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NJ added tools to boost K-3 reading

New laws address drop in post-COVID scores

By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... New Jersey's youngest readers and their teaches should expect new tools and new rules in there classrooms this fall, [2025] as school implement two laws designed to reboot reading instruction from kindergarten through the third grade.
..... The state will establish a free professional development program for elementary teachers, library specialists and other faculty members on :evidence-based foundational literacy instruction: - meaning a reliance on teaching methods that have been proven by scientific studies, rather than trends and personal preferences,.
..... And the new laws will require schools to notify parents of children in those grades about their reading levels twice a year, and within 30 days of performance tests given to check for potential reading difficulties.
..... These new laws are part of a legislative bandwagon that kicked in all over the country as sate governments responded to what many experts call a post-pandemic literacy crisis among younger children.
..... After test scores showed nationwide declines in early-grade reading a year after the COVID-19 pandemic ended in 2022, New Jersey education advocates and lawmakers, led by Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, called on the Murphy administration to implement changes that catch struggling readers early and train teaches to take on learning loss.
..... Only 38% of fourth grade students were reading at a proficient level in 2022, and there was no improvement two years later, according to the National Assessment for Educational Progress; biannual test of English and math performance, also called the nation;s Report Card.
..... Only 44% of third graders exceeded reading expectations in state testing, 2024 results showed.
.... "The outcomes for the most part have not changed - we're inched up over the 50% mark, but barely," said Paula White, executive director of JerseyCAN, a K-12 advocacy group. "We have about 50% of learners who are not reading at grade level in third grade."
..... Leading the effort to improve literacy among younger students is New Jersey's newly established office of Learning Equity and Academic Recovery, also a result of the new laws.
..... Its main task is to improve academic recovery in English and reading, while also tracking data collected from schools. Its website issues detailed guidance for schools developed through partnerships with Rutgers University and the SPAN Parent Advocacy Network.
..... White was a forceful voice pushing for the state to move fast in drafting the literacy bills. Governor Phil Murphy signed them into law last August. [2025]

Money for literacy coaches

..... The pressure form the state to push changes in how schools teach reading isn't enough, white said. Schools need other frameworks in place to make the laws succeeded, she said.
..... "Passing laws isn't enough," White said. "We want that action and guidance to help our public schools."
..... She noted that there are schools whose students test in single digits of proficiency.
..... White has proposed hiring literacy coaches for classrooms, selecting Science of Reading approaches - which develop students; phonemic awareness as a foundation for reading - over other reading lessons, and ensuring teachers make in-class and at-home reading plans for struggling students and their parents.
..... Funding for literacy coaches is particularly important to have the laws succeed, she said.
..... "The state needs to allocate money in the budget for schools to hire literacy coaches that can be trained out of the LEAR office," White said. "Making sure that we have literacy coaches to support teachers is key. That made a big difference in states like Mississippi."

More screeners, less "three-cueing"

..... Changing how reading is taught also means "eliminating" lessons hat sue a "three-cueing approach," in which kids are asked to guess a word based on a picture or other clues, White said, referring to methods that came under scrutiny in recent years.
..... Students will also receive reading support based on a multi-tiered system that addresses their individual needs.
..... "There are no quick fixes. It is a process," said Kristina Phelan, a reading specialist in the Tinton Falls School district in Monmouth County. "For example, if I have three groups of second graders, each of these groups ... needs very different things. And the way you find out what these students need is through a universal screener."
..... Literacy screeners and the state-mandateding kids read was transformational for her as a teacher, Phelan said.
..... Tinton Falls began suing a testing system called DIBELS in the 2019-2020 school year to screen. it now uses the system to assesses all K-2 students three times a year, said Phelan, a member of The Working Group on Student Literacy, a group of teachers and reading experts who issued 16 recommendations to support the state's literacy push.
.... How much of this makes it into classrooms - given district priorities, funding issues and huge teacher shortages - reaming to be seen.
..... School districts learned about the creation of the LEAR office in February. [2025] The state issued its Literacy Framework guidance in May. [2025]
..... The state has taken an approach "that blends proven, evidence-based instructional methods with tried-and-true approach such as phonics and regular screening tools to keep educators and families informed of student progress," said Kevin Dehmer, the state education commissioner.
..... Two grant programs totaling $5.25 million will support districts. The FOCUS grant will support districts that need to purchase literacy screeners. The BRIDGE grant will be "a competitive grant supporting the sue of screening data" to implement lessons in K-3 classrooms," the state said.
..... Though the state has "worked hard and issued detailed guidance" on how to select literacy screens, it has yet to recommended any, White said.
..... "Given the learning curve of some of our 590-plus districts, we can be sure a significant number will not have the staff or knowledge base on bandwidth to select screeners," White said "It would be great for them to preview some of this."

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