Learn to Earn Dayton is a decorated member of StriveTogether, a nationwide network of organizations that promote educational attainment and foster better education practices. In partnership with organizations like Learn to Earn Dayton, we know what practices work best to maximize and deepen student learning. Those practices are evident in many Ohio schools, but they still are still not the norm.
The Science of Reading is one of those best practices; it is an established methodology with demonstrable results – it is critical to helping Ohio create a generation of students that is ready for long-term educational success.
There is strong evidence that teachers who understand how to teach phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension are more successful than teachers who do not evidence such understandings. The Science of Reading is a “what works” strategy!
Students should not have to depend on the “zip code lottery” in order to find a teacher with an understanding of how to use the Science of Reading. Every Ohio student deserves the opportunity to work with an appropriately skilled teacher. And many such teachers are already working in our schools!
The Science of Reading is foundational to reading instruction in Ohio. That means aligning how reading is taught by practicing teachers and how reading instruction is learned and practiced by the prospective teachers who eventually want to teach in an Ohio classroom. Additionally, teachers and school leaders must receive the support needed to ease the transition as we take significant steps in reading instruction to foster student reading proficiency.
What the governor is proposing and Ohio policy makers are considering is not new, but the alignment of efforts is groundbreaking. It will unify not some, but all Ohio schools in a coordinated effort to boost literacy, and that augurs well for Ohio’s future educational and economic success.
Tom Young is Chair of the Higher Education Committee in the Ohio House of Representatives and represents 37th House District.
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