06/26/2023
ACTION NEEDED AGAIN TODAY by everyone in the network! Please get in touch with your teachers as well.
The Senate Education Committee will vote on the bill tomorrow. We know that reading is a complex process, and this bill mandates a single, simple approach, going against what science tells us. I can't express enough how this bill could possibly make it illegal for us to ask a student if a word makes sense or sounds right. Single, simple solutions to complex problems don't work. I have searched the bill, and no where in the language is the word 'responsive.' The subtitle of are intervention model is Nurturing Self-Regulated Learners Through Responsive Teaching. This bill could be devastating to our students, our teachers and coaches, and our model in the state. Most likely, all of our interventions would be gone.
Also, the bill is mandating LETRS training. There is only one research study, that qualified to be included in the WWC, as to the efficacy of that training with second grade teachers, and it did not increase student achievement. You should know that the company behind LETRS has been lobbying at the state level for over two years.
When you call, you might say any or all of the following:
*You are opposed to SB329.
*It mandates a single, simple solution to a complex problem.
*It ignores the many sciences of reading.
*Reading is a meaning-making process that goes far beyond the phonics-only approach in the bill.
*It mandates training that has no evidence that it increases reading outcomes.
*It removes teacher decision-making through policy.
*It misreads the National Reading Panel Report the bill references.
Or reach out to me if you need more.
Below is a copy of an email the Wisconsin State Reading Association sent this morning. It contains accurate and helpful information for you.
Brian
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Dear WSRA members,
It is critical that you contact your state senator daily to educate them on the harm Senate Bill 329 (SB329) will have on Wisconsin children. The Senate Education Committee will vote on the bill, with the amendments listed below, on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. The full senate will probably vote a day or two later. Legislators need accurate information that dispels the myths circulating in the media.
On Wednesday afternoon June 21, 2023, the full assembly passed Assembly Bill 321 (AB321) with the amendments included below:
*Retention in the subject of reading, rather than in 3rd grade as a whole.
*ALL schools in the state prohibited from using 3 cueing.
*Schools must adopt a recommended curriculum from a list provided by DPI in order to be eligible for reimbursement grants for purchasing costs.
*Mandatory LETRS training from Voyager Sopris to Lexia Learning Systems, LLC. for all k-2 teachers, principals, reading teachers, reading coaches, UW faculty, etc. by July 2025
Here are pertinent facts regarding this bill:
*DPI worked collaboratively in an opaque process with the Assembly and Senate Education Committees, most specifically with Representative Kitchens (author of the bill) as stated by Rep. Kitchens’ testimony to develop this bill
*State Superintendent Jill Underly’s Reading Advisory Council was not consulted nor informed of this legislation nor were other major professional organizations such as WEAC, the Wisconsin State Reading Association, Professors of Literacy, and administrative groups.
*This bill foregrounds phonics as the solution to Wisconsin’s literacy issues without establishing root causes, an unscientific assumption.
*DPI and Representative Kitchens foregrounded phonics by awarding the Lexia Company (LETRS) the monetary prize for mandated training for all teachers, despite their level of expertise or their passing of the FoRT.
*Contradictory mandates not supported by science are part of this legislation making it more difficult for some of our students to become skilled readers.
*The National Reading Panel Report (2000) is the bill’s go-to reference for research supporting basic programs in the preparation of elementary education teachers. This report contradicts the foregrounding of phonics for early readers in this legislation.
*The National Reading Panel Report informs educators of the importance of “the flexible use of strategies for recognizing words in print…Strategies readers can use to discover meaning from print and to monitor their own comprehension.” (NRP Section 5,).
*The National Reading Panel Report states that phonics, grammar, and meaning are all important aspects of identifying words in print; but they are outlawed in this bill by being referred as 3-cueing. NRP Section 5.
*The National Reading Panel Report states “Reading means not only recognizing words and knowing their meanings, but also understanding how they fit into a context of grammatical structure.” This is outlawed in this bill!! NRP Appendix A
*The National Reading Panel Report states “When unfamiliar words are read in text, students may apply decoding skills, or they may combine grapheme-phoneme cues with meaning cues to derive the word (Tunmer & Chapman, 1998).” Outlawed in this bill!!! NRP 2-32
*The National Reading Panel Report states that “Phonics should not become the dominant component in a reading program, neither in the amount of time devoted to it nor in the significance attached…By emphasizing all of the processes that contribute to growth in reading, teachers will have the best chance of making every child a reader.” Outlawed in this bill!!! NRP 2-136
*The National Reading Panel Report states that “Learning about letter-sound associations helps beginners break the code in learning to read. However, the English writing system has other higher level, word-based regularities as well, so, although phonics instruction contributes, it is not the complete solution to word identification that it is in other written languages that are more fully phonemic (e.g., Spanish).” NRP 2-100
Robust scientific studies show privileging phonics does not improve student achievement:
*Reading First Grant Impact Study (2008) found that spending 6 billion dollars through the Reading First Grant mandating a heavy emphasis on phonics and a skills-based approach did not improve students’ reading achievement.
*The 2022 study (Wyse &Bradbury)in England found no increase in student achievement after ten years spent privileging phonics instruction.
Ideology and for-profit companies, not science and a commitment to responsive teaching of our diverse children, appear to be the drivers of SB-329. Contact your state senator TODAY!
Thank you,
Wisconsin State Reading Association
