▶ 0:08:56Okay, good morning. Uh, the subcommittee will come to order and it's my pleasure to convene our first hearing for u the year on critical issue of uh childhood literacy. As we all know, developing strong reading skills at an early age is foundational building block for lifelong success. When students master basic reading skills by the fourth grade, they make the important transition from learning to read to reading to learn.
▶ 0:09:25That is why these early years are so critical and why we owe it to our children provide them with proven effective instruction and reading. Uh to that end, I hope today's hearing will highlight the tremendous work of state and local leaders to advance what has become known as the science of reading. also want to thank my colleague from California, Mr. Harter, uh for his championing this issue and building awareness around today's topic. So, thank you, Mr.
▶ 0:09:53Harter, uh for your support and encouragement in that point. Also, um Congressman Dell Strong from Alabama, my colleague, um while he's not on the subcommittee, he's been a champion of this issue, and I appreciate his input as well on it.
▶ 0:10:07Uh the science of reading is a research-based approach to literacy and literacy instruction that places a strong emphasis on States have adopted science of reading strategies that have adopted have implemented comprehensive literacy plans featuring high quality coursework and rigorous teacher training. These states are achieving remarkable success for their students from 2013 to 2024.
▶ 0:10:37Mississippi, for example, rose from 49th to ninth in the nation in fourth grade reading scores and is now tied for the third highest reading proficiency rate among underprivileged students. While many refer to this achievement as the Mississippi Miracles, others have more accurately called it the Mississippi Marathon, reflecting that sustained effort and perseverance required to to produce such a result.
▶ 0:11:04Other states adopting science of reading strategies have experienced similar gains. Louisiana, for example, improved from last to 16th in the nation in fourth grade reading between 2019 and 2024. Tennessee moved from 31st to 23rd. And I'm also proud to report that my home state of Alabama advanced from 49 to 34th during the same period. We still have a long way to go, but this progress is important step in the right direction.
▶ 0:11:34And let me just note that Alabama is one of only two states along with Louisiana to exceed preco precoid levels in fourth grade reading achievement. Much of this progress has been achieved with fewer financial resources per pupil than are available in many other states which demonstrates that increased spending alone is not always the answer.
▶ 0:11:57The key is the wise and prudent use of resources directed toward proven teaching methods and a strong focus on the fundamentals. This record of success also underscores the importance of a bottom up approach to education reform rather than a topdown mandate from Washington. States are rightly leading the way as laboratories of innovation and improvements in our education system.
▶ 0:12:24I look forward to uh hearing from our dist distinguished panel today and uh as they talk about the science of reading and the promise it holds to improve literacy outcomes for our nation's young students. I would like to ask that for unanimous consent to enter a statement that Mr. Guess of Mississippi would like to put into the record. So before we turn to our witnesses, I I next want to recognize our distinguished ranking chairman. Mr.
▶ 0:12:52Lo is u and ask for her for any rem opening remarks that she would like to
▶ 0:12:59Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. And as you were talking about the uh uh Mississippi experience, uh our governor uh Governor Lamont when he did his uh state of the state address just a few days ago, uh has introduced uh literacy coaches.
▶ 0:13:16Uh Le Man's proposed budget revisions for education include $4.5 million in funding to create a quote statewide network of literacy coaches to counteract a drop in reading scores based on the successful [clears throat] program initially launched in Mississippi. Uh the coaches would go to certain kindergarten through third grade classrooms, work with existing school staff to lesson plan, model, demo lessons, implement universal screening programs, um etc. create action plans according to the budget proposal.
▶ 0:13:46So, the Mississippi model is really gaining traction around the country and I'm so proud of my state uh for uh and my governor uh for adopting uh this uh this effort. U I say good morning to everyone and thank you so much for being here. Uh a big thank you to our witnesses. So glad that you could be with us today to share your knowledge and insight with this committee. and uh Chairman Adhaltz. I think this is an important committee and thank you for for um uh convening it.
