Literacy center, Reading Recovery under scrutiny following Courier Journal investigation

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Visibly frustrated state lawmakers on Wednesday questioned subjects of a recent Courier Journal investigation on whether they are serving the reading needs of Kentucky students.

George Hruby, executive director of the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development (CCLD), and Lindy Harmon, director of Reading Recovery in the state, appeared before the panel of lawmakers in a Capitol annex meeting room. The morning questioning lasted about 40 minutes.

Lawmakers' inquiries primarily focused on Reading Recovery, an intervention program under national scrutiny for its instructional methods.

Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, Sen. Steven West, R-Paris, and Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, each sat on the committee. The three legislators, who pushed through a new state literacy law earlier this year, said they were not satisfied with the testimony.

"I think they talk in circles," Bojanowski told The Courier Journal following the hearing.

"It's kind of more of the same," West said.

"It's frustrating," Tipton added. "And it's frustrating, because we want to see improvement now."

Spring 2022 testing results show less than half of Kentucky's third through fifth graders were considered proficient readers, while nearly 30% outright failed their exams.

Both Hruby and Harmon are based at the University of Kentucky. Their testimony comes two weeks after The Courier Journal published Between the Lines, its monthslong investigation into why Kentucky's kids can't read and who's to blame.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Why Kentucky's kids can't read and who's to blame

That investigation found CCLD is not meeting its annual statutory requirements, including its duty to serve as a clearinghouse of research on effective literacy instruction. The Courier Journal also found CCLD, which is charged with teacher development, has not provided training about how kids' brains learns to read — knowledge experts say is beneficial for educators teaching reading.

The investigation additionally found CCLD is providing $500,000 of its annual budget to Reading Recovery. Critics say that program teaches children habits of poor readers, such as looking at pictures to figure out unknown words.

"We do not platform particular programs or philosophies or orientations to instruction," Hruby told lawmakers in an opening statement.

Harmon sat at his side.

Following the hearing, West told The Courier Journal he didn't buy Hruby's argument.

"They're clearly pushing Reading Recovery as the only possible option to reading improvement in Kentucky," West said.

Picture cueing scrutinized

In supporting documents provided to lawmakers, CCLD said its services have supported more than 560,000 K-12 students since 2018.

One of those services is Reading Recovery, the documents highlighted.

Schools across Kentucky employed more than 260 trained Reading Recovery teachers last school year, according to the program.

Reading Recovery's proponents say the program meets students' individual needs. It pairs struggling readers one-on-one with a reading teacher for 30 minutes a day, for up to an entire school year.

Prior research has shown students' reading levels improve after one year of Reading Recovery instruction.

But a study released earlier this year found the program may have a negative impact on kids' reading skills in the long-run.

Reading Recovery lessons include activities based on phonics and its precursor skill, phonemic awareness.

Critics say that time spent on phonics is too brisk and not systematic.

Bojanowksi is one of those critics.

She took issue Wednesday with the program's use of "cueing" with struggling readers. For example, a Reading Recovery teacher might instruct a student to look at a picture in a book when they are not sure about a word.

Research has shown reliance on picture cues to be a habit of poor readers. Strong readers decode, or sound out, words.

At one point during the hearing, Bojanoswki read from a Reading Recovery training manual: "'If a child has bias towards using mainly letters, the teacher may orient the child to a picture as a source of meaning.'"

"It just infuriates me to think that we have this (in schools)," Bojanowski said.

Harmon defended the practice, which Reading Recovery refers to as "crosschecking."

It's a way for children to mentally monitor their comprehension of a text, she said.

"We do ask children to check on themselves and give them those self-regulation strategies to work with meaning and visual information," Harmon said. "... And so we do ask them to crosscheck. And some people call that a queuing system."

'All pistons firing'

There is a vast body of research demonstrating how the brain learns to read. It is often referred to as the Science of Reading.

Hruby previously told The Courier Journal he is a proponent of the Science of Reading, but his statements have appeared to put him at odds with parts of that research.

Primarily at issue is what type of phonics instruction children should receive in the early primary grades — and how much.

Wednesday's hearing was before a budget subcommittee for the Interim Joint Committee on Education. In testimony in June before the full committee, Hruby told lawmakers that though phonics is important, it doesn't matter how it's taught.

Research, however, has found that 60% of students will need explicit, systematic phonics instruction to become proficient readers. In kindergarten through second grade classrooms, this could look like a daily 20-minute lesson going through phonics skills that build from one to the next.

More:‘Stuck in a belief system’: Why Kentucky reading teachers focus on feelings over science

On Wednesday, Hruby said students need "all pistons firing."

"They need their phonics, they need their phonemic awareness," he said. "They certainly need their fluency, but they also need vocabulary development and comprehension development."

The Courier Journal found in its October investigation that CCLD's trainings and online resources have focused more heavily on comprehension, with little emphasis on direct phonics lessons, also known as "structured literacy."

CCLD has not posted any research on explicit phonics instruction. Nor has it posted any recent research.

Pressed by Tipton as to why CCLD has not updated its website with new research since 2016, Hruby said the center did not have an information technology employee for nine months.

More:Kentucky keeps throwing money at a controversial reading program that may not even work

A 'hot topic' for the 2023 Kentucky General Assembly

Rep. Steve Riley, R-Glasgow, said during the hearing that reading, along with math, must be Kentucky's "most important subject areas."

"And then our next most important subject areas need to be reading and math. And then our next ones need to be reading and math," he said. "And we cannot emphasize those areas enough because eventually they affect all the rest of education. This is what our students need. I think this is what our parents demand."

West said he expects literacy to remain a "hot topic" as the General Assembly heads into its 2023 session.

"It's clear that that we need to take a deep dive, put money where it needs to go and and have this as a top priority in Kentucky."

Mandy McLaren: 502-582-4525; mmclaren@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @mandy_mclaren.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Lawmakers question Reading Recovery, lack of Science of Reading