♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Can we please talk?

Let's take a moment to discuss.

Let's take a moment to debrief.

Let's take a moment to unpack.

So I'm not really understanding why they're not telling y'all.

Like, we all know that the world is behind, like, you know, globally, like, you know, because of the pandemic and stuff.

But I don't understand why they're not stressing to y'all how bad it is.

Like, I'm not even trying to be funny, but these kids are -- I'ma just say this -- I teach seventh grade.

They are still performing on the fourth grade level.

-Reading crisis in America is not new information, and the science of reading is not new information.

In fact, it's over half a century old.

-I said, "What's the last book you read?"

And he said, "I haven't."

[ Interposing voices ] ♪♪ -Ain't nobody talking about how they just keep moving, passing them on.

They just keep passing them on, passing them on, passing them on.

Passing them on, passing them on, passing them on.

I can put as many zeros in this scrape because I want to.

They going to move that child to the eighth grade next year.

Ain't nobody talking about that.

Why they not talking about that?

Why didn't I tell y'all that y'all -- And why don't y'all know that y'all kids are not performing on their grade level?

Why y'all don't know this?

Why y'all don't know?

-Can... it... fit... on... the... [stammers] court.

-Now read the whole thing.

-The cat can fit on the... cot.

-Kids are learning how to read in a whole new way.

It's based on the science of reading.

These fundamental skills are being implemented in schools around the world.

The science of reading is setting the foundation for kids to have a better life.

-The act of learning how to read is the most important thing that a child in elementary school does.

And it's the most important mission of every elementary school to ensure that every child leaves a skilled reader.

And it's something that we've certainly failed spectacularly at achieving.

That idea that every child is leaving our elementary schools proficient in reading -- they're not.

We have two-thirds of children not reaching the proficient level, which is a horrifying statistic to me.

♪♪ -The science of reading is nothing new.

In fact, the term first appeared in the 1830s, but only now are educators understanding its full potential.

Ketterlinus Elementary in Saint Augustine is led by a bold principal who introduced a new curriculum during the pandemic.

Kathy Tucker is an agent for change.

She continues to prove the skeptics wrong, and her students are proof positive that it works.

-I'm a maverick.

If you tell me no, I will find a way to convince you to say yes.

We went into shutdown of spring of 2020, and we had all these plans to implement this UFLI program, and it kind of came to a halt, but we just decided we're going to move forward.

I kept it on the low.

So push back -- I kept quiet.

we wanted to see it work.

We were in limbo.

It was a good time, because COVID was happening, and everyone was really focusing on safety protocols, and just kind of surviving the year.

So we kind of laid low.

Um, and then we started seeing the results.

As an administrator, the risk was -- I was going against what we were doing in the district, but it wasn't working.

So I had to make the choice -- do what's right for students and teachers, or do what's not working.

And I chose to do what's right for students and teachers.

And that's actually a picture of Elizabeth Ketterlinus.

But we, you know, kind of docked it up... As I mentioned before, my frustration was there was no consistency.

And you could see it, that inconsistency with how things were being presented, how teachers were teaching, how students were learning in our data.

It really was low in our primary grades, the data all the way up to probably 2021.

But right afterwards, 2021-22 school year, it started skyrocketing.

We're a Title I school, and we are outperforming some of the more affluent schools.

So people started taking notice and just kind of laying back, leaving me alone, letting our teachers do their work.

And once people higher up saw the results, it was sort of like, "What are you doing?"

Very quietly, we had some stellar teachers who really were phonics-based, and they were fabulous.

And then we had some other teachers that maybe weren't as strong.

Even at my own education, college education, we don't teach how to teach reading.

I saw that with my teachers, there was such inconsistency, but for the student, it was kind of hit and miss.

So what was lacking was the being explicit phonics instruction?

You really didn't highlight what was the new concept or skill that was going to be taught.

So as a student that has a disability, that lack of explicit and consistency, it was sort of like coming in like, what to expect, what was today going to bring.

So the student would be focusing on, "Okay, what's the routine", versus maybe, "What am I supposed to be learning and practicing?"

It's safe.

It creates a safe environment.

Like, there is no guessing.

You know what to expect.

You're not focusing on the transitions and guessing what's going to happen next.

They know the routine.

So therefore, as a student, you're really focusing on, "What am I learning?

What am I practicing?"

So one of our former students, Kayden, started our school year here as a kindergartner.

Kayden struggled academically.

He also struggled behaviorally.

Things were unpredicted for him.

We worried about him.

So Kayden has a wonderful relationship with his former first grade teacher, Ms.

Hilbert.

She was able to build this positive relationship with him.

He feels very emotionally safe.

-I think that learning to read is a lot like a puzzle, because you really need each little piece, like, each piece is a letter, or a sound, or sounds put together, and then that helps you understand what you're reading.

And then you can focus on your comprehension, and it helps you with the whole picture.

But you need every single little piece, 'cause if you don't have every single little piece put together, do you have a complete puzzle?

-No.

-No.