▶ 0:14:13And I also want to commend uh my colleague Congressman Harter for his advocacy and support uh for the matter that is uh uh important uh to all of us and before us today, the science of reading. Teaching our children to read and to love reading is one of the foundational responsibilities of our nation's education education system. We're all sitting here, all of us who have either read to our kids, our grandkids, etc.
▶ 0:14:40because it's the it is what you do, uh, and in order to be able to help to educate them and to get them to have an appreciation of reading and to love it. And it's also wonderful when you try to skip over the passages and they tell you, well, you missed this. You know, that's used to happen in our house. You missed this piece or you missed that piece. Because they know they know the material. Um uh there are it is clear that there are serious shortcomings when it comes to reading achievement nationwide.
▶ 0:15:10In her testimony, Dr. Lane will highlight the value of our federal investments in education research and highquality teacher preparation programs. Many of these programs were slated to be eliminated, but through uh bipartisan negotiations, we were able to craft a labor HHS education bill that maintains and in many instances increases funding for this crucial work. Dr.
▶ 0:15:33Lane will also share that only 31% of fourth graders and 30% of eighth graders reached proficient levels of reading on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress. In other words, more than twothirds of children in the United States are not reading proficiently. That is unacceptable. Which is why it is so important that we are holding this hearing today on the science of reading.
▶ 0:15:57In fact, this subcommittee is responsible for the creation of the 2000 National Reading Panel report, a landmark document that went on to reflect the scientific consensus regarding effective reading instruction, a legacy that endures to this day.
▶ 0:16:14The 1998 labor HHS education bill under chairman John Porter, who not only understood the value of research and education, but was instrumental in substantially increasing investments at the NIH as well, directed the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
▶ 0:16:31uh and the Secretary of Education to quote uh to convene a national panel to assess the status of research-based knowledge including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read end quote. Our subcommittee task this panel with publishing its conclusions along with a strategy for disseminating its findings to quote facilitate effective reading instruction in our schools end quote.
▶ 0:16:57This report mandated by an appropriations law marked the beginning of a datadriven evidence-based consensus on what it takes to mold proficient readers. It laid out five pillars of this science which include phmic phenemic awareness the ability to identify and play with individual sounds in spoken words.
▶ 0:17:19Phonics reading instruction focus on understanding how letters and groups of letters link to sounds to form letter sound relationships and spelling patterns. Fluency the ability to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories correctly with enough speed and expression. Vocabulary, knowing what words mean and how to say and use them correctly. Comprehension, the ability to understand what you are reading. In a moment, you will hear from Dr.
▶ 0:17:44Holly Lane, a director of the University of Florida Literacy Institute, who will share the critical challenges we face nationwide in translating our theoretical understanding of effective reading instruction into practice. We will also hear from Miss Bonnie Short, the director of the Alabama Reading Initiative, and Mr. Larry Salsbury, the director of teaching and learning for literacy for Huntsville City Schools, who will share their insights into applying these principles on the state and local uh levels.
▶ 0:18:14I'm sincerely looking forward to this hearing because I believe the appropriations committee has a central role to play in helping our nation's teachers and our schools apply the science of reading so that every child not only has a chance to succeed but to experience the intellectual, emotional, and cultural exploration that reading makes possible.
▶ 0:18:37I look forward to working with you to build on the NICD uh report and the Department of Education's 2000 National Reading Panel report and support federal investments in education programs designed to help educators effectively teach um the science of reading.
▶ 0:18:56This starts with our important investments in education research and technical assistance such as comprehensive centers, regional education laboratories, and the Institute of Education Sciences grants.
▶ 0:19:10It continues with our investments in teacher preparation and training such as teacher quality partnerships title 2A and it must include our robust robust support for title one English language acquisition and IDA so that children from all backgrounds have the skills they need to succeed.
