Rehobes, Alabama - Sitting on a small bookshelf, Scotty Matthews stares at a page of poems held by a third-grade student in his classroom in southeastern Alabama.

Matthews is a former counselor who has just arrived at Rehobeth Elementary School. He is used to working with students who need extra reading help.

He asked students to read a limericks poem about a monster-like machine "chewing socks in pairs."

The boy tracked with his fingers, keeping a steady pace, but stopped at a word on the second line.

"Munches," Matthews prompted. The boy repeated the word again, slowly continuing to the end.

Many schools rely on auxiliary professionals to provide professional support to teachers. But Rehobeth said well-trained and experienced assistants are the key to recent success. This school has recently been ahead of the same age high school poor school in terms of reading performance and narrowing the racial and socio-economic gap.

All over the United States, students are struggling to read grade level. But new state policies and classroom practices are helping some children catch up. The Seattle Times, in collaboration with Christian Science Monitor, Hessinger Report, Solutions News Network, and AL.com’s Education Lab, Dallas Morning News, and Fresno Bee, published this series of new challenges and issues related to literacy. The story of the solution.

Now, like many schools around Alabama, this school is struggling to deal with the decline in performance during the pandemic, and considering the impact of third-grade reading, staff are paying more attention to the existence of Title I assistants. They are expanding their expertise, developing a team of well-trained reading educators, and working on after-school tutoring and community support.

“If you don’t have a teacher who has a strong background in text work or how to crack reading codes, they won’t know how to address specific needs and then support children in the classroom,” says Rachel Logan ), a literacy expert who advises schools on fair practices. "They will drive them out and say,'This kid has a problem.'"

Experts say that virtual interventions and additional support from kindergarten to second grade funded by federal relief funds can improve proficiency, but only if teachers like Matthews and his other support staff have also received appropriate training and have high-quality Material.

Rehobeth is working hard to promote these two aspects. Staff are working around the clock to re-teach some basic skills that students lost during the pandemic, such as first grade phonetics.

"Theoretically, when they get here, they should be readers," Matthews said. "Not every student is like this."

Despite the pandemic complications, according to school-wide data, from last fall to spring, Rehobeth's second-year reading scores improved by 60 points-Matthews noticed this while working with students. 

This is five points higher than the national average. School leaders said that a statistic shows that its strategy is working.

"Our overall results have been very good," said Dusty McKinley, the principal of the school. "Our teachers know what standards they are teaching, and they know how to meet the needs of these babies.... But when we look at the scores across the state, our reading skills are not as good as they should be. So. We must promote this no matter what."

Most areas in Alabama have some experience using Title I assistants and paraprofessionals, but successful implementation of interventions can sometimes be a challenge. 

Matthews' guidance is only part of Rehobeth's team approach to teaching literacy. 

The school uses three levels of reading teaching: Matthews' core class, where students learn most of the reading courses. From there, he might learn specific skills with smaller groups of students in class, or the literacy coach might designate some students for external tutoring—or both.

Throughout the week, different student groups are required to receive additional support from Title I and bilingual assistants. For the students who need support most, the school uses SPIRE materials, which are research-based and designed to help students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities.

"Our Title I teachers are critical here," said McKinley, a Rehobeth graduate who taught special education. "Most of them have been here for several years.... They know our school, they know our community, and our children know them."

According to researchers from the National Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance Center, counseling assistants are the key to the school’s development of various interventions. The center recommends a comprehensive plan to identify students with difficulties and track their response to regular interventions.

Hannah Chancey is also a graduate of Rehobeth, and Gaby Olea is a new bilingual assistant who grew up in nearby Enterprise, and this is where they come in. They use whiteboards, binders, and sometimes plasticine in their hands to guide the group of students. 

Experts say that words and sentences are like codes, and reading ability is built through specific skill work.

Sonya Yates, a dyslexia expert who served on the Statewide Reading Council, said: “Once loyalty is reached, children will make a lot of progress.”

McKinley said the school has just hired three other tutors who have received SPIRE training, plus two tutors who have been teaching materials for several years.

"It's really important that we put most of our resources into K-2 because this is where they lay the foundation," said Barbara Greathouse, the school's literacy coach. "We have to make sure that they have the basic skills of K-2 so that they can succeed in higher grades."

