Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading
Instruction: Colorado
Delivering Well Prepared Teachers Policy
Analysis of Colorado's policies
Colorado does not require teacher candidates to pass a reading assessment prior to certification or at any point thereafter to verify that candidates have been effectively trained in the science of reading instruction.
In its standards for preparation of elementary teachers, Colorado does require teacher preparation programs to address the science of reading. Programs must provide training in "phonological and linguistic skills related to reading," including phonemic awareness; concepts about print and systematic, explicit phonics; reading comprehension; and vocabulary development.
Colorado requires candidates to pass either the revised Praxis II Elementary Education: Content Knowledge (5018) test or the PLACE
elementary education content test. The Praxis II's reading and language
arts subtest includes some of the instructional shifts toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through careful reading of informational and literary text associated with college- and career-readiness standards. Although the framework now addresses complex texts, it only does so in the context of measuring text complexity and does not address not to incorporate increasingly complex texts into instruction.
However, Colorado's literacy standards outline the following competencies regarding the use of informational texts:
- Teach students to summarize, make inferences, draw conclusions and interpret complex information in literary, informational and technical texts
- Teach students to follow extended instructions in informational or technical texts
- Teach students to analyze literary and informational texts to determine 1) text forms, literary elements, and text features related to meaning and 2) the historical period in which they were written.
Colorado's literacy standards for preparation programs require teachers to develop reading comprehension that incorporates content area literacy. Elementary candidates must be able to "teach the conventions, elements and text structures associated with informational texts drawn from history, mathematics, science and other content areas, including an author's purpose or stance, organizational plan, etc."
With regard to struggling readers, Colorado's literacy standards also require teachers to "select, use and interpret formal and informal assessments of reading comprehension and use them to make instructional decisions and to plan instructional interventions targeted for improved student outcomes." Similar competencies exist regarding assessments of phonological and phonemic awareness; phonics surveys, writing samples and word identification assessments; and assessments of reading fluency. The state's standards also require that a teacher be "knowledgeable about learning exceptionalities and conditions that affect the rate and extent of student learning, and is able to adapt instruction for all learners."
Recommendations for Colorado
Require all teacher candidates who teach elementary grades to pass a rigorous assessment in the science of reading instruction.
Ensure that new elementary teachers are prepared to incorporate informational text of increasing complexity into classroom instruction.
Although the revised Praxis II Content Knowledge test is a step in the right direction, this assessment still does not adequately capture all the major instructional shifts of college- and career-readiness standards. Colorado's literacy standards address complex texts but, as with the revised test, they do not ensure teachers' ability to incorporate these texts into instruction. Colorado is therefore encouraged to strengthen its teacher preparation requirements and ensure that all candidates who teach the elementary grades have the ability to address the use of informational texts as well as incorporate complex informational texts into classroom instruction.
Ensure that new elementary teachers are prepared to incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
To ensure that elementary students are capable of accessing varied information about the world around them, Colorado should also—either through testing frameworks or teacher standards—more specifically include literacy skills and using text to build content knowledge in history/social studies, science, technical subjects and the arts.
State response to our analysis
Colorado recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
The state also noted that Colorado’s Educator Licensing Act is being updated and aligned with current state standards and initiatives, including the literacy requirements embedded in the new student standards. Colorado indicated that teacher standards will be aligned with current expectations for students. According to the state, given the universality of literacy requirements across various content areas, Colorado expects the new rules to reflect the incorporation of these skills accordingly.
With the Colorado READ Act as a part of state law, Colorado stated that it has prioritized literacy education to improve student achievement. The READ act stands for Reading to Ensure Academic Development. According to the state, legislation requires a teacher to identify students with significant reading deficiencies. Teachers are then required to develop a plan for addressing and incorporating necessary instructional techniques that are scientifically based and evidence-based in an effort to increase and promote literacy skills.
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Colorado
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Early Childhood
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Special Education Preparation in Reading
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Pensions
Research rationale
Reading science has
identified five components of effective instruction.
Teaching children to read is the most important task
teachers undertake. Over the past 60 years, scientists from many fields have
worked to determine how people learn to read and why some struggle. This science
of reading has led to breakthroughs that can dramatically reduce the number of
children destined to become functionally illiterate or barely literate adults.
By routinely applying in the classroom the lessons learned from the scientific
findings, most reading failure can be avoided. Estimates indicate that the
current failure rate of 20 to 30 percent could be reduced to 2 to 10 percent.
Scientific research has shown that there are five essential
components of effective reading instruction: explicit and systematic
instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and
comprehension. Many states' policies still do not reflect the strong research
consensus in reading instruction that has emerged over the last few decades.
Many teacher preparation programs resist
teaching scientifically based reading instruction. NCTQ's reports on teacher
preparation, beginning with What
Education Schools Aren't Teaching about Reading and What Elementary Teachers
Aren't Learning in 2006 and continuing through the Teacher Prep Review in 2013 and 2014, have consistently found the
overwhelming majority of teacher preparation programs across the country do not
train teachers in the science of reading. Whether through standards or coursework
requirements, states must direct programs to provide this critical training. But relying on programs alone is insufficient; states must only grant a license to new elementary teachers who can demonstrate they have the knowledge and skills to teach children to read.
Most current reading
tests do not offer assurance that teachers know the science of reading.
A growing number of states, such as Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Virginia, require strong, stand-alone assessments entirely
focused on the science of reading. Other states rely on either pedagogy tests
or content tests that include items on reading instruction. However, since
reading instruction is addressed only in one small part of most of these tests,
it is often not necessary to know the science of reading to pass. States need
to make sure that a teacher candidate cannot pass a test that purportedly
covers reading instruction without knowing the critical material.
College- and career-readiness standards require significant shifts in literacy instruction.
College- and career-readiness standards for K-12 students adopted by nearly all states require from a teachers a different focus on literacy integrated into all subject areas. The standards demand that teachers are prepared to bring complex text and academic language into regular use, emphasize the use of evidence from informational and literary texts and build knowledge and vocabulary through content-rich text. While most states have not ignored teachers' need for training and professional development related to these instructional shifts, few states have attended to the parallel need to align teacher competencies and requirements for teacher preparation so that new teachers will enter the classroom ready to help students meet the expectations of these standards.
Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction: Supporting Research
For
evidence on what new teachers are not learning about reading instruction, see NCTQ,
"What Education Schools Aren't Teaching About Reading and What Elementary
Teachers Aren't Learning" 2006) at:http://www.nctq.org/nctq/images/nctq_reading_study_app.pdf.
For
problems with existing reading tests, see S. Stotsky, "Why American Students Do Not Learn to Read Very Well: The Unintended Consequences of Title II and Teacher Testing," Third Education Group Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2006; and
D. W. Rigden, Report on Licensure Alignment with the Essential Components of Effective Reading Instruction (Washington, D.C.: Reading First Teacher
Education Network, 2006).
For
information on where states set passing scores on elementary level content
tests for teacher licensing across the U.S., see chart on p. 13 of NCTQ "Recommendations for the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Removing the Roadblocks: How Federal Policy Can Cultivate Effective Teachers," (2011).
For an extensive summary of the research base supporting the instructional shifts associated with college- and career-readiness standards, see "Research Supporting the Common Core ELA Literacy Shifts and Standards" available from Student Achievement Partners.