Educators know that when students struggle to read in early grades, they’ll continue to have trouble in the classroom as they get older.
So, when Wasatch County School District leaders noticed a troubling trend in students’ reading scores a few years back, they were eager to reimagine how to help kids learn.
Superintendent Paul Sweat said the district jumped at the chance to try the “science of reading,” a new trend in literacy education that’s growing in popularity in schools all over the country.
It takes a certain skillset for students to become strong readers: they need to understand phonics and how letter sounds combine, develop a good vocabulary, and practice fluency, or stringing words into sentences. Instead of teaching kids entire words right away, the science of reading asks teachers to break words into smaller pieces. Experts who support this approach think that's especially important for children who don't easily pick up reading or who don't have as much support to become readers at home.
Sweat said the district partnered with a center at Utah State University called the Center for the School of the Future to overhaul its curriculum.
“It’s run by two professors, a guy named Parker Fawson and a guy named Ray Reutzel. They’re both nationally known for being some of the foremost experts in reading,” he said. “And these are two guys that, as we figured out that we were struggling a little bit a few years ago, we tapped into their knowledge.”
He said in the same way sports teams improve by learning from stronger athletes, schools can improve by learning from other teachers.
Last spring, district leaders even visited schools in Mississippi where Utah State has helped implement the science of reading to see the ideas in practice. And now, Sweat said the Utah State literacy experts are regular visitors to the district, helping with professional development for Wasatch County’s teachers.
So far, Sweat said he’s proud of the results in the district’s classrooms. Eight years ago, fewer than half of students in grades 3 through 10 were deemed proficient in reading. Now, the Wasatch County School District is ranked first in the state for English and language arts test scores.
“It’s produced some amazing results,” he said. “We simply want to be the best. We want to be the best for our students. We want to make sure that we’re giving our students every chance to be successful – and we know that it does all start with reading.”
As the district’s more than 8,000 students start the new school year, Sweat said the collaboration with Utah State continues, and teachers will continue working to implement the science of reading in their classrooms.
