This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
It’s not quite the “Mississippi Miracle,” but California’s reading scores have been inching upwards since the state poured billions into changing the way students learn to read. A shortage of literacy coaches, however, may be preventing students from improving even more.
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In 2013, before California in K-12 schools, the state ranked for fourth grade reading skills on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card. Only 27% of students scored “proficient” or “advanced” on the reading test, given every two years to students across the country.
The following year California released a new English language arts framework that encourages schools to focus on phonics, vocabulary and other nuts-and-bolts methods when teaching children to read. Phonics-based instruction won’t become mandatory until next year, but most schools have been gradually adopting the method.
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