-Kayden had a little bit of a hard time when we first started out in school, because he didn't love that sit-and-get education, and it didn't work for, especially kids like Kayden, because they needed routine, and they needed a systematic approach, and knowing what to expect.

And so, when we had the opportunity to do the Science of Reading training, it really made me feel like, "Wow, this is the missing piece.

This is what I know that brain science says we need to do with teaching, and how kids learn, and it filled in the pieces for me.

It did revolutionize the way that I taught.

It made me feel better about how I was teaching.

How do you feel that you are now as a reader?

Do you feel like it helped you after second grade... -Yeah.

-...when we were doing, yeah?

-Now we're getting, like, big words, like, with more than one prefix and suffixes.

-I love that you used that, because we learned that too, right?

We learned how to how to break apart words based on their root word, and their prefixes, and their suffixes.

So you're getting those words.

Is it easier for you to read those words now?

-Yeah.

When I break them apart.

-When you break them apart.

So now that you can decode words, and read all those multisyllabic words, what do you focus on when you're reading now?

-I've got better at kind of understanding it, uh, the reading, and I got better at math.

-And there's a lot of reading and math too, right?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-We started seeing Kayden just grow academically.

He's just a success story.

He thrives in middle school.

I think if my career ended today, you know, by taking those risks, I'm okay with it.

[ Chuckles ] Um, that was -- I feel rewarded.

-Researchers have found over the years that the same intervention used for students with dyslexia are essentially the same building blocks needed to decode language.

Lisa Dodge was inspired to make a change when she found out her daughter, Ellie, had dyslexia.

Ellie's story would inspire an entire school district to change the way it teaches reading.

-I have my happy board of pictures here of things that bring me joy.

For me, in my journey of the Science of Reading, and what that is and what that's supposed to be.

I think working with teachers, these past three years has been a labor of love, because I remember those days where, um, the way we were taught how to teach kids to read by certain people and certain curriculums told us that, "Oh, as long as your room is nice and dark, and everybody has a lovey in their arms, that they're just going to love to read, they're going to love to read by osmosis."

Right?

Like it's just going to happen organically.

But then we would look at data and just kind of say, "Well, what's happening then?"

Like, why aren't our kids reading at a faster pace?

Like, what's going on?

And I feel like, um, when I was hired into my district position, it was kind of my job and responsibility to take inventory of what's happening.

And there's a lot of podcasts, and a lot of research out there about what the Science of Reading is.

And so working with teachers to grow in their practice really has to start from a place of understanding where the teachers are, because some of these teachers in primary have been doing this for 30 years.

I have teachers say, you know, that's just a buzzword, the science of reading.

And I'm like, that's really not, though.

Some people need the statistics in an article to prove that this is something that works.

When I officially came to terms with the fact that my child was dyslexic, even as an educator and someone who teaches kids to read, I was scared to death that she was going to get picked on.

She was going to be behind.

[ Softly ] Sorry.

And I really took that to be on a mission to try to help other kids, because there are 1 in 5 students in our classroom who are dyslexic, and I feel like we don't talk about it enough.

We don't educate our teachers enough on what dyslexia really is, what it means, what the brain is doing with these students, and how amazing their brains are.

-It was hard for me to, like, focus on that reading, and I couldn't read some more.

So I had to stick to these little books.

And then it would be easier for me to read those little books, but not those big, challenging books.

-In kindergarten, it was really rough.

She didn't want to read.

She didn't want to hold books.

She didn't want anything to do with reading.

Early intervention is everything.

So starting a phonics program in kindergarten, you -- by the time they get to second grade, you wouldn't even know.

Like in other things, which we are learning is showing up in other ways.

She was my guinea pig to start it.

And I figured, well, if this is going to work for anybody... -it would work for me.

-Yep.

And it did, because you are in the second grade and you're reading in the 90th percentile in the state.

My brain doesn't think like that.

I'm very, like, concrete sequential.

I think of one task, and then I think of the other.

Having a child who's the complete opposite, where she wants to think of all the things all the time -- -And explore!

-Yes, and explore.

Whether it's dance or schoolwork -- -Or see my creation and go outside.

And I was -- And I'm stuck inside.

-Or even things like this, right?

Like, she wants -- her mind going in all different places.

And I have to tell myself, yep, that's how her brain works.

We kind of meet each other in the middle.

And that's what I really love about having a child whose brain is different than mine.

-Kathy and Lisa aren't the only change agents.

Other people, like Lauren Hall, advocated for this new curriculum in the Palm Beach School District.

She would bring the same program to her school at Cypress Trails.

-If you want to get out of your car, you've got to go all the way to the end so people can pass you.

-Before I was an assistant principal for the school district, I was a reading coach, so I spent a lot of my time just researching the reading patterns of children.

And what is the best way to help them become proficient readers?

-Now we're going to do the visual drill.

-We saw the data decrease in phonics year after year.

So I decided to do a little research into the Science of Reading.

