J!ll MacDonald 🇨🇦

Someone asked me what I would do to fix the reading crisis if money was not an issue. Here is the thing, problem is not that we don’t know what can or should be done. In fact, knowing what to do to fix it is probably the easy part. The problem is knowing how do you go about changing a system rooted in a ina faulty philosophy about how kids become readers and rooted in evidence practice. Since I am not an administrator and my experience is K-6 there is a limitation to what I can say, but these are some of the changes I would make: I would expect that administrator impacting literacy and every teacher would be trained to understand evidence-based reading instruction and the role they can play if they they are not classroom teachers. I would promote an all hands on deck. - I would actively seek the de-implementation of poor practices, provide teachers with high-quality coaching, and invest in evidence-based programs, invest in decodable books for all classrooms along with picture books so kids have a range of books to read based on their reading needs and preferences. I would make sure to keep classroom size small in the early grades to increase teacher’s ability to provide individual timely feedback. I would focus on the early identification of at-risk students, and providing the students who need it with high-quality interventions at the right intensity and frequency by highly qualified teachers. I would make sure that instruction was data-driven and that there was a multi-tier system of instructional support and that whether or not students were classified they would evidence based reading intervention or support. I would also reeducate and train staff about what is explicit evidence based reading instruction and coach them toward successful use of it. That is where I would start. What would you add?

I will die on this hill...