Report lists best methods to teach young readers

AUGUSTA – School districts can turn for help to a new report that spells out the six key elements in early childhood literacy education.

The report, released Tuesday by Commissioner of Education Duke Albanese and First Lady Mary Herman, is meant to cement the state’s already strong foundation in early literacy and to create a sturdier base for meeting new educational standards called the Learning Results.

A lack of sound language skills means pupils will be less likely to attain the knowledge envisioned in the Learning Results, Albanese said at a press conference at the Blaine House.

While Maine students consistently score among the best in the nation on standardized reading and writing tests, that is only a relative performance, he said. In contrast, the Learning Results set standards all students are expected to reach in Maine.

The report, which was two years in the making, studied schools around the state that had high fourth-grade scores on the Maine Educational Assessments, or higher scores than would be expected given their socioeconomic circumstances.

The pool was narrowed down to 14 schools, which ranged in size from 24 to more than 800 students. They varied in wealth from a school where only 7 percent of students received free or reduced lunches to one where 97 percent did.

The report found the schools had a half dozen common “cornerstones” supporting early literacy education. They were:

. Professional development for teachers in literacy instruction that is supported by school administrators.

. The use of student performance data to target needed resources and to plan professional development.

. Teachers working together to find answers to instructional problems.

. Effective leadership, especially from principals and literacy specialists.

. Parental and community involvement that reinforce school lessons.

. The use of multiple means to teach reading and writing.

Connie Goldman of St. Joseph’s College, head of the working group that wrote the report, said at the press conference that while there is a general pattern of practices that work well with most children, not all teaching methods work with all children.

“There is no one best way to teach reading,” she said.

Goldman noted that the report discusses “blending” the various ways of teaching reading and writing, including phonics, basal readers, literature, and composition.

“We’re not trying to resolve the reading wars,” she said.

Instead, the report lays out basic practices to help schools with noticeable numbers of students who are not reading as well a they ought to be.

According to Yellow Breen, the education department’s director of special projects, part of the report’s purpose is to help schools that are trying to teach the bottom quarter of readers by letting them know there are a variety of strategies.

Mary Herman, who is involved with family literacy efforts, underscored the need to have parents involved in helping children learn to read.

Herman said she grew up in a family where she saw her father and grandfather reading regularly and where she was read to. But too many families lack a “daily reading ethic” that sets the table for children, she said.

To assist schools, a Center for Inquiry on Literacy has been established within the education department.

LeeAnne Larsen works as both a literacy specialist in the Messalonskee School Department and in the literacy center. Larsen said that most of her time is spent in the field, working with schools on professional development.

Albanese said that the education department, along with various professional associations and the state university system, will be sponsoring professional development programs around the state in the coming year.

While the report released Tuesday is intended to paint a broad-brush picture of underlying characteristics of schools with strong literacy achievement, according to its executive summary, the literacy center will conduct in-depth research on effective early literacy programs.