A recent Duke University study found that funding additional teaching support, such as teaching assistants, can maximize reading performance—and can play a “key role” in helping close-passing students achieve proficiency. Kymyona Burk is a national reading expert who initiated a retention program similar to Alabama in Mississippi. She also believes that investing in core classroom teachers is crucial.

"Invest in people," she said in a recent panel discussion. "Invest in your teachers. Build their knowledge. Let your teachers stand in front of your children every day and know that they have enough skills to address the different needs, deficiencies, or challenges that students may bring into these classrooms."

McKinley said that the effective use of $21.6 million in federal COVID assistance will require listening to the core classroom teachers who can best meet the needs of students.

"This is a blessing," McKinley said of the money. "It eases the burden on us having to provide funding. So we can use it for technology, parent involvement and classroom teaching materials, otherwise we usually can't do it because we fund these mentors." 

When the school reviewed its latest internal examination results, it saw some growth. Greathouse stated that some of these may be driven by tutoring, but classroom teachers will continue to play a key role.

Greathouse said: "The teachers know that because of COVID, they have more work to do, and they did it." 

Experts agree that good teachers are important, but they also recommend a specific training called LETRS, which is based on decades of research on how students learn to read.

In addition, the core curriculum for the lower grades should focus on clear phonetic instruction, but most vendors, such as McGraw Hill used by Rehobeth, tend to focus more on "balanced literacy", that is, spreading concepts rather than delving into certain skills.

Rehobeth is working hard to get more teachers to receive training in effective reading teaching and improve its ability to track student progress. The school district will also switch to a new reading course next year.

The school still has a long way to go before it can return to its previous proficiency rate. The most recent Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program scores showed that eight of Matthews's students-slightly less than half of the class-scored below the benchmark in language arts. Within the school, students scored the lowest on reading and literacy issues. 

"We are really trying to cheer them up," he said, pointing to the low scorers at the bottom of the list, with whom he is now working as a third grader.

As in other parts of the state, Black and Hispanic students in Rehobeth scored lower than their peers in the state benchmark, and dropped sharply during the pandemic-although experts say it is difficult to compare 2019 and 2021 scores because The state replaced standardized testing.

Reading instruction may also be affected by differences outside the classroom—such as discipline, attendance, and employee turnover—which can limit participation. 

Marceline Dubose of Equity Literacy Institute said: “When schools see academic inequality, we remind them of what is happening in other areas, such as increasing teaching time and ensuring that every student is involved in the material.”

Matthews said that some of his students are teachers’ children and may benefit from additional guidance at home during the pandemic. Although the school was face-to-face last year, the reduced teaching time for the first grade in spring 2020 may have a significant impact on speech skills for students who learn English as a second language or who do not have resources at home. 

"This is a million different things," Matthews said. "Confidence is a big thing, but they are struggling, and now they know they are struggling."

While his other third-graders focused on personal assignments, Matthews read aloud to a small group of students, who traced words on work paper with their fingers. 

When it was their turn to read, he encouraged the students to circle the words they stumbled upon-a technique he learned from the recent Alabama Reading Initiative training, which made him understand the "hone these little things" Importance, he said.  

In the next week, Matthews will review the same poems and retell concepts that he has not spent much time researching, such as teaching students how to recognize ideas. He will work more with small, targeted student groups and free up time to play pinyin games.

Through extra attention to these teaching methods and the help of the whole school intervention, Matthews hopes that his students can get back on track.

"Their adaptability is amazing," he said, while also praising the efforts of their former teachers and mentors. 

But he knew that the road ahead was still long. 

"I don't think there are any days off," he said. "Every day I am nervous, because I don't want students to fail because of my guidance."

All over the United States, students are working hard to learn how to read. But the new state policies and classroom practices have been successful in helping children catch up.

Hear the opinions of classroom teachers and curriculum experts from Texas, the district director of Washington State, and the main designers of the Mississippi Statewide Reading Program.

At a free webinar on Tuesday, November 16th at 4 pm PDT, they will discuss how to eliminate systemic barriers so that we can better reach and teach troubled readers. Click here to register and submit questions to experts.

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