You know, there are so many different domains that go into that through psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and UFLI really did its job researching all of those different backgrounds and putting together the process behind it.

The Science of Reading.

-Let's sound it out.

[ Students vocalizing ] -Mom.

-Is there another word that maybe we might have learned?

M-o-m.

Right.

Learning how to spell it.

Michael.

-Um.

um, "and."

-Let's sound that one out.

Oh, wait, that "a" -- it's not making an "ah" sound, right?

-It's doing... -It's the whiny "a," right, because there's an "n" after.

So let's do -- Let's sound that out.

Let's sound the word "and" out.

Ready.

-[ Students vocalize ] -The changes are astronomical.

The kids, first of all, their engagement -- they love it.

Something that used to be monotonous and boring is now fun and exciting.

So unless you have a strong reading emphasis, it's really difficult to know how to teach a child to read.

And this program is what's helping them to know how to systematically teach it.

-When I went down the rabbit hole of research, I started seeing this terminology: "Science of Reading."

I started hearing, oh, Science of Reading this, and Science of reading that, and the reading wars, talking and highlighting these old programs.

As I was reading through some of these articles, I started to first get offended because I did use those programs, and I thought I was doing the best work.

I thought I was a fabulous, fabulous reading teacher.

Um, but they were calling out these people because of their research that they were finding that kids' proficiency levels were going down.

And that got me thinking, like, "You're right."

Like, "Why didn't I know this?"

And that makes total sense if I really sat and thought about it.

Yeah, we shouldn't be teaching kids to memorize all these words.

We should be teaching them to decode the words and not rely on pictures.

[ Students chatter ] -A letter is a symbol, and we need students to be able to look at that letter and recall from memory the sounds that that letter could make.

Or if I group letters together, call up from memory how those groups of letters go together.

So that as they're reading, they are formulating words in their head, which then create a mental picture in their head so that they're comprehending as they read.

So what we tell parents is that foundational knowledge begins with being able to make a connection between the letter, which is the symbol, and the sound that it makes.

-Margie Roe is a longtime educator at Palm Springs Elementary.

She has witnessed firsthand how the fundamental skills of the Science of Reading cuts through cultures, even in bilingual communities.

It's the courage of people like Margie who are making a difference.

-The first place I went after I got my driver's license was the library.

[ Chuckles ] I was a teacher for 27 years before becoming an administrator, and having a lot of English language learners here on my campus, I understood that as they're acquiring English and learning foundational reading skills, that a more phonics-based approach was going to help them.

What I really like is that the simplified view of reading sees that it's about decoding a word, linguistic comprehension, and that equals an efficient reader.

So what's beautiful is we're able to blend those two things together and be able to have children you know, in K,1,2, learning how to read.

A phonics-based program helps with biliteracy because as you're acquiring a language, you're able to see the relationship between the letters and the sounds.

Being able to, you know, hear it, see it, say it, and actually even write it.

So with their English teacher, they will receive English phonics every day.

And with their Spanish teacher they will receive Spanish phonics every day.

[ Teacher and students speaking in Spanish ] -[ In English ] The progress is very big for the first -- In August, the students very slow, did not recognize the letters and sounds.

And this time, they recognize the letters and sounds and puts together, writing the word and writing the sentence.

[ Speaking in Spanish ] -[ Speaking in Spanish ] -The English language is full of cognates, full of Latin roots, full of Greek roots, full of multiple meanings and idioms.

You know, the English language is not easy.

Spanish.

Every single letter makes a certain sound, and that sound stays the same.

But in English, that the same letter might have three, four different sounds.

Teaching reading is rocket science because you're teaching the brain how to do something.

You're teaching a process, and I have to be able to get into your brain and unlock the brain's ability to decode and encode words.

The human race does not have a instinct to read and write.

You have to lay the neural pathways.

Words have sounds.

When they get to kindergarten, sounds and letters match.

When they get to first-grade, sounds, letters, writing matches.

Right.

So really building those foundational skills.

And I've always believed that teaching reading is rocket science.

[ Children chatter ] -So many people have to say yes before you can try something.

I know that when I started piloting UFLI in some of our classrooms that I would get called out by district level people saying, "Why are you doing that?"

Sorry.

Sorry.

"You shouldn't be doing that."

[ Voice breaks ] You know, "You're not the literacy department.

You didn't make that choice.

Why are you doing that?

You're going to get in so much trouble."

So what?

I want to do what's right by kids.

I want to do what's right... by the kids who are like minded, like my daughter.

And they're out there.

We may not know who they are.

And again, we need more people caring about what's in front of kids and what the ramifications of these decisions are going to be.

I have a sense of urgency.

And so even though it was hard to have these colleagues of mine and people ridicule what I'm trying to do, I knew that it was not going to harm these kids.

I got in this job of teaching my district position to change children's lives, because I felt like we are the advocates for them, especially schools that are Title I schools where maybe their parents aren't literate or they don't speak English.

You know, they don't know better.

I got into this because I wanted to find what works and make these kids the best that they could be.