▶ 0:19:29Finally, I believe this committee has a responsibility to make [clears throat] sure that the United States has an effective federal department of education that works with grant recipients in states and districts nationwide so that federal dollars are used effectively to drive literacy gains through the science of reading. The Department of Education is critical to increasing literacy and reading and I believe we should be dedicating even more resources to this vital mission. I thank you and I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 0:20:00Thank you.
▶ 0:20:03Thank you, uh, Mr. Laurel. Um, well, at this point, uh, we will, uh, we will start our testimony hearing from our witnesses. Uh, again, um, we have three witnesses here today. Bonnie Short, director of the Alabama Reading Initiative. Uh, we have Larry Salsbury, the director of teaching and learning for literacy for Huntsville City Schools, and Holly Lane, director of the University of Florida Literacy Institute. uh and professor. So uh with that uh Dr. Lane, we'll begin with you and look forward to your testimony.
▶ 0:20:35Thank you so much. Um good morning, Chairman Adhalt and Ranking Member Delaro and members of the subcommittee. It's an honor to be here to speak with you about the science of reading. Something clearly near and dear to my heart and as an academic limiting my comments to five minutes will be in a special a special challenge. Um, my name is Holly Lane and I am a professor of education at the University of Florida and I'm the director of the University of Florida Literacy Institute, better known as UFly.
▶ 0:21:06Most people would agree that learning to read is a child's most important accomplishment in the elementary grades. Reading proficiency in the early grades is closely linked to later academic, social, and economic outcomes. It's what makes productive citizens. The term science of reading means different things to different people. So allow me to explain what I mean when I use that term.
▶ 0:21:33The science of reading is the vast accumulated body of evidence about what reading is, how people learn to do it, and how it is most effectively taught. The evidence comes from numerous fields of study including education research, psychology, linguistics, and One of the more useful frameworks for understanding reading is called the simple view of reading. And it was first proposed four decades ago by Goff and Hummer.
▶ 0:22:03The simple view does not suggest that reading is a simple process. In fact, it's just a simple way of understanding a very complex process. The simple view can be stated in a single sentence that reading comprehension is the product of word recognition and linguistic That is in order to read and comprehend text, one must be able to read the words on the page and understand the spoken language that's used in the text.
▶ 0:22:31It does sound simple, but a lot goes into both of these areas. So, what's the problem? We know that reading achievement is a big problem in this country. Why are we seeing such poor reading outcomes? These are complex questions, but I will attempt to address some of what I see as the core problems we face. The first problem is the expertise of educators.
▶ 0:22:55Although there are many, many excellent reading teachers out there, many others enter the classroom illprepared to teach reading, either because their teacher preparation programs taught them outdated and ineffective methods or because they received no teacher preparation at all. Many alternatively certified teachers are teaching kids how to read. Um, or their ongoing professional learning about reading is focused on the latest fads rather than on the latest evidence.
▶ 0:23:22A closely related problem is the lack of reading expertise among education leaders. Few school or district leaders have deep knowledge about reading, which means reading instruction seldom gets the attention or support that it deserves. Another key problem is the quality of the tools provided to teachers. Few published reading programs have any systematic rigorous evaluation before they're sold to schools.
▶ 0:23:46Many programs are marketed as being aligned with the science of reading, but there are no safeguards in place to ensure that this is true. There's no equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration to evaluate reading programs to ensure that they're effective or at least to ensure that they're not harmful. This leaves schools and districts susceptible to every snake oil salesman that comes along. And there are many.
▶ 0:24:10Most state approval processes tend to ignore efficacy data altogether while focusing instead on superficial elements that have little impact on student achievement. Also, the approval processes almost never consider program usability in any sub substantive way. So even when a program does have data demonstrating efficacy under controlled study conditions, it may not be effective in real classrooms. Programs are bloated with useless activities that do nothing to promote learning.
