NC sees big increase in reading skills among K-3 students. Is the state back on track?
North Carolina education leaders are offering hope, through the release of new reading results, that students are rebounding from pandemic learning losses.
New literacy results released this week show that more North Carolina students in kindergarten through third grade are on track than a year ago. In addition, the state is outperforming the nation on those same assessments that are used to track how well early elementary school students are learning to read.
“We can say with certainty that the post-pandemic rebound began last year for our kindergarten through third-graders,” State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said at this week’s State Board of Education meeting. “North Carolina continues to close gaps.
“We’re continuing to see improvement for all grade levels. We’re continuing to see improvement across all subgroups.”
Test scores had plummeted statewide and nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many students missed in-person instruction for a year-and-a-half.
Statewide math, reading and science results for the 2022-23 school year will be released in September. They’ll help detail how much recovery has occurred in elementary, middle and high schools.
More students on track
Under the state’s Read To Achieve program, teachers use Amplify Education’s DIBELS 8 (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) assessment at the beginning, middle and end of the school year to track the progress of K-3 students.
▪ The percentage of K-3 students who were “on track” for reading increased from 45% at the start of the 2022-23 school year to 65% at the end of the school year.
▪ The 65% of K-3 students who were on track at the end of last school year was higher than the 59% at the end of the 2021-22 school year.
▪ The biggest gains were among the youngest students. For instance, the percentage of kindergarten students who were on track increased 46% percentage points over the course of last school year.
▪ North Carolina outscored the nation both in the percentage of K-3 students who were on track at the end of last school year and in the percentage point gain over the course of the year.
Science of reading training
Truitt and other education leaders gave a large part of the credit to the new LETRS science of reading training.
LETRS, which stands for “Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling,” stresses phonics when teaching students how to read. The state’s 44,000 elementary teachers have to complete the 160 hours of training by 2024.
“I hope that this confirms to all of them that work was worth it because these are students who are going to go forward in their educations with the kind of base that they have to have to be successful,” said state board member Jill Camnitz.
Truitt said it makes sense that kindergarten and first-grade students saw the biggest gains because they’re learning from the start from teachers who have LETRS training. In contrast, she said second- and third-grade students were still dealing from having missed a large amount of in-person instruction during the pandemic.
Truitt said options will be presented to the General Assembly next year on how to improve the reading of the post K-3 students.
Donna Bledsoe, the principal of Cedar Ridge Elementary School in Surry County, said she’s seen the benefits of LETRS both among her teachers and in the reading performance of her own son.
“Teachers are excited,” said Bledsoe, who serves as an advisor to the state board after being named North Carolina Principal of the Year. “It gave a how-to for Read to Achieve. I believe it will pay dividends.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2023 at 3:16 PM.