And so, you know, this popular Maya Angelou phrase, "When you know better, you do better."

And it's so true because now I'm on a mission not just for my child, but for all of the kids that I service and the teachers that I come across to instill in them a better way of doing something.

♪♪ -Reading comprehension is the product of decoding and linguistic comprehension.

Reading comprehension is our goal.

It's our outcome.

But to get there, we need to have both decoding skill and linguistic comprehension skill.

If you've got strong decoding, you know how to read the words on the page, but you don't have oral language skills, spoken language, you're not going to understand what you're reading.

That way of thinking about it really clarifies a lot of what we need to be doing in reading instruction.

So we need to teach children how to break the code, how to decode words effectively.

We also need to ensure that their oral language skills, their vocabulary, their background knowledge, all of the things that contribute to linguistic comprehension are also well-developed and in combination.

If kids have strong skills in both decoding and linguistic comprehension, then they're much more likely to have strong reading comprehension.

If they're weak in either area, they have no chance of having strong reading comprehension.

...good.

[ Vocalizes "n" sound ] -Now, is this a continuous sound or a stop sound?

-Continuous!

-One of the criticisms I hear about this idea of the Science of Reading is that it's all about phonics, and it's absolutely not.

Phonics is essential, and phonics is the part that's been neglected the most.

So it's gotten a lot of attention.

So it's very much not just about phonics.

Yes, it's gotten a lot of press, but it's because it's been so sorely neglected over the past several decades.

-Now, the system that you, in terms of getting kids reading and spelling and all that stuff, the system has been here for a couple of years?

-Yeah, this is our second year.

And we realized that especially our second and third grade scores were really low in phonics.

-How do the parents -- Are the parents getting it?

Do they like -- I mean, is that working for them?

-Yeah, we're getting a lot of feedback from parents that they really enjoy it at home because when they're reading with their children, their children are able to sound out words better.

-How about the kids in class?

Do they get any sense of the difference in terms of the past system and working with this kind of thing?

Do the things seem easier for them or is it more fun?

-Oh yeah, it's definitely fun.

And that's where it starts.

Yes, fun is good because fun equals learning.

-Yeah, no, you're right.

That's exactly -- I mean, that's a very, uh, simple thing, but it's very, very smart.

I grew up a while ago, and we were taught phonics.

I mean, that's kind of the way it worked.

And in my memory, I grew up in a small town, tough town, uh, a lot of violence in the town, but everybody could read -- just about everybody.

Uh, and then so what happened?

When did the education system, somehow it decided that wasn't a good way to teach?

-It was a breakdown, right?

A breakdown in reading philosophies.

We switch philosophies so often.

-That will take one adoption and we go with everything.

We put everything behind it.

And then we realize... -Well, and this system is a lot more complicated than just phonics, because there are a lot of things that go into this education stuff.

Psychology.

I mean, you know, what are some of the things?

Obviously, phonics is just a small piece of this -- -Right.

Phonics is just a piece of it.

We're looking at the basic equation, right?

We want them to be able to identify letter-sound correspondence.

We want them to be able to break apart words into smaller sounds, to be able to put them back together and to write about it.

And that's difficult.

And that will be your foundation to then build more of mapping for comprehension.

So we need to make sure that our kids have a solid foundation to get them prepared to be readers.

-Oh, my God, look at this.

I play for the Miami Dolphins.

No, I don't.

I write a lot of books.

Anybody here want to be a teacher someday, maybe?

Look at this.

This is -- This is a testament to you.

This is a testament that they're on your side and that you're doing good stuff with them.

That's really exciting.

-Okay, clear your boards, please.

-Is there anybody here like stories?

Like movies?

Anybody?

One of the great things about learning how to read and becoming a pretty good reader is you get to read stories or write stories.

-So when they learn to break up their sounds and can learn how to break up words, it makes reading easier because when they come across a word that they don't know, they're learning how to use their context clues to kind of figure out the meaning of the word.

-Right.

-But also, when they break up the word, they're able to sound it out better.

-Now, how about for you folks?

Is it more fun to go to school now?

A little bit more fun?

A lot?

Mainly, mainly thumbs up.

This is a good.

One thumbs down.

That's fair.

-Some of them prefer math, so... -Math?

Really?

Okay, okay.

All right.

You know, the thing of it is, as you get better at reading, you get better at math and whatever, it just gives you more possibilities in life.

There's more things you can be.

You could be a teacher.

You could be a math teacher.

You could be a physicist, you could be a doctor.

You could be a writer like me.

That's a bad idea.

But you just have so many possibilities.

And that's -- And your parents, because they want -- your parents all want you to have good lives.

And the more you learn, the better your lives will be.

-When I was in second grade, I didn't speak English.

Even though I was born here, I spoke Spanish at home.

So if I had a program like this, I feel like I would have grown faster in my language acquisition.

I've noticed with this program and my students that are not native English speakers, it has helped them to grow with their sounds faster.

-When I was a kid, I -- -When you were a kid?

[ They chuckle ] -You are a kid.

