Viewpoint by Senators Saltzman and Olson:

Learning to read is every child's right

Well, the angels are here. They are not only looking after fourth graders, but all struggling readers.  These angels are moms (and dads) who don’t accept the status quo because they have experienced firsthand the pain of watching their own bright children struggle to read. But, they have also seen amazing success when their children receive instruction based on scientific researched reading strategies.

What we find so impressive about these parents is that they believe money and luck should not determine if a child receives the reading instruction they need.  These are parents who have had the means and time to seek out private tutors and special after-school classes for their children. Now they speak for all children and are on a mission that we believe is key to closing the achievement gap in this state.

Children learn to read; then they read to learn. Reading is absolutely critical to success in all other academic areas, which is why we cannot wait until third grade to intervene.  Once children fall behind, it takes extraordinary efforts for them to catch up, and most do not.  Some states have used their third grade reading scores to predict the number of future prison beds.  

Every child needs to learn to read. If research and data point to specific strategies that work, let’s do everything we can to ensure that our teachers are equipped with the most effective instructional strategies to achieve that end.

Surprisingly, Keillor’s simple and sensible suggestion that "teaching phonics really works" has caused quite a ruckus.  One professor compared phonics to astrology.  Others suggest that if parents only put more books in front of kids, all would be well in Lake Wobegone. 

Unfortunately, for some children, an enriched environment and more books is simply not enough. After reviewing over 115,000 reading research studies, the National Reading Panel concluded that the most effective reading strategies for struggling readers include five strands: phonemic awareness (breaking apart sounds in words), phonics (teaching that letters represent sounds and blending them together creates words), fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.  

As a freshman Democrat and an eight-term Republican, we co-chair a truly bipartisan Senate Work Group on Early Intervention and Literacy. Senator Chuck Wiger, Education Committee Chair, has given us tremendous support.  Our bottom-line is this:  No child should be required to experience the trauma associated with failure in reading.

Working with these "angels,” we are proposing legislation that will put real meaning into existing state statute that already requires our teacher colleges to incorporate these effective reading strategies into their curriculum. However, to ensure teachers develop these critical skills and knowledge, we are proposing that new teachers be able to access alternative programs that provide instruction in these methods and that they demonstrate competency by passing a foundations in literacy test.   

In visiting schools across the state, we have heard from too many young teachers that they were not prepared and did not have the skills to identify and teach the over 30% of children in their classrooms who are struggling to read.  School districts find they must send new teachers to basic literacy workshops before they even enter the classroom. 

When over 30% of Minnesota's children cannot read proficiently, there is too much at stake to not implement strategies that work.  Thank you, Garrison Keillor for using your inimitable style to raise public attention to this critical issue.

_______________________________

Sen. Kathy Saltzman (DFL-Woodbury) and Sen. Gen Olson (R-Minnetrista) serve on the Senate Education Policy and E-12 Finance Committees and co-chair the Early Intervention and Literacy Work Group.  For more information on their efforts, visit the website www.mnright2read.org .