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Dive Brief:

• Tammy Mangus, superintendent of the Monticello Community School District in New York, tells teachers to use truthful kindness and necessary action when it comes to helping students catch up with literacy skills.
• Mangus writes for eSchool News that some teachers have the mistaken belief that it is kinder to pass students who don’t meet standards, when that really sets them up for continued failure in more advanced classes.
• Elementary schools in the Monticello district use Reading Horizons to help kids read at grade level by third grade, and the entire district uses data to help target interventions and keep student progress transparent.

Dive Insight:

Literacy is a gateway to all other academic subjects. If students can read, they can learn about history, science, math, social studies and more. But too often, schools stop teaching students how to read after elementary school. Some of the most successful districts nationwide encourage middle and high schools to maintain a focus on reading, building students’ vocabulary and working on comprehension while asking students to read to gain new knowledge. Some principals may not feel they have the content area expertise to be literacy leaders in their schools, but spearheading a professional learning focus on literacy is one way administrators can orchestrate a shift.

Digital tools provide schools with a unique opportunity to personalize learning for students, giving them the exact support they need when they need it. Focusing that power on literacy instruction is an effort that can have ripple effects across the academic spectrum.