-I was younger.

-I remember that I didn't get to do the "R" sound.

-Mhm.

-It was difficult for me to say a lot of words.

-Mhm.

Mhm.

-I think it was funny because when I said, like, "I want to go to the car," it was like, "I want to go to the cash."

-[ Chuckles ] Okay.

That's a great story.

That's a really good story.

I love that story.

Well, the great thing there is you're going to have two languages right off the bat.

So that's a real -- that's a nice advantage.

-Are you a little scared to be here?

-Am I scared to be here?

Yes, I'm petrified.

[ Chuckles ] Yes, I'm -- No, I'm not.

I'm not scared because it helps your confidence.

It just helps you to be more confident when you go into a situation that's a little different.

So I'm not -- I'm not too nervous, a little bit.

Are you nervous?

-A little bit.

-A little bit.

We're a little nervous.

They're so stimulated.

They seem to be, you know, happy to be there.

They love their teachers, which is great.

It's just very, very impressive.

And, you know, I've been trying to help with this program for a while, and it really is rewarding to see the school and to see this thing in action.

A recent report noted that some college students lacked the basic, fundamental reading skills to understand lengthy textbooks.

Some may attribute this to the rise of social media and AI.

Yet the most fundamental reading skills begin in the earliest years of education.

-So this is the "G" sound.

Look at me.

[ Vocalizes "G" sound ] In teaching kindergarten, there's been a transition as far as the expectation of what we're learning, because when I first started teaching kindergarten, we weren't teaching reading in kindergarten, it was play-oriented.

Phonics has been something I've been teaching for quite a few years.

At times we've had whole language curriculums, where it's more memorization of words.

Whole language can be a lot more difficult for some children.

They don't necessarily understand what they're reading.

I would say 20 years ago, the expectation of reading in kindergarten was not the same.

It was more in first grade.

We focused more on letters and letter sounds.

Back when I first started here, there were a few sight words in our program, and that's what we called them back then.

And those were words they memorized.

Not necessarily the way we teach it now.

[ Children chatter ] -The science behind reading is changing the landscape by helping kids decode language at the most basic level and giving them the tools to comprehend a world that has become far more complicated.

We are in the worst reading crisis in American history.

It cuts across cultures, demographics, even economic disparities.

And we now actually have the vaccine.

We have to give kids a better shot at life.

-Flip it around.

What letter is this?

-"A."

-Where's your stick?

I think we're giving kids the keys to the castle when we teach kids how to read.

We're teaching them how to access any information, anything they need on their own.

They're just, like, at the perfect age to get reading instruction.

And we have seen such big growth because of it.

We have kids who have repeated a grade like Olivia.

She's repeated first grade.

So she was, you know, at the beginning of the year, a little embarrassed that she had not gone on to the next grade, and now she feels like a superstar reading books by herself and writing and applying.

And she just knows that she's doing better and she can feel it, and she's going to be a great second grader.

-So and last year, I couldn't read.

I had to need help.

And like, I can't really read big words, but I can like, do them.

-I am so lucky to work with kids in a small group when we're working.

They are comfortable making mistakes, and when you're comfortable making mistakes, you can learn from your mistakes.

-Read what you wrote.

[ Students vocalizing ] -So since I've taught intervention, we've always had a program that has taught systematic phonics in order to help kids catch up.

It's like everyone knew that that was what we needed.

But the curriculums in the classroom were like more of a whole language.

And if you didn't get it, whole language, your intervention was a phonics based.

It was a like, let's try phonics.

But it didn't teach teachers how to teach.

And so the practice wasn't as effective.

The guessing was there was so much guessing.

And you don't have to teach kids how to guess.

I was thinking about that this morning because my daughter is five and she's learning how to read, and she is like, she's like, "Oh, I was guessing."

I was like, "Yeah, she was guessing when she was trying to read."

And I was like, "We don't have to teach them how to guess.

They're always going to guess."

-Um, the dog biscuit and Sam.

-How did it feel when you finished that book?

-Good.

But I didn't think I think [inaudible].

-We're getting kids taught with the Science of Reading.

Like we really are seeing some huge growth.

I have had lots of kids who have qualified for intervention in the beginning of the year, and by December we're saying, "So long, you're done, you're ready, you're fine, you're caught up, you are ready to go."

We have to give them the skills they need in order to read, and they're getting those with that structured phonics that is going, starting at the beginning and building on each other and learning the rules.

And they really do read, because if they don't get it now, they're never going to get it.

-Riley Elementary is located in what is known as the poorest zip code in Florida.

Yet something remarkable is happening here.

Kids from one of the most challenging environments continue to exceed the expectation.

Their scores are exceeding those of their peers in much more affluent areas.

-Every day I learn something new.

It makes me a stronger person each and every day.

Sometimes I cry, leaving here, just knowing what our kids go through.

But they come to school every day ready to learn with a smile on their face and giving it 100% in their hugs mean everything every morning.

PM one, our progress monitoring data for number one, our students were at 15% proficiency.

