“more than half of educators failed their first attempt on an exam that seeks to measure knowledge of reading instruction”
Danielle DuClos and Kayla Huynh:
Most Wisconsin students are poor readers. Each year, about three out of every five typically fail to score proficient in state reading tests.
But it’s not just students struggling. Wisconsin’s prospective teachers haven’t fared much better in exams they must pass to become a licensed educator.
In the most recent year of reported results, more than half of educators failed their first attempt on an exam that seeks to measure knowledge of reading instruction.
Like statewide student test scores, Wisconsin’s passage rates for these exams have steadily declined in the last eight years. A recent report by state authorities even raised alarm that a downward trend in these exams “is undoubtedly impacting the workforce.”
This fall, a new law called Act 20 is taking effect in Wisconsin with the goal of improving student literacy by making sure educators use evidence-based practices known as the science of reading.
The law is also focusing more attention on teachers transitioning from college to Act 20 changes in classrooms, said Andrea Ednie, associate dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
“It’s kind of an opportune time to really learn about how that transition works and what’s happening in the schools,” she said.
Donna Hejtmanek, a national reading advocate and former Wisconsin teacher, helped author the new literacy law. While others question the significance of Wisconsin’s passage rates on teacher exams, Hejtmanek said the results are reflecting a teacher knowledge problem.
Hejtmanek runs a Facebook group with over 200,000 members that serves as a space for conversations and training about teaching literacy. If more educators learned evidence-based reading practices in college, Hejtmanek said, Wisconsin would have fewer struggling students.
“We have kids struggling to read and teachers that don’t have the adequate skills to teach reading.”
“We have kids struggling to read and teachers that don’t have the adequate skills to teach reading,” Hejtmanek said. “They don’t understand how kids learn to read. They’re using ineffective practices of what they had learned in college because that’s what they were told.”
Teachers educated at UW-Madison have historically produced the state’s best passage rates on the reading instruction exam. Two years ago, 17% failed to pass on their first attempts. In the same year, by comparison, two-thirds of test-takers from UW-Whitewater, a top conferrer of education degrees in the state, failed to pass on their first attempts.
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This is an -essential- story.
1 addition: Does Massachusetts truly have less trouble with the FORT?
1 comment: “Educator programs are required under the new [reading] law to show DPI that evidence-based instruction is part of their curriculums.” I cannot wait to see! Woo hoo!
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Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are seeking substantial 607M+ tax and spending increases via referendum this fall.
Madison taxpayers of long supported far above average K – 12 spending.
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”
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Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
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