▶ 0:24:40And few programs these days have children actually reading real books or tackling content of substance. I've heard it said that most reading programs today are designed to be successful in the curriculum adoption process, not in the classroom. I concur with that statement. We must ensure that the tools provided to educators are effective and educators in the field need guidance and protection from snake oil salesmen. We need safeguards in place.
▶ 0:25:06So most of the problems in reading today are related to these two main issues and leader expertise uh uh leader teacher and leader expertise and the quality of their tools. If we want to improve reading outcomes, we need to address both of these. There are certainly bright spots in the reading world. Schools, districts, and states that have beaten the odds and made remarkable gains in reading. Some of them represented right here with me. Their efforts have focused largely on these two issues.
▶ 0:25:32We need to learn from these examples and replicate their efforts to ensure reading success for all children. We need to follow the science we have and we need to continue to add to the science through ongoing rigorous research efforts. Thank you.
▶ 0:25:46Okay. Thank you. All right. Um short look forward to hearing you from
▶ 0:25:51chairman ranking member Delaro and members of the subcommittee.
▶ 0:25:58Attorney make sure your mic's on. Thank you for the opportunity to share Alabama's experience strengthening literacy through evidence-based policy and sustained implementation. My name is Bonnie Short and I'm the director of the Alabama Reading Initiative at the Alabama State Department of Education.
▶ 0:26:18The Alabama Reading Initiative is a statewide effort focused on ensuring all students develop the foundational skills needed to meet or exceed grade level standards. Alabama's experience shows meaningful literacy improvement does not come from isolated programs or shortterm initiatives.
▶ 0:26:39Instead, it comes from coherent policy paired with long-term job embedded implementation supports that help educators deliver strong instruction, identify risk early, and respond quickly when students need additional support.
▶ 0:26:57This work has been successful because literacy has been a shared priority of state leadership including our state superintendent Mackey, the legislature and our governor along with a commitment of local schools and educators. In 2019, Alabama enacted the Alabama Literacy Act with a clear goal reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade.
▶ 0:27:22The law prioritizes prevention through strong core instruction, early and frequent screening, and timely evidence-based interventions. Independent policy analyses have described Alabama's approach as comprehensive, noting components were intentionally designed to function together as a coordinated system. Implementation at scale has been central to this work.
▶ 0:27:47First, Alabama has focused on strengthening core literacy instruction in every classroom through explicit evidence-based practices that build foundational reading skills and connect them to language development and comprehension. Second, we have invested in professional learning, not one-time training, but ongoing job embedded support that helps educators translate research into daily instructional practice.
▶ 0:28:17Third, assessment is coherently and purposefully. Alabama provides universal screening and early literacy assessment resources to identify students at risk and monitor progress while emphasizing clear family-facing communication so parents understand the results and what schools plan to do.
▶ 0:28:40Fourth, when students require additional support, schools are equipped to respond quickly through tiered instruction and what we call student reading improvement plans aligned to the Alabama Literacy Act, which includes outside of the school day learning opportunities. Finally, Alabama has prioritized student centered coaching grounding professional learning in student work and outcomes so it leads to measurable change in the classroom practice.
▶ 0:29:08In addition to this implementation, Alabama has invested in long-term prevention by partnering with education education preparation programs in our institutions of higher ed to ensure teachers enter the classroom with a solid foundation in evidence-based reading instruction. These EV these efforts have produced measurable results.
▶ 0:29:32Public reporting on the National Assessment of Education Progress shows Alabama's fourth grade reading performance moved from 49th in the nation in 2019 to 34th in 2024. Federal investments are most effective when they support the structures that make evidence-based practice durable at scale.
▶ 0:29:55professional learning and coaching capacity, early identification and intervention support, and family-f facing data systems that protect instructional time. Teaching children to read is both an educational imperative and sound public investment. Thank you for your commitment to improving literacy outcomes for the children in our nation.
▶ 0:30:20Thank you, Miss Short, and uh Mr. Salsbury. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Erdalt, Ranking Member Deloro, and members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for the opportunity to speak at today's hearing. My name is Larry Salsbury Jr., and I currently serve as the director of teaching and learning for K through2 literacy within Huntsville City Schools of Huntsville, Alabama.
