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Guest Author- Lisa Schonhoff, Ed. S., Nebraska State Board of Education: “My views are my own.”

While there may not be a perfect reading lesson, there are many strategies teachers can use to facilitate extremely effective lessons.

The most important thing we can do as educators is to engage our students in lots of physical books that cover age-appropriate topics students find fascinating.

Getting kids excited about reading is typically half the battle. In my 24 years of teaching, I have never found commercialized curriculum materials to be very effective. The most effective part of the lesson is the knowledgeable teacher who understands the continuum of literacy instruction and can easily discuss the needs of the student. This does not come from purchased curriculum materials.

The greatest problem with these large curriculum purchases is that the evidence behind the materials tends to be shoddy at best. These large curriculum companies are excellent at sales, but how can we be sure that what we are purchasing today, isn’t the next Lucy Calkins lawsuit? We can’t. The only way to raise proficiency rates in literacy is to train our educators to meet the needs of their students.

Let’s stop relying on big money curriculum makers.

How do we ensure that every elementary level teacher in our state graduates from our universities with the required knowledge for teaching students to read? We need to make sure we have highly qualified university instructors teaching essential literacy skills (I’ll discuss essential components of a literacy lesson in a future post) to every elementary and early childhood education student that goes through their Education Preparation Programs (EPPs).

We also need to be providing this training to our instructional leaders in our schools.

I have been informed that UNL has partnered with the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) to implement the Words Program. I have more to learn about this program, but I know it’s one that the NDE is particularly proud of. The program is stated to provide “effective, practice-based support and professional development to build capacity and prepare K-3 teachers to deliver high-quality reading instruction and assessment in schools across the state.”

The University of Nebraska at Kearney has developed a self-paced course for Preschool and Kindergarten teachers called Project RISE. The website states that students will be provided with “foundational knowledge and explore research on teaching practices based on the science of reading, in partnership with experts in early literacy instruction. You will be given the tools to understand how language and literacy skills build the foundation for reading and how to turn language and literacy theory into practice through application in your classroom.”

The University of Nebraska-Omaha currently offers an early literacy workshop that “builds knowledge and instructional practices focused on early literacy development. With a focus on the components of foundational skills: (print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency), participants will understand how typical readers develop and identify evidence-based strategies to support K-3 student learning and practice.”

I look forward to learning more about these programs during my time on the State Board of Education.

While it would be nice to think we can rely on expensive ed tech curriculum to ensure that our students are proficient in reading, that strategy has proven to fail far too many students across our state and across our nation.

It’s time to start relying on adequate training for one of the most important professions we have.

Photo Source: File_-Nebraska-Literacy-Project-Plan-and-Overview_1.30.25.pdf

Nebraska WORDS | Workshops on Reading Development Strategies

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Editor’s Note: Tomorrow Lisa delves into the problems with the reading curriculum called Amplify:CKLA. Many Nebraska school districts have implemented this ed tech “solution.” Lisa tells us why many are less than thrilled with it.