S.C. considers changing how reading is taught

• If Read to Succeed passes%2C students unable to read on grade level by third grade would repeat grade
• Teachers would have to take classes on how to teach reading%3B cost could be %244%2C800 per teacher
• Some school districts say their reading programs work and shouldn%27t be required to change direction

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Job one for teachers in South Carolina public schools is to teach children to read, according to advocates of legislation that would refocus the state's school system.

Most educators wouldn't argue with that premise. But some are objecting to the approach put forward in a bill that will be up for debate in January called the Read to Succeed Act.

Students unable to read on grade level by third grade could have to repeat the grade, if the bill passes.

Thousands of teachers who were certified in subjects such as algebra or biology also would have to go back to school to take courses in how to teach reading, and they would probably have to pay for the training out of their own pockets.

Greenville County Schools officials say their district already has a reading program that has outperformed the state as a whole and shouldn't be required to change direction.

But the state Education Oversight Committee, an independent panel created by the South Carolina Legislature to hold schools accountable, says that only a statewide, systemic change of focus will end the cycle that leads to dropout and failure of so many students who get by without really learning how to read.

"The state has spent countless dollars in education on reading and our scores are basically still flat," said Barbara Hairfield, vice chair of the Education Oversight Committee and chairman of a subcommittee that undertook a study on the state's reading problems.

"Everybody wants to improve but everybody's out there doing their own thing, and it's not working," said Hairfield, who is also social studies curriculum coordinator for the Charleston County School District.

A catch-up summer

Too many students who make it to middle and high school without adequate reading skills are unable to unlock the knowledge in their textbooks and become discouraged, Hairfield said.

If Read to Succeed becomes law, students who are not at the level they should be by the end of third grade would be required to enroll in a "summer reading camp." Exceptions would be made for students for whom English is their second language, or who have a disability or already have failed a grade.

Those who don't catch up during the summer program would be provided at least 90 minutes a day of intensive reading instruction when they repeat third grade. Parents would receive reports at least monthly on their children's progress.

Students who by Nov. 1 of the year they're retained demonstrate that they're ready to move up to fourth grade could be promoted mid-year, if the bill becomes law.

Sen. Harvey Peeler, a Republican from Gaffney, S.C., the primary sponsor of the bill, got the Legislature to approve $1.5 million for the summer program in the current budget, according to the Education Oversight Committee. That includes the cost of transportation for students.

Peeler said he's confident that the bill will pass.

"It's gaining momentum every day and I think it'll be full speed by January when we go back into session." he said.

The part of the bill about retraining teachers would mandate that all 52,000 current teachers as well as school administrators take college courses to earn a literacy "endorsement," Education Oversight Committee officials said.

"Teachers fourth grade and up don't know how to diagnose reading problems and prescribe what to do about it," Hairfield said. "It's not that they don't want to help the kids. They haven't been trained to do it."

The bill doesn't stipulate how those courses would be paid for, but an economic impact statement done by the Office of State Budget says the state Department of Education "assumes teachers and administrators will pay the cost for this coursework," which it estimates would come to $4,800 per teacher.

Hairfield said the Education Oversight Committee hopes to work out arrangements with the colleges and school districts to cover two-thirds of the cost, leaving one-third for teachers to pay.

Just Read!

The bill is patterned after a program called Just Read, Florida! The Education Oversight Committee picked it as a model after studying the approaches taken by other states that have had success in improving students' reading skills, Melanie Barton, the oversight committee's executive director.

The program, initiated by then-Gov. Jeb Bush, is credited with helping raise Florida students' reading scores between 2001 and 2010. Students did better in each grade level tested, grades 3-10.

"It really did focus attention on reading like it had never been before," said Cheryl Etters, press secretary for the Florida Department of Education.

South Carolina Superintendent of Education Mick Zais favors a streamlined bill that would focus on the third grade "promotion gateway" — although he'd also like to see another one between seventh and eighth grades.

Zais favors requiring teachers to take at least one reading course but believes it should be part of their re-certification, which is already required, rather than an additional credit, said spokesman Jay W. Ragley said.

Teacher, district reaction

Some teachers are opposed to the idea of the state mandating additional coursework that they might have to pay for out of their own pockets.

"We need to do whatever we can do for our students in South Carolina to be successful," said Jackie Hicks, president of the South Carolina Education Association. "But if we're not going to step up and provide the resources needed, we're going to be doomed for failure."

Peeler said the idea of the state picking up the tab for some of that hasn't been ruled out, but regardless, he said, "I think it will be money well spent."

Jason McCreary, director of accountability and quality assurance for Greenville County Schools, has even more concerns about the legislation.

For starters, he said there's no evidence that students who are held back in third grade because they can't read on grade level do any better by simply repeating the grade.

He'd rather see more effort put into early intervention, before students reach that point.

"We have models that work and have research behind it," he said. "And I would say rather than experiment that we may want to have a broader discussion about what around the state we have done that works, give it the support it needs and implement those models on a broader scale."

Greenville County Schools may have some of those models as reading scores have improved at each grade level, he said.

Grove Elementary School in Piedmont, S.C., earned an A on the federal No Child Left Behind accountability grade for 2012-13. It also ranked among the highest performing Title I schools in the state.

Principal Deborah Bauer credits the school's improvement in reading to a program in which teachers give students reading help in small groups based on their achievement level.

"It can take a lot of different looks, however the whole focus in it is the flexibility of teaching children at the level they need to have instruction in so they can move to higher levels," she said.

The idea of requiring middle and high school teachers to go back to school to learn how to teach reading also makes little sense to McCreary.

All teachers should be able to recognize if their students' reading level is holding them back, but they should refer those students to a reading specialist rather than be expected to teach them how to read, he argues.

"I'm not going to go to an auto mechanic if I have a fever," he said. "We have trained teachers who specialize in reading and understand how to teach it."

All teachers in core curriculum subjects "teach reading and writing within their art, which is different than teaching a student how to read," he said.

Some higher education officials support the program.

Linda Gambrell, a professor of literacy education at Clemson who is on a committee at the university looking into the Read to Succeed issue, said she sees a need for teachers to have more training in how to teach reading, particularly in light of new research into how children learn to read.

"One of the big points of concern has been that teaching reading is very complex. It's a process," she said. "It's not like teaching the content in other areas such as science and history and social studies. You're really teaching cognitive strategies."