“If we want to do something about fostering resiliency, let’s remember that reading skills are all-important.”
—Researcher Dr. Emmy E. Werner [called “the mother of resiliency, conducted an iconic 40-year longitudinal study of all children born on the Island of Kauai in 1955]. Quote from “How Children Become Resilient” in Resiliency In Action: Practical Ideas for Overcoming Risks and Building Strengths…p.18)
Before the Pandemic, Louisiana ranked 50th in the country in reading scores, the lowest. Now, the state is the only one in the country to make a full recovery to its pre-pandemic reading levels and it has also surged ahead of most states in current reading achievement. NPR recently reported how the state has completely turned around its reading scores, and how it is becoming a guiding light for other states as well.
Louisiana used its federal COVID relief money to do what resiliency researchers say is foundational to life success: Teach people to read. The Resilient Educator reports severe economic, social, psychological, and health challenges for those who cannot read. It could be argued Louisiana is doing the number one most important thing a state can do for its students’ success by making sure they can read.
What is the secret to the state’s reading achievement? The NPR report documents how it followed recommendations of resiliency researchers in staging its come back. These include offering extensive support (for teachers and students), implementing high expectations for all students (including the poorest and most disadvantaged), changing learning structures to increase bonding and teach life skills, setting/maintaining clear (research-based) boundaries in curriculum, and providing educators and students with all the new life skills needed for reading success throughout the entire process. These recommendations from resiliency research are diagrammed in The Resiliency Wheel.
NPR focused on Natchitoches Parish School District, “one of Louisiana’s poorest” with 91 percent of students considered “disadvantaged”, to show through the story of that district the route to the state’s success.
Superintendent Grant Eloi joined the district in 2019 and describes the chaotic approach to learning that existed when he arrived, with everyone doing something different resulting in confusion and a lack of success. With the extra COVID money the district found the best research-based curriculum in reading that is available, based on what is known as “the science of reading.”
All reading teachers were expected to use it, but had extensive training before and during its implementation, and a cadre of Master Teachers were also trained as constant support for the teachers as they used the new curriculum.
Caring and support for students was emphasized in changing the learning structure to small groups, and by providing intensive individualized tutoring as needed. Small group learning provides immediate feedback for teachers, increases student engagement and bonding through peer collaboration, and teaches the life skills of active listening, turn-taking, and sharing. (https://www.elevatek12.com/blog/elevate-in-action/benefits-of-small-group-instruction/)
Superintendent Eloi was adamant about high expectations for all students. “If you don’t expose students to the highest level of rigor, then what chance to they have of making it out of the cycle of poverty? he said. Cady Caskey, who teaches second grade, described the support she now feels. “Now, if I have a question, I have somebody [a Master Teacher] who I can bounce ideas off of, somebody to come in and support me.”
What has happened in this district has been replicated across the state, with local control districts incentivized at the state level to adopt the same high-quality curriculum and overall teaching approach. Thousands of Louisiana teachers have been trained and in addition to local district Master Teachers, the state provides another level of Master Teacher support that assists “higher need” districts.
Superintendent Eloi states that though this approach is expensive, the value he sees to students is so great, “I don’t care what it takes, we are going to keep those systems in place.”
Speak Your Mind