So that's taking 112 students, kindergarten students.

And we only had 15% that were proficient.

Here we are PM two And we have 69% students that are proficient at this time.

That is amazing to have our students make that much growth within that time frame.

-In the past, it's kind of like a battle to teach phonics.

You know, you're pulling from here, you're pulling from there, but now it feels like I'm actually teaching.

And I see the kids, they're learning the skills and then they're able to apply them when they come across a larger word and they can, you know, break it apart.

They can decode it and figure out what it means.

I had an interesting case where I have two brothers where I taught one last year where we didn't implement this program, working with the older brother Josue.

The reading curriculum kind of had all the vowel teams at once, and it was just a list.

Memorize it.

Here's what it is.

Your test is next week.

And now I have Josiah, the younger brother this year where we're moving through the program and it's very explicit.

And he's able to sound out these words way earlier than we would have gotten to last year.

Now, like with Josiah, once you learn the short o-sound, you're going to practice it 200 more times.

Like, they have so many opportunities for practice and it's not okay.

I taught it.

It's gone.

Like, you're going to practice it over and over again to where that skill is no question.

He's got it down.

-[ Students reading ] All his dream car.

What could he do?

-We learned our sounds on our decodable texts.

We would usually write sentences on our decodable and write on the boards, write little words.

In day one, we would write more words, and then day two we would write, like, a little less words.

-I've noticed this year he's able to sound out words that we might not have even touched till the end of last year.

He's able to read longer words, multisyllabic words a lot quicker than we would have gotten to last year.

-We would write some things in the book, like, write little sentences or not sentences, but like correct, put the correct word in the sentence like whatever word you think that will fit in.

-If there's a word that they encounter, um, no matter what they're reading, 'cause they like to read everything, even things they're not supposed to read.

But that's what kids do.

Their curiosity takes over.

Every year when I see their test scores, I pull it up.

This score now, every year when I look at them or every time they're testing, it goes higher and higher.

So obviously I have a very supportive teaching staff here, which is great.

-I know dad works long hours, so sometimes he'll come to school late and he's always very worried like miss.

I'm sorry.

Like, I'm like, "I got you."

Like, you come ready?

I got you.

I know he's very worried about that, that he's going to get in trouble.

I'm like, "Look, I get it."

He hasn't missed a day of school.

Even when he comes late.

He's here every day and he's ready to go.

So it's no secret that our kids, they kind of come from this set of challenges.

There's a lot of learning gaps.

They're lacking these foundational skills.

But with this, we're able to not only meet them where they are, we're able to fill these gaps and kind of push them to where now it's creating these opportunities and this realization that, "Oh, I can read, oh, I do have opportunities out there."

And it's giving them that mindset that I can do hard things.

Last year at this point in the year, maybe 4 or 5 level up and then by the end of the year, maybe another 4 or 5.

But to have all 20 be able to go to this level up celebration, it blew my mind.

Like as the results were coming in, I'm like, that's another one, that's another one, that's another one.

And when everyone finished, I was like, "Guys", like, "I can't believe it, you're all going."

And they kind of just stared at me and they were like, "All of us."

I was like, "All of you."

So yeah, it's kind of mind blowing the gains that they're making.

-Amazing... [ Together ] Superstars.

-Here we are.

My name is Camelia Showers, and I am the parent, well, mom of Dariah Showers.

In the beginning, she entered into kindergarten knowing her letters and letter sounds And throughout her kindergarten career, thanks to Ms.

Falana, an amazing teacher.

-Oh, thank you.

-She helped her to love, to read and want to learn.

So she would come home and she'd grab a book and we'll read it together.

And she said, "Will you read first?

And then I'm going to read after you."

And I said, "Okay, let's do -- We'll do it that way. "

And then some nights she'll say, "Well, I'm going to read first and then you can read after me."

Hey, have at it.

We'll do it together.

-...read at home.

We practice the words with the little papers when our teacher give us... -Now with her into first grade, she's actually reading now.

-When she first got to me, she was quiet, more reserved.

You know, she really didn't like to read, but in the classroom, she would read.

I mean, to the point where she would want to be the first ones to read the word.

So that just made my heart smile because, you know, you want kids to enjoy reading.

She started blending those sounds into words.

Actually reading.

That's when she just blossomed.

'Cause, look, this is my girl, I tell her, look, Even even though her daughter is in first grade now, I still stop by that classroom.

"How you doing?"

And if she sees me in the hallway, "Hey, Miss F--" Even to the point, let me tell you how awesome she is.

I have new students now.

She's now taking a liking to my babies in the classroom.

Now, when do you really ever see that?

You know, because of that bond that we have gained, you know, it has grown to this point.

So yeah, she's my girl.

-[ Chuckles ] Now, this type of program is life changing.

You can actually read.

You're going to have to be able to decode.

...space.

I'm going to go back up in the front of the board.

In the beginning of the school year, all of my babies did not come in knowing their letters and sounds.

They didn't know how to write their names.

