The way children are taught to read in Michigan varies greatly
At the heart of academic research on the reading movement is a new report: The type of reading instruction a student receives in Michigan depends largely on the public school he or she attends.
Some of the materials most commonly used in Michigan’s elementary schools to teach reading are not rated highly, according to a new report released this week by researchers at Michigan State University. The report, from MSU’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, surveyed thousands of preschool through fifth-grade teachers and 87 district superintendents across the state about the curriculum materials used in the classroom.
The researchers compared the 10 most commonly used ELA curricula with ratings of these resources by several rating organizations. EdReports, one of these rating organizations, rates the materials as “meets expectations,” “partially meets expectations,” and “does not meet expectations.”
Of the 10 most common methods, half met expectations for research-based methods, according to EdReports. Three methods did not quite meet expectations, and two were not rated by EdReports. One of the most popular methods among Michigan educators, Units of Study for Teaching Reading, the curriculum developed by literacy professor Lucy Calkins, was recently criticized by parents and some education leaders as an ineffective method for teaching children to read.
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Yet Michigan has a vast array of materials used to teach children to read, making it difficult to fully understand the scope—and gaps—of reading instruction across the state.
“In Michigan, classrooms still use a wide variety of teaching materials: 444,” said Tanya Wright, one of the report’s authors. “From teacher to teacher or district to district, children use very different teaching materials.”
Reading instruction in Michigan
The researchers compared their findings from the 2022-23 school year with an earlier survey conducted in the 2019-20 school year. They found that a higher proportion of educators, 32%, used ELA curricula that met expectations in the 2022-23 school year, compared to 12.3% in the 2019-20 school year, according to EdReports.
Researchers found:
- That districts that serve a higher proportion of students from low-income families are more likely to use curricula that meet expectations.
- More and more teachers are receiving one-on-one instruction and other professional development in literacy skills.
- Primary school teachers often supplement core teaching with additional resources to promote writing, phonetic comprehension and spelling.
Wright said the current passionate national debate about the so-called science of reading, or the research on how children learn to read, may have led to some changes in the classroom.
“It’s also really important to remember that reading science is not just about phonics, it’s about children’s knowledge development, supporting children’s comprehension and making sure children become fluent readers,” she said. “It’s about more than just phonics, but I think we can see in this report that there’s attention being paid to that national discussion.”
Draft laws on dyslexia not yet passed
Teaching all students is critical, but for years policymakers and literacy experts have pointed out that there is another major problem with reading instruction in Michigan: Experts say Michigan schools do not adequately test for dyslexia, a common learning disability that affects word recognition.
It’s been more than three years since lawmakers proposed a bill that would require teachers to screen all students for signs of dyslexia, but the bills have been defeated in every session. This legislative session, the Michigan Senate passed the package, but the House has yet to take up the bill.
Although the Michigan State University report does not address dyslexia but reading instruction in general, Michael Rice, who works for the Michigan Department of Education, wrote in a press release that the study released this week “reinforces that now is the time for the Michigan State Legislature to pass legislation to address literacy and dyslexia in elementary and high school.”
“Once passed, this bill will help give educators the knowledge, training and resources they need to teach students to read using research methods based on the science of reading,” he wrote.
Contact Lily Altavena: [email protected].
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