For years, North Carolina has been awash in bad news about kids and reading. Too many kids are finding it difficult to read. What’s even worse is that teachers don’t have the skills to teach reading properly. Annual end-of-grade (EOG) reading scores underscore this reality. Only 48.6 percent of North Carolina third graders meet “Grade Level Proficiency” in reading performance on EOG tests, per the most recent data. For eighth graders, the figure isn’t much better (51.3 percent).

To her credit, State Superintendent Catherine Truitt has tried to remedy this problem by having teachers learn and teach what is called the “science of reading.” In 2021, Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law legislation requiring that literacy instruction in public schools be based on the science of reading. The science of reading is a research-based program with a consensus of support that favors “phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling, fluency, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension.”

To date, North Carolina has spent $114 million to train teachers and administer assessments in the science of reading program. Now it looks like the investment is paying off.

According to a Nov. 6 press release from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction:

  • “Since 2021-22, more than 44,000 teachers, administrators and coaches have mastered the K-5 or early childhood Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, or LETRS, professional development course, equating to over 6.5 million hours of professional development.”
  • At a recent meeting of the State Board of Education: “If you look at the cohort of students who started kindergarten in 2022-23, only 28 percent started school on track in literacy. By this year, when they’re in second grade, the percentage of those same students ready for grade-level work has nearly doubled.”
  • Assessment data “show[] that 48,189 fewer students are below benchmark at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year than the same time in 2021-22. Additionally, [57,449] more students are at or above benchmark.”
  • “The number of students designated as ‘reading retained’ has decreased by more than 40 percent during the same period. Students are considered ‘reading retained’ if they are not proficient in reading by the end of third grade.”
  • “Compared to 2021-22, 8 percent more Black students and 9 percent more American Indian/Alaska Native students are measuring as ‘on track’ in 2024-25. Gains for White and Asian students were 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively, during that timeframe.”

Of course, there is still room for improvement. Minority student scores continue to lag behind the scores of their white and Asian peers, but this is a good start and worth highlighting.

Kudos to Superintendent Truitt and the many teachers, staff, and students working to boost child literacy in North Carolina.