These past few months, I have been trying to learn Korean—and boy, is it difficult. I feel like I am back in first grade, stumbling through sounds and symbols (the Korean word for “hello” being five syllables doesn’t make it easier). Learning a new language with a new alphabet reminds me of students beginning their educational careers. Reading is not natural to the human brain like speaking is—it is a skill that requires quality instruction to develop.
Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) is focusing on boosting reading instruction for this upcoming school year. Specifically, KCPS is requiring all early elementary teachers, reading specialists, and other reading-adjacent teachers to learn evidence-based reading methods through LETRS. LETRS, passed in 2022, is a program designed to retrain Missouri’s K–5 teaching force in the science of reading.
The director of elementary curriculum at KCPS stated: “Teachers that are coming into the profession just don’t have the science of reading background from universities.” According to the National Council of Teacher Quality (NCTQ), this is a valid claim.
The NCTQ conducted a survey to evaluate which universities are implementing scientifically based reading instruction into their curriculum for future teachers—and the results are concerning. Per the survey, only 25 percent of higher education institutions nationally adequately address all five core components (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) of reading instruction. Missouri is no better, as nearly half of our participating universities received an F grade on the NCQT’s report.
There are still 70 districts and charters that are not participating at all in the LETRS program, and many more are not embracing evidence-based reading instruction. Reading achievement has improved in states that embraced this practice. If reams and reams of research support the use of evidence-based reading instruction, then why are districts ignoring it? How are our students learning instead? Why are our universities neglecting to properly educate prospective teachers? These are questions that Missouri parents deserve to have answered.
