Struggling Students Need Interventions, Not Just Accommodations
We need to cure, not simply mask, reading deficiencies that were created by poor instruction.
It’s been a while since my last blog post. The combination of guilt and longing has brought me back to my keyboard today. Whenever I get a notification that I have a new subscriber, I feel guilty for failing to provide fresh material for them. The longing is rooted in my need to wrestle with and express my thoughts clearly and concisely, hopefully inspiring my readers to think about a topic in a new or different way. After such a long hiatus, there are a million things I could write about, but it’s the false notion that accommodations, rather than science-backed interventions, are the cure to the literacy crisis in our country.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), thirty-three percent of fourth graders scored at or above the proficiency rate in reading in 2022. That same year, thirty-one percent of eighth graders and thirty-seven percent of twelfth graders scored at or proficient in reading. It’s interesting to note that that year's graduation rate was eighty-seven percent, which leads me to conclude that most students had good enough grades to pass their classes. What I wrestle with is how so many functionally illiterate students passed their classes.
When I worked in elementary schools, it wasn’t uncommon to provide accommodations for students who struggled with reading, even if they didn’t have a 504 or Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Often, those accommodations included more time on assignments or tests, having someone read the assignment or test questions to them, or writing the answers for them. These accommodations helped students complete tasks but did nothing to address why they struggled with reading. When those students went on to middle and high school, they were still receiving accommodations but no solutions.
Accommodations are often necessary throughout the K-12 school career for students who struggle with reading due to specific disabilities. For others who struggle because they weren’t properly taught how to read, the accommodations mask a bigger problem and do nothing to mitigate the root cause. Thanks to Emily Hanford, we now know that millions of students were taught how to read improperly using methods that led to their struggles as they progressed through school. No matter how much time or assistance schools provide for assignments, those students won’t acquire stronger literacy skills without proper, urgent interventions. Regardless of whether students are in elementary, middle, or high school, they need to be given the foundational skills, not accommodations, required to become proficient readers.
Schools must return to the science of reading at every stage to cure rather than mask the issue for struggling students. That will include interventions involving phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency, vocabulary, content knowledge development, and comprehension. Some students in this group may demonstrate more complex issues when it comes to reading, but the likelihood of most of them catching up with their peers is excellent.
In the short term, accommodations help prevent students from becoming frustrated, but in the long term, schools must stop making illiteracy more comfortable and start making it less common. Most students who struggle with literacy don’t suffer from a learning disability but rather an instruction disability. It’s time to provide them with proper instruction.