Just to see how they have taken on the responsibility of, "Okay, you know what?

This is my education.

I need to make sure that by the time December comes, I need to know at least 80% of my letters."

Everything is now coming into place.

So I'm, like, really excited to see what's going to happen at the end of the school year because I expect all of my students, I call them my babies, but all of my students to be proficient and reading, that's just my expectation.

-It's always kind of been incorrectly thought, if you can read, you can teach someone how to read.

Humans are hardwired to learn how to speak.

They're not hardwired to learn how to read.

The main two approaches to teaching reading -- You can kind of be thought of as whole-to-part versus part-to-whole.

Instruction over the years has been really kind of a debate between these two general approaches.

150 years ago, reading instruction in the United States tended to be very rigid and relied a lot on children copying and doing rote memorization tasks.

But they were related to learning letters and sounds, so they were effective.

They were working, but there were lots of elements of the way that instruction happened that made people resist it, and that led to some shifts of thinking in which that was then considered drudgery or, you know, drill and kill is what I hear of getting kids to do things over and over again.

In the early part of the 20th century, there was more of a movement toward the whole word kind of approach.

And in the 50s, we had Rudolf Flesch come out with "Why Johnny Can't Read."

And it was going back to "Why aren't we teaching phonics?

In the 70s and 80s, we got really back into a lot of the whole word kind of approach.

And finally, enough teachers and parents in particular got fed up with their kids not being taught effective methods.

And this has led to another pendulum swing.

But this time it is so pervasive and so backed by evidence, it feels different.

-Who can think of a word that you learned this year.

-And.

-And.

Let's sound that one out.

Well, wait that a it's not making an "ah" sound, right?

-[ Interposing voices ] -It's the whiny "A", right, because there's an "N" after it.

So let's do -- Let's sound that out.

Let's sound the word "and" out.

[ Vocalizing "and" ] -So in kindergarten, they're learning the basic things like letter formation where you know how to make the letters look appropriate with the sounds that match for correspondence.

But then, you know, second graders, they may already know how to do all of that.

So they get to start later.

-Of course they know everything.

-Exactly.

So whereas they may be working with multisyllabic words and more advanced concepts, it's great for kids that need intervention because you can give them a phonics screener and see where on the scope... -And you notice that the intervention thing gets much smaller as this program grows.

-What's great is the program itself has, like, intervention groups worked into it.

They have weekly spelling tests where they let them practice the concepts they learned.

And if they haven't mastered it, they get small group instruction.

And that's in addition to their intervention.

-And not a lot of pressure on the kids.

-Not a lot of pressure.

They love it.

It's a time where they get individualized attention from their teacher.

So it's actually fun for them.

-We're just going to do UFLI, right.

We're doing our auditory, our visual drill, and our auditory drill.

So if this was the latter, what would you say?

-[ Together ] M says, "mmm."

M says, "mmm."

S says, "sss", or "zzz".

-Okay, so we're going to see another clinic.

Tell me about this class.

-Yeah.

So this is a kindergarten class.

-Oh, okay.

-This is Mr.

Rosenzweig.

He just started teaching in October.

-Wow.

Okay, all right.

-And he told me that teaching phonics -- He's great.

Well, most importantly, he loves his students, and they love him.

And he's engaging when he teaches.

But this is his favorite part of the day because his students are the most engaged.

-[ Students vocalizing ] Let's do it.

-Awesome.

Ready?

-Very cool.

Wow, I'm back in kindergarten again.

[ Students vocalizing ] -Boys and girls, this is -- This is a super special person I'm about to introduce.

Have you ever heard of the "Guinness Book of World Records"?

-No.

-Nobody was at the book fair?

Well, this guy has a world record for the most New York Times best sellers, I think.

Pretty sure.

-I don't know... -His name is James Patterson.

Can you say hi, James?

-And this is very -- You guys are great.

And I hear this guy is one of the really, really, really good teachers.

My mother was a teacher, too, for a long time.

-Yeah.

Mine too.

-Really?

Okay.

All right, all right.

And she got me -- And she's the one that got me reading and paying attention, and you guys seem like you're great.

Your principal talks about learning is about fun.

And I think this teacher makes learning kind of fun too, right?

And now this is your first year doing this kind of reading, right?

Is it?

First year, yeah?

-Yes.

It's their first year reading.

-And this is your first year too, right?

-This is my first year.

How is Mr.

Rosenzweig doing?

-Good!

-Do you guys feel like you're learning?

-Yes.

-Oh, my God.

All right.

-When we say "got" and then we do -- [ Students vocalizing ] -We're breaking it apart.

-We're breaking it apart.

-Those are some great answers.

I love those answers.

You're breaking it apart, right?

What are you doing with the sounds?

What are you doing?

You're like, what are you doing with the letters?

What are you doing with the letters?

-We're sounding them out.

-Sounding them out.

Exactly, exactly.

-Things get simpler when you break them apart.

Sometimes something seems complicated, but you break it apart and go, "Okay, now I'm kind of understanding this."