▶ 0:30:44In 2022, I enrolled in my first science of reading course, Lexia Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling with the Principal's Primmer. It was a one-year course that opened my eyes to what could be as I became more intentional in learning alongside teachers who were enrolled in letters for elementary educators and also leading all teachers in the process of teaching students how to read, how to read.
▶ 0:31:09At that time, a financial incentive of $500 funded by my local education agency, Limestone County Schools was al allocated [clears throat] for course completers. In addition, I was leading a school that had been designated as limited support to by the Alabama reading initiative. Also, our school had been designated as an additional targeted and support improvement school under the Every Student Succeeds Act.
▶ 0:31:35There is work uh that is happening across the state to close reading gaps by continuing uh the implementation of student reading improvement plans beyond grade three. However, in my current role, an important component of the work to advance literacy involves constantly assessing our programs and resources to determine if they lead to mastery of the content area standards and essential skills.
▶ 0:31:59Oftent times students who grapple with phological awareness will most likely have limited vocabulary and encounter challenges with grammar and language structures and semantics. How should schools and districts continually address this? One approach is through ensuring that teachers have increased awareness of the five pillars of literacy including phmic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Another approach is by engaging teachers in coaching and professional development.
▶ 0:32:28Furthermore, while growing up in G's bin, located in Wilcox County, Alabama, I learned the value of literacy. My parents and my deceased maternal grandmother, Dbor Pway Young, a G's been quilter, ensured that I found enjoyment in reading. I now make it a goal to make certain that my three sons do as well.
▶ 0:32:47During spring 2025, 88% of Alabama's third graders were reading on or above grade level as measured by the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program Summitive Reading Subtest, which is required for third graders to be promoted. As I mentioned, uh we're working to close reading gaps by continuing the implementation of student reading improvement plans beyond grade three. Thus, funding support is needed to ensure access to highquality instruction, resources, and interventionists for fourth and fifth graders.
▶ 0:33:16In October 2025, I had the opportunity to attend the 9th annual conference of the reading league. It was evident that the work of researchers like Dr. Anita Archer and Dr. Julie Washington is assuredly helping to change the landscape of teaching and learning. That fundamental question remains of how to encourage all states to embrace the need for stronger science of reading policies. As Dr. Clarence Sutton Jr., Our superintendent would say from vision to victory every su every every department every school every student.
▶ 0:33:47Currently in HCS there's a strong partnership with the schools foundation in which teachers are invited to become ordiningham trained. In addition the hcs dyslexia coordinator along with the kindergarten teacher at Hampton Cove Elementary recently became certified academic language therapists. Moreover, there are 26 local reading specialist positions funded by ARRI and eight reading interventionist positions which are also funded by ARRI. In addition, HCS locally funds literacy specialists at several schools.
▶ 0:34:18Furthermore, the partnership with Lexia remains strong as there are three cohorts of 63 participants enrolled in the letters for administrators course. Moreover, uh while teachers are also encouraged to enroll in letters for elementary educators and letters for early childhood educators, a barrier has been uh has included the dissolution of the onetime $1,000 stipen uh funding support for stipens and substitute teacher costs as needed.
▶ 0:34:48In conclusion, one of the greatest gifts that we can give a student is the gift of reading. Not just reading, but proficient reading. With support to ensure access to professional development, personnel, and resources, there is hope that greater reading proficiency levels can and will be achieved. Thank you again. Please share any questions that you may
▶ 0:35:11Very good. Thank you all each of you for your testimony and uh we will now begin our uh questioning. Uh, of course, each member will give a about five minutes uh to ask questions and uh I'll begin and let me just open it up to any of the witnesses that would like to respond to this. Um I um you know there's a broad bipartisan agreement that reading failure has has long-term economic and workforce consequences.
