The Alaska Reads Act requires literacy screenings and help for struggling students, and its implementation is already visible in Anchorage.
Second grade students sit on the floor in Deanna Dunn’s classroom at Ptarmigan Elementary School in Anchorage on Sept. 29, 2023. Alaska students’ lack of proficiency in reading has shown in standardized tests in recent years. In 2022, Alaska 4th graders scored well below the national average on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test. Just
Reading comprehension — not just phonetics — is an emphasis of the curriculum. The new methods of teaching are not unfamiliar for Anchorage teachers, but they offer a different approach to teaching the science of reading to students with an added focus on writing. “It’s a good dipstick,” she said. “That’s the point of the screener is to basically say, ‘Hey, we’ve got a concern here.’ Now, let’s dig a little deeper and see what’s going on. We do know that kids have good days and bad days. So we don’t rely just on the screener to determine whether or not the student is a proficient reader.”performed below the standard. The Anchorage School Board’s goal is to cut that number in half over the next five years.
Reading interventionists in Anchorage are tasked with providing direct support to struggling readers in small group settings, and professional learning experts help train teachers. Statewide, the first round of literacy screenings wrapped up recently. Under the Reads Act, the lowest-performing quarter of school districts are slated to receive additional support.
“Our focus right now is helping districts read their data, what does it tell them, helping them establish how to use the interventions they’ve already chosen, what interventions they’re going to use, but how to effectively use them,” Boatman said. “We’re also working with districts and parents with starting to set up tutoring.”
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