-Yeah, I don't think I could write -- I don't think I could write a book, okay?

But maybe -- -He could.

-But I could if I... -If you broke it apart.

-...took it one step at a time and I plan, maybe I can write a book, and maybe one of you can write a book one day, and you could be a "Guinness World Record" book holder.

-That's right.

With young, innovative teachers like Mr.

Rosenzweig, these kids now have a chance.

The kids at Ketterlinus now have the skills they need to take on middle school.

This could be the best years of their lives.

-My old school, they just didn't really focus on reading and spelling.

It was mostly just math, and I didn't understand what people were saying whenever they just gave you, like, lists to understand the words.

And then, whenever I finally came here, Ms.

Goals helped me understand and be able to write words and spell them.

-So Leila, beginning in kindergarten, was starting to show a little bit of a decline in her reading.

And then even more so when she got to first grade and they were introducing reading to her, she really just began struggling.

It was affecting her confidence.

-When they have a support system, they're going to want to be on grade level, be ahead.

You know, seeing those test scores, seeing, um, in the class, she's wanting to be called upon in the class, you know.

So it's just seeing that that confidence in a student being built when, you know, we get them and they're so in a shell.

She was talking about coming out of school and wanting to do distance learning and and whatnot.

So now seeing her read chapter books and novels and everything else is simply amazing.

She's a little sassy now, you know, and it's it's you won't see it too much at school, but just seeing her, you know, the confidence, the self awareness around the house and everything else, you know, just that self-confidence and pride.

-I had -- It was a quote up during COVID that I put on her desk when she was beginning the distance learning that "Everything is hard before it's easy."

So she'll still sort of repeat that to me with any other struggle, but it seems so hard and daunting at the moment.

Like she wasn't going to get through it and never be a reader.

And then finally she's like, "Reading is so easy for me now."

You know, just everything that the school and teachers were instilling in her here.

And it was just something -- A light switch went off and she's like, "Everything's making sense now."

She's sort of putting together everything she'd been taught in the science behind reading.

And then, yeah, now she's just transformed into an incredible reader.

-I've known Carter since he's been at Ketterlinus and just, you know, since I had worked with his older brother and know the family.

I know their mom really well.

What would you say some of the challenges you faced when you were younger as a reader?

-Um, that I would, like, misspell words when I was reading and then I wouldn't really understand the book.

And when I took a hard test, it wouldn't be good.

-So what do you remember even thinking, maybe between, um, your first first grade teacher and then by the time you got to Mr.

Lavery's class?

-Um, that I didn't like reading and that reading was hard.

And when I got my Mr.

Lavery's class, it got easier and easier.

-You know, it feels like a huge success story because it was just such a game changer for his academic career overall.

-Trent came to us, he had been in private school and he is the most well-rounded boy here at our school, and I contribute a lot to the teachers and his family just helping him grow and them understanding the reading process and helping him learn to read.

-When Trent joined us in second grade, his initial testing showed some areas of weakness in decoding.

And, you know, Trent, what a fighter he is, because it was kind of a perfect storm for him in that his foundational years were spent behind an iPad on Zoom calls.

And then when he came back to school the year after COVID, we were all masked up and the kids were masked up, remember?

And so here we're, you know, telling the kids to look at how our mouth forms the sound and we have masks on and the kids have masks on.

So it was kind of a perfect storm.

-That is a good point because that first great year they were covered.

So that took him back another year.

I forgot about that.

-As soon as mom saw the data, she's like, "Okay", you know, right.

We got the Kleenex out.

We all had a good cry.

And then she's like, "What do we have to do?"

-What do we do?

-And that's how this family is.

And Trent has done the hard work.

Basically, and, like, the other school, my private school, I had COVID.

Then we moved schools and then I was, like, way behind at reading.

And I started doing more, like, comprehension.

That made a miracle that I was fine after that because I'm confident in reading it.

-I love the fact that he thinks that this program helped create a miracle for him.

So now I have a confident young man here that I couldn't be more proud of, who made honor roll, who has done just miraculous things.

And Trent, I'm so proud of you and what you've accomplished thus far.

Okay?

And the sky's the limit for him.

It really is.

-When we're reading with our students now, they are truly first line of defense.

Like I said before, they're decoding words.

They're not relying on picture cues and context clues as first line of defense, they are decoding.

-The funny thing is it was there all the time.

-I feel happy because all I need is comprehension and I know how to do everything in reading.

But I'm still ready for sixth grade.

-Success at any level depends on a solid reading foundation.

If kids don't get these skills at the earliest levels, they could be set on the wrong course for the rest of their lives.

In Florida, only about half of the students read at grade level.

But that's better than most states.

Here's the thing, the evidence is overwhelming.

The science of reading is working, and it's the future of education.

We just need to get state after state using it.

Every single one of these schools is seeing a dramatic change in reading levels.

It's going to depend on parents and teachers in order to help our nation's kids read at a higher level.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -For more information on "The Reading Reboot", visit thereadingreboot.org.