▶ 0:35:34I think one thing that we can all agree on in Washington DC is that um from your perspective, can maybe talk a little bit about what specific investments that yield the highest return for taxpayers when it comes to early uh literacy? And I'll just open that up for whoever would like to jump in there and answer that.
▶ 0:35:58Um, I don't think it's a one one item is going to really make um everything that we need to have happen happen for children. I do think it's a combination of items that work together. But I will say in Alabama, um, I think one of the leverage points that we have, one of the strongest elements is the ongoing professional development we have with local reading specialists or coaches in the building of every kindergarten through third grade school.
▶ 0:36:28We also have regional specialists that go in side by side. They're working in the classrooms with teachers and children supporting their efforts. And we also have coaches that support principles in central office. And I think that's an element that's especially important as well because some of our principles in central office don't come from backgrounds where they learned how to teach children to read. So they need to be able to have those skills to be able to support their staff.
▶ 0:36:58Very good.
▶ 0:37:00Dr. Lang, would you like to respond?
▶ 0:37:02I would. Yes. Um I agree wholeheartedly that um literacy coaches are a really important element. Um, as I mentioned uh a moment ago, I also think that uh ensuring that both teachers, the ones directly um working with students and school and district leaders uh need additional support and understanding about systems that work and things that often make reading attempts for reading
▶ 0:37:32reform fail. Um there are there's quite a bit of um information out there about implementation science and generally what I see in my work with districts across the country is that very few people on the ground understand the things that facilitate high highly effective implementation of strong reading instruction. Um and so many of the reform efforts fall flat because of that.
▶ 0:38:02Every state is attempting to do what Mississippi and Alabama and Louisiana has done at some level. Um, but most don't even know where to begin because there's so much that needs to be done. So, helping us expand this area of implementation science, understand how it varies from setting to setting is a really important element.
▶ 0:38:24Let me uh and Dr. Lane, let me I'll go ahead and ask the this question since you got the mic there. Should federal dollars support uh preparation programs that continue to teach approaches that lack empirical support? Um, and if not, how can Congress encourage better alignment without a federal micromanaging of the system?
▶ 0:38:46That's a really tough question because I think that there is um a little bit of romanticism associated with local control and education. Um, when you have local expertise that works great. when there is little local expertise, it doesn't work so well.
▶ 0:39:03So providing um guidance in terms of what does and doesn't work and then expecting that if you are to receive federal dollars for whatever for through title one support or whatever else that you are using effective models um within the realm of teacher education. I know a lot of my colleagues are working really hard to implement um evidence-based practices in their educator preparation programs.
▶ 0:39:31Um others are not and there is no real ramification for that. Um so it's a
▶ 0:39:38Thank you. Um sure. Um the gains that we've seen um in Alabama suggest that there's a strong state policy paired with consistent uh and how that can work.
▶ 0:39:54Uh what aspects of the Alabama's literacy um require federal support and uh what work best uh because of state retain You know, I think when we um talk about the federal resp federal support, we are looking at um you know, what do we know to be harmful in situations that we want to make sure that we are protecting the individuals that we serve.
▶ 0:40:25I think you have to look at those general um elements. I think supporting things we know that are grounded in the science are elements that can continue to support um our nation as you pointed out earlier in 2000. We were releasing the um the national reading panel. We had the evidence there. Um we fell off with following the evidence as a nation and we've got to come back to that.
▶ 0:40:54I think building supports that um put in front for us where the evidence is is very important at the national level. Um I think about groups such as the evidence advocacy center that is trying to lift up just that to make sure that we do not have um we do not fall victim to things that are not following the science any longer.
▶ 0:41:21Um, as a state, I'm very blessed that I have the financial support, the legislative support, um, the governor's support, and the the state school board support to be a be able to implement all the things that we want to have um, in Alabama. Not every state has that. So, how do we support them as we move forward into this um, into this work and making sure that all of our students can read? Um, Dr.
