS recently hosted a two-day ​“reading expo” for the public and for teachers to learn about and hear from the program representatives themselves about what a partnership with New Haven would look like. 

The state’s Department of Education recently approved seven K‑3 curriculum models and programs for all public-school districts to implement by the 2023 – 24 school year. 

The approved list includes the following programs: American Reading Company – ARC Core; Amplify Education Inc. – Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA); Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) – Into Reading; Imagine Learning – EL Education Grades K‑3; McGraw Hill Education – Wonders; Open Up Resources – EL Education; and Savvas Learning Company – myView Literacy. 

Brantley and Redd-Hannans have already made the decision to not consider two of the seven programs, Open Up Resources and Imagine Learning, because they lack a robust Spanish component, which Brantley said is non-negotiable for the district that currently serves almost 4,000 student multilingual learners (MLL).

Representatives from the remaining five programs presented during the district’s reading expo last week. They spoke with teachers, administrators, parents, and community members about why their respective programs would be the best fit for addressing New Haven’s reading crisis. 

Community participants of the expo used an online ​“criterion checklist” provided by the district. It allowed for the district to collect public feedback about the programs and for participants to have guided questions to ask each of the program representatives to gain a better understanding. 

Participants were encouraged to seek out whether the programs had broad multicultural representations, engaging stories, rich vocabulary, and authentic Spanish literature among other components, such as if the programs supported emerging reading, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. 

The survey also asked participants to ask the program reps about instructional resources for educators and whether their curriculums have on-demand professional support, appropriate and user friendly teachers’ manuals, lessons that are developmentally appropriate, home connection materials, formative and summative assessments, and a technology component for educators, students, and families. 

Brantley told the Independent during the recent reading expo that the district’s new enhanced K‑3 reading curriculum must be a program that prioritizes foundational skills, culturally relevant resources, and on-demand professional development with a dedicated New Haven representative from the program who can work from within the district’s central office at 54 Meadow St.

“Whatever program we pick we need someone that is very committed to us as a district,” she said. ​“In a way that looks different from other times we got professional development.” 

In addition to the curriculum that the district plans to select by the end of this school year, NHPS has already decided it will continue working with a phonics-based program Fundations, which the district has used since 2017. 

“I totally understand where we are,” Brantley said. ​“I know that in 2018 we were at 61 percent proficient. So I think it’s a great time for change.” 

Once a decision is made and approvals are provided the district will then push to have a variety of summer trainings to prepare teachers before the next school year.

“We can do it no other way,” Brantley said.

Brantley said the district hopes to offer training this summer to equip educators before the program launches next school year. 

“Professional development is most important. We can implement any program but the support to our teachers is going to be critical,” Redd-Hannans added. 

The 5 Programs Under Consideration

During the expo, representative from the five reading programs still under consideration by NHPS made their pitches to educators and community members, highlighting their curriculum’s components, showing teachers examples of their teaching guides and manuals, and showing the program’s use of multilingual resources. 

Amplify Education’s Core Knowledge Language Arts curriculum highlighted its structured literacy-based approach, comprehensive Spanish instruction that aims to support MLL and introduce a secondary language to English speakers, and cross curricular structure allows for students to connect lessons from other core subjects to their reading instruction. The program representatives told visitors about the program’s partnership with families by sending them frequent personal updates about their students. In the curriculum’s Spanish and English text, student cultures are celebrated. The program is currently being piloted in Stamford and districts like Baltimore and D.C. The program offers in-class and at-home digital access to reading lessons and classroom text. The program’s teachers’ manual provides educators with pre-made PowerPoint lessons that teachers can either follow or re-work to fit their lesson. 

Savvas Learning Company’s myView Literacy curriculum representatives described the program as aligned with the science of reading. The program is designed to help students become independent learners by using summative assessments and process check ups. It also offers adaptive instruction. The program has been used in urban out-of-state school districts like Lynn and and Springfield, Mass. 

McGraw Hill Education’s Wonders curriculum was described as a comprehensive wraparound program that uses the science of reading to bring foundational skills to the forefront of instruction. Representatives also highlighted that the program’s professional development is customized to the district’s needs. The Wonders program is also used in school districts like Bridgeport and Norwalk. 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Into Reading curriculum offers educators assessment reports and data to monitor student progress. Its online resources can be used in class and at home and aim to help students practice to reinforce their foundational skills. Representatives also highlighted that its professional development trainings will meet teachers where they are to get them well versed in the program’s approach.

