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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2022
Training focuses on the science of reading
ready to leap into LETRS. In an email to
Oregon Public Broadcasting , the depart-
ment pointed to a 2009 study that showed
LETRS increased teacher knowledge but
did not increase the reading test scores of
students.
The department noted that Massachu-
setts, the state with the highest reading
scores according to the National Assess-
ment of Educational Progress, does not use
LETRS statewide.
Even though the state has not allocated
relief funds toward LETRS, it says it is ded-
icating $4 million in relief funds to a K-5
literacy investment, which includes revision
of Oregon’s K-5 literacy framework, profes-
sional development for educators and sup-
port for school libraries.
Other states, such as Utah and Kan-
sas, have dedicated relief funds for LETRS
training and those states have higher reading
scores than Oregon does.
Phonics to help decode words
By MEERAH POWELL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Like many primary teachers, Coral Walker
has worked closely with students who strug-
gle to learn how to read.
“I love reading. Reading is really the rea-
son I became a teacher,” Walker said. “But …
I learned how to read fairly quickly and easily
and I never understood how to teach it to kids,
and I felt really frustrated knowing that I had
some kids that consistently struggled.”
According to the most recent data from the
Oregon Department of Education, only 46.5%
of third graders were profi cient in reading in
the 2018-19 school year. That profi ciency rate
is even lower for students from low-income
households.
As the state has received an infl ux of fed-
eral pandemic relief funding, literacy advo-
cates are pushing for change. At the same
time, there’s a growing consensus that stu-
dents could benefi t signifi cantly if more teach-
ers in the state went through a training pro-
gram focused on the science of reading.
That’s what Walker is doing. She is com-
pleting the second half of a two-year train-
ing called LETRS — language essential for
teachers of reading and spelling. It’s primar-
ily online, with videos, activities and teaching
guides.
She said LETRS has helped her understand
the logic behind language, as well as diff erent
strategies to teach students. The training uses
phonics to help children decode words, rather
than just exposing them to books and texts to
pick up reading on their own, which Walker
said was the way she was initially taught to
teach reading.
Walker said she started seeing major dif-
ferences when using those new techniques in
2020 when she was still teaching online.
“It clicked. They’re like, ‘Oh, that’s why
you do that.’ Or, ‘Oh, that’s what that means,’”
Walker said, “which means that we had a big
gap, and it wasn’t because we didn’t have
amazing teachers; it was because we weren’t
teaching them what they needed.”
Walker has now returned to the classroom,
teaching English and Spanish to fi rst graders
at Lent Elementary in s outheast Portland.
LETRS has gained popularity across the
country, with some states pushing to have
as many early elementary educators take the
training as possible.
Although some Oregon school districts
have funded the training on their own, state
leaders have not invested in LETRS more
broadly even though educators, advocates and
a state lawmaker have pushed for it — espe-
cially as Oregon has received more than $1
billion in federal COVID-19 aid funding spe-
More than just LETRS
Kristyna Wentz-Graff /Oregon Public Broadcasting
Coral Walker works on reading skills in her fi rst grade class at Lent Elementary in southeast Portland.
cifi cally aimed at K-12 schools. Most of that
money, known as Elementary and Second-
ary School Emergency Relief funds, has been
allocated to individual school districts, and
much of it has not been spent yet.
The state D epartment of E ducation says it
has not allocated any of its relief funds toward
a single literacy training program for teachers,
like LETRS, but that individual districts can
invest their funds in those types of programs
if they so choose.
And some districts have.
Portland Public Schools, where Walker
teaches, has said it is planning to use some of
the one-time federal funds for LETRS. It has
already off ered the training to its educators in
a partnership with Eastern Oregon University
where teachers can get credit through the uni-
versity toward a reading certifi cate.
Other districts in the Portland area, like
Reynolds, are doing the same.
State Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Port-
land, said she has advocated in recent legisla-
tive sessions for LETRS to be off ered through-
out Oregon — specifi cally at schools that
serve students from lower-income families.
“If you have this program that literally, fun-
damentally is more eff ective at teaching kids
how to read, and that is the key thing, why
would you not give every teacher in every
school for every kid the opportunity to do
that?” Smith Warner said.