▶ 0:41:50Lane mentioned about higher ed. I think that's another element. We're blessed in Alabama that we have coaches that are working alongside higher ed to be able to support them in their implementation. And so having that support system built in is one of those elements that I really think helps to make implementation work.
▶ 0:42:11Okay. Thank you. My time is expired. Uh Mr. Floro,
▶ 0:42:16thank you very much and and thank you so much for your very thoughtful testimony. It is um there is a science which we should you know adhere to, you know, I mean it we're not just pulling things out of the air, you know, is what you're talking about. Dr. Dr.
▶ 0:42:38Lane, I understand you've received multiple research grants throughout your career at the US Department of Education, awards made by the Office of Special Education Programs and by the Institute of Education Sciences. Can you walk us through the research you have been able to conduct because of these f funding opportunities? How did they advance your understanding of evidence-based reading
▶ 0:43:02Thank you for the question. Um, one of the things to understand about the science of reading is that the vast majority of that science is a result of federally funded research. This is where the science comes from. So,
▶ 0:43:16um, hearkening back to chairman Adhalt's question, I think that's one of the key areas of federal funding that makes a difference. If we want to continue understanding how kids learn to read, we need to make sure that we're providing the funding for that research. Um the the the grants that I've had have varied. Um they're all related to literacy in different ways.
▶ 0:43:41I was a part of an II grant that was uh studying reading instruction in juvenile corrections. It's a an area that when we have kids who can read um or who learn how to read while they're incarcerated, they have much lower rates of recidivism. They do much better in society.
▶ 0:44:03And so um unfortunately most uh correctional juvenile correctional facilities don't attract a lot of really strong teachers. So ensuring that we have effective methods is one of the things that we were looking at. A lot of the research that I've done has focused on early literacy and particularly um phonics instruction and the that has yielded a program that we now um have published called UFly Foundations.
▶ 0:44:33It's a phonics program that is now used uh very widely across the country in just four years since it was released. I think we're in close to 700,000 classrooms. Um and it is making a difference. Um, phonics is not the only element that we need to be um, teaching though and research and that those fedally funded grants that focus on language development and background knowledge um, development are also essential.
▶ 0:45:00So um, all of these different federally funded research um, weave their way into effective programs. So the the development of EUI was not solely our own research. We have the DNA of NIH, NSF, and DOE research woven all the way through our program.
▶ 0:45:23Well, thank thank you for that. And I I just want to make a point there that um um what you're talking about in the science of reading is former Senator Daniel Patrick Mohan's original proposal for a quote national institute of education. It led to the creation of the Institute of Education Sciences. I mentioned this because of your your point, the federal commitment to science and reading uh cannot occur without this subcommittee steadfast support of IEES and its expert staff and its funding
▶ 0:45:54Um Miss Short, in your testimony, you note that high quality, this is quote, highquality early childhood and early literacy efforts consistently show strong returns on investments. I couldn't agree more and I've been a strong supporter of the investment federal investment in early childhood. Walk us through the benefits of highquality early childhood education helping to for kids to arrive at kindergarten and first grade prepared for reading and literacy programs.
▶ 0:46:21What happens if a child doesn't have access to that high quality u early education uh opportunity? How difficult is is it for a child to catch up with peers um who have spent that time uh in those uh important uh uh early childhood programs prior to kindergarten.
▶ 0:46:40Well, I'd love to share with you that every child that comes into our schools is ready to learn,
▶ 0:46:44but that is not the case. And um we take children where they are. And Dr. Eric Mackey, our state superintendent, often says every child every chance every day. The goal is that we are looking at looking for with these assessments that we give. What are the risk factors? What are the areas that we need to make sure that we're supporting this child in with the deficiencies that they are showing? And so making sure that we're providing them good core instruction from the beginning.
