Dr. Tanya Hettler, Ph.D., is director of the Caesar Rodney Institute Center for Education Policy.
By Tanya Hettler
The Delaware General Assembly passed four laws between 2021 and 2024 regarding teaching literacy in our public schools using evidence-based reading instruction, also known as the Science of Reading (SoR).
A report produced as a result of one of these bills shows that some of our districts are significantly decreasing students’ reading abilities as they progress from kindergarten to third grade while most of the other districts are increasing scores only minimally. In fact the average “at or above benchmark” level reading proficiency for all Delaware districts in kindergarten is 33% and in third grade it is 38%.
Clearly not much literacy education is occurring over those four years.
HB304, the Universal Reading Screening bill, requires schools to test all kindergarten through third grade students three times a year using a Delaware Department of Education approved universal reading assessment to assess their literacy skills and allow for early literacy intervention and prevention.
HB304 also states that the results of this assessment must be reported to the Department of Education and then compiled into a comprehensive report which shall be made “available to the public on the Department’s website.” I am quite certain that you have not seen these annual reports. They are extremely difficult to find.
K-3 Universal Screening and Interventions Annual Report
The scores in this report are abysmal if not criminal. The only district in the state that produces grade level proficiency scores above 50% in third grade is Appoquinimink School District with an at or above grade level reading proficiency of 69%.
Across the state the percentage of students who start school “at or above benchmark” in kindergarten varies quite a bit and ranges from 7% in Laurel School District to 77% in Smyrna School District.
After three years of literacy education that is supposed to be based on evidence-based reading instruction or the Science of Reading (SoR), the average scores of third grade students then range from a low of 17% in Brandywine School District to the high of 69% already mentioned in Appoquinimink.
Although none of the districts other than Appoquinimink perform well, three of the most concerning are Smyrna, Cape Henlopen, and Brandywine.
In Cape Henlopen which is considered to be one of the best districts in the state, the students start with 74% of students “at or above benchmark” proficiency in kindergarten and end up with a score of 46% “at or above benchmark” proficiency in third grade after three years of literacy instruction.
Smyrna also starts with a fortuitous score of 77% of students “at or above benchmark” proficiency in kindergarten and manages to end with a score of 35% “at or above benchmark” proficiency in third grade.
Brandywine starts with a score of 46% of students “at or above benchmark” proficiency in kindergarten and ends up with a score of 17% “at or above benchmark” proficiency in third grade after three years of literacy instruction.
None of these districts is successfully teaching children to read. And sadly the rest of the state is not much better. It seems that Delaware’s schools are completing the literacy assessment due to the requirement of HB 304 but that they are not doing anything with the information that they are obtaining.
One superintendent in the state thinks that the Science of Reading and teaching literacy is just “political” and “ideological”. She does not seem to be aware of the research behind the effectiveness of the Science of Reading nor does she think that schools in Delaware are actually required to teach using SoR. Perhaps this is the view of many of the other administrators and teachers throughout the state as well and thus could explain the terrible literacy results.
It is not acceptable that Delaware’s students are not learning to read when so much research indicates that direct and explicit instruction in the Science of Reading is effective at teaching even the most disadvantaged students. Delaware leaders claim to be concerned with equity but these results show otherwise.
I have previously recommended that the governor declare an education emergency, which he and the Secretary of Education have done. But as you can see this declaration plus the four SoR bills passed in the Delaware legislature have not been effective in improving students’ literacy.
It is well known that students must learn to read in kindergarten through third grade because from fourth grade on they must read to learn. If students are not reading at grade level in third grade they should be held back because they will not succeed in school.
Many students drop out due to discouragement, embarrassment, and bullying due to their inability to read. Much of the disruptive behavior occurring in our schools is a result of students hiding the fact that they cannot read and being bored and disengaged in class. And many of the students who cannot read will take up a life of crime because of their inability to get a job.
When are Delaware’s leaders, districts and schools going to do something about this abhorrent situation? The solution is clear and a part of Delaware law: direct and explicit Science of Reading instruction.