The statewide push
Smith Warner asked lawmakers this past
legislative session to dedicate more than
$20 million to train teachers on the science
of reading. She proposed the money for the
teacher training eff ort could come from the
federal relief funds — and some of it could
go to Eastern Oregon University to expand
its partnerships off ering college credit to
teachers who do the LETRS training.
Smith Warner’s ask was backed by advo-
cacy groups like Oregon Kids Read, but
ultimately it was not included in the budget.
“People are nervous about change,” she
said. S he understands that hesitation, but
argued, “T his is an opportunity to make a
really foundational shift in our ability to
teach our kids to read.”
Smith Warner had hoped the state would
cover the costs of LETRS training for Ore-
gon’s highest-need schools and districts.
“Teacher training is one of the most ideal
uses of one-time funding because once you
train that teacher they’re always going to
have that,” Smith Warner said.
She said that school districts could take
this into their own hands and fund training
for LETRS, but that’s probably not a prior-
ity right now, with school still in what she
calls “survival mode.”
So, Smith Warner says it makes sense for
the state to step up.
“It is something that the state can and
should do because it is our job to kind of
take that burden off of ( school districts) and
look a little further,” she said.
But the Department of Education is not
The Department of Education acknowl-
edged that the LETRS program is shown to
improve what teachers understand about the
science of reading.
“Teachers report an increase in their own
self-awareness and capacity around teach-
ing reading,” the department said.
But, the department said, LETRS is not
the end-all, be-all for improving the state’s
literacy rates.
“LETRS training should exist within a
comprehensive literacy plan and framework
that includes a focus on student belong-
ing, high-quality and culturally responsive
instructional materials, strong formative
assessment practices, and family engage-
ment,” the Department of Education said.
The department said it is interested in
the potential diff erence training like LETRS
could make throughout the state, and said
the state plans to study the eff ectiveness of
LETRS, with results due in the fall of 2023.
Back at Lent Elementary , Walker said
LETRS is a big time commitment. Although
she gets extended pay to complete the train-
ing, it’s on her own free time, outside of her
days at school. She’s also working on her
own to use some of the strategies LETRS
has taught her in English to adapt techniques
to teaching in Spanish.
But, she said it’s worth it, especially if
there’s statewide support for teachers to take
it.
“I really do believe it does need to hap-
pen on a state level, not just Portland P ublic
S chools, not just certain cities, but rather it
needs to happen statewide too, to support all
of our students,” Walker said.
“We can’t just sit here and continue doing
something that we know doesn’t work.”
Clatsop Soil and Water Conservation District
Check here if interested in order pick up in Elsie _____
Native Plant Sale 2022
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Species
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Cost
Units
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3.5”
Perennial
$4.00
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3.5”
Perennial
$3.00
Sitka Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
3.5”
Perennial
$4.00
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
3.5”
Perennial
$4.00
Douglas Aster (Symphyotrichum subspicatus) 3.5”
Perennial
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Meadow Checkermallow (Sidalcea campestris) 3.5”
Perennial
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Broadleaf Lupine (Lupinus Latifolius)
3.5”
Perennial
$3.00
Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)
3.5”
Perennial
$3.00
Licorice Fern (Polypodium glycrrhiza)
3.5”
Perennial
$4.00
Ground
Perennial cover
$3.00
Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) 3.5”
Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphyylus uva-ursi)
1 3.5”
gallon
Tufted Hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa) 3.5”
Ground cover
$5.00
Grass
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Nootka Rose (Rose nutkana)
1 3.5”
gallon
Shrub
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Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
1 gallon
Shrub
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Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) 1 gallon
1 gallon
Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii)
Shrub
Tree
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Pacific Willow (Salix lucida var.lasiandra)
1 gallon
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1 gallon
Tree
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Stone Soup Bowl 2022
The Harbor’s beloved Soup Bowl
Benefit Night is back! We have
a limited number of tickets this
year. Ticket holders will have free
admission to a very special after
party event.
Saturday, May 14th 5:00 pm
Loft at the Red Building
We hope to see you there!
Get your tickets at:
harbornw.org/soupbowl2022