American Reading Company’s ARC Core curriculum focuses on identifying a student’s reading level and providing educators with the foundational tools to fill the students’ personal gaps and reach grade level skills. The program encourages students to become experts in particular topics of interest to push student agency starting in kindergarten. ARC representatives highlighted that the program aims to develop reading specialists in all classroom teachers.

"Will There Be Growing Pains? Probably"

Clinton Avenue School literacy coach Marilyn Ciarleglio visited last week’s reading expo on the first day to get a glimpse of which program could be piloted at her school. 

When thinking of what is most important to have in an improved curriculum Ciarleglio, who has worked in NHPS for 21 years, said she hopes for a program that has authentic Spanish instruction that is just as robust as the lessons for English speaking students. 

Before becoming a literacy coach Ciarleglio was a classroom teacher for nine years and has spent her entire career at Clinton. 

“It’s going to be important to have a universal program,” she said. 

While visiting tables Ciarleglio said she also sought out teacher-friendly instructional resources that included instruction with decodable readers, online support resources, and an easy to use teachers manual. 

“We all want to be better instructors, so I’m excited,” she said. ​“Will there be growing pains? Yeah, probably, but when isn’t there?”

On day two of the expo, Downtown/East Rock Alder Eli Sabin, who chairs of the alders’ Education Committee, said he is excited to see the process begin and be ​“taken seriously.” 

Sabin said he hopes the district will focus on holding the selected program accountable for ​“following the scientific research about how kids learn how to read.” 

“What is maybe just as important as which curriculum is how we’re going to implement it,” he said. 

Earlier this year, Sabin has emphasized that very point during previous Education Committee meetings. He has stressed the importance of the district being thorough and well-invest in its pilot process as it looks to make a final decision on an enhanced reading program.

“This process was prompted by the state law that passed last year, but that state law didn’t really provide additional funding to make that professional development possible,” Sabin told the Independent. ​“If we really care about making sure our literacy curriculum is the absolute best for our students, it’s not just about picking a new curriculum.” 

Sabin encouraged the district to also do student data analysis to ​“compare what works and what doesn’t work.” 

Wexler Grant School Assistant Principal Karen Lorde visited the expo to check out the type of classroom text the programs used for instruction to see if they were engaging and ​“relatable to what happens in New Haven.”

Lorde said she thinks the program that is selected for the district should include reading materials that touch on topics that are relevant to New Haven youth.

She added that as a parent she also hopes for a curriculum that offers digital resources to families and the students when outside the classroom. 

“What can I do with their materials with my child at home if I wasn’t an educator?” Lorde asked herself while visiting tables. 

She said the materials have to be accessible for parents to understand and instruct their students at home. 

For a family curriculum Lorde heralded the Wonders curriculum because of its robust multicultural resources. For the most digitally advanced curriculum, Lorde pointed to Amplify. 

In the middle of the five program tables full of books and instruction manuals, teachers sat at two review tables and took time to look closely at each curriculum. 

Barnard literacy educators Sarah Levine and Kelley Dearborne were at one of those tables on the first day of the reading expo.

The duo looked through the teachers instruction manual provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s (HMH) Into Reading program. 

“We’re looking at the materials to see how easy it would be for us to teach this tomorrow, and if we could do it,” Levine said. 

The two looked at the manual’s set up, how structured the material was to help educators execute lessons without being too scripted, and how it gives pointers for language to teach students. 

The duo agreed that the HMH curriculum sparked their interest the most because its teacher manual checked off all of the manual requirements they previously mentioned. Dearborne added that the manual was accessible with video tips and lessons and teaching methods for whole groups, small groups, and one-on-one intervention. 

Levine and Dearborne also agreed that some of the programs presented at the expo offered curriculums that included lessons that weren’t culturally appropriate. 

The two educators added that they look forward to introducing a science of reading based model to the K‑3 grade in the district. Dearborne said it makes sense for the district to make the change at the same time that it has recently with its K‑12 science and math curricula.