▶ 0:47:13And when we see that that good core instruction is not working based on the assessments that we provide uh the research-based assessments that we intervene immediately that we're providing them the supports that they need and that we involve the family. I think that's one of the elements in our law that is a real strength is making sure that we are connecting the people who are there as the other first teachers of their child to be able to support their children.
▶ 0:47:43Explain to them what is taking place with the deficiencies that we're seeing and how they can be a part of helping as well. Um, also providing outside of school time for these students. If we have a student who's showing a consistent deficiency, our law triggers that they are automatically invited to our summer learning programs that we have.
▶ 0:48:04And um, Alabama was recently the host of the National Summer Learning Association conference because of the great work that we've been doing in our out of school time.
▶ 0:48:15Thank you. My time is up. I will just say uh that your your views and it just the investment in early childhood education and literacy is in your view essential for our kids to be able uh to to be able to succeed, to be able to thrive, to be able to really move through the process.
▶ 0:48:41And wherever we where where at whatever level they are that that is a critical piece of trying to make sure that they have um uh uh if they don't have the the the two years or so forth but and then working to have help them to catch up which is also an investment of federal resources.
▶ 0:49:02It's the early childhood investment, but where the deficiencies are, then we need to be able to provide uh it would be your view that we need to provide the federal investments in this kind of effort to to allow kids to be able to thrive. Thank you so much and thank you, Mr. Chair.
▶ 0:49:19Mr. Simpson,
▶ 0:49:21thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for being here today and for your testimony. This is a fascinating and perplexing subject. The reason I say perplexing is uh I've been kind of involved in this for a number of years. 30 years ago when I was speaker of the house in Idaho, my best friend's wife was taught reading And uh I made uh House and Senate Appropriations Committee in Idaho, go over and spend a day with her uh and learn what she did and the challenges she faced.
▶ 0:49:52She told me a couple things. One of them is that if someone if if a child doesn't get on grade level by about the third grade, they're just going to get further and further behind and you've essentially lost that child. And that's why third grade is so so important. Second thing she taught me was you have to get the parents And these teachers that taught reading recovery would go to parents homes in the evening to work with the parents and the child.
▶ 0:50:21We have parents that at home they only speak Spanish and in school they they speak English. How difficult is that? And the challenges that they face and stuff. And so we've known this is a problem and yet we keep seeing reading scores go Why haven't we fixed it?
▶ 0:50:50that I mean that's the thing that's perplexing to me. Why aren't you would think that first, second, and third grade teachers would already know this? That was that would be what they would learn in college to become teachers. Why isn't that happening? Anybody want to address that? And the issue of parents and getting parents involved in this also
▶ 0:51:15I'm happy to talk about that. I think one of the the big things that I alluded to um earlier was that the the tools that teachers are provided overall are lacking dramatically.
▶ 0:51:31And so a teacher may come from a really high quality teacher preparation program, learn effective methods, but then are uh reading programs that don't allow them to use those what they know in order to teach reading well. That the programs are just of very poor quality. And it's a really really um concern concerning issue for me.
▶ 0:51:56Um, as someone who's developed a program, we we spent years studying what needed to go into it and two years piloting it before we ever even considered publishing it. It we didn't set out to publish a program. And the opposite usually happens. A publisher will publish a program and then maybe go back later and study it, but it's already been sold to schools. teachers have to use it because that's the adopted required curriculum, but it's not working.
▶ 0:52:26And so that's that's one of the big issues. The other issue that you brought up, the uh problem with um parent involvement, what I see very often is that many parents with the children who are struggling the most in reading have literacy issues themselves. That they were poorly served by their schools. how we expect them to then turn around and provide excellent support at home doesn't make sense, right? It does it doesn't flow.
▶ 0:52:55Um, so providing family literacy efforts that actually support the literacy development of the adult in the home is one other way that we can support children in having a literacy rich environment.
▶ 0:53:09Do we need to do a better job in our teacher preparation classes in colleges?
▶ 0:53:15Absolutely. There's there's a very wide range of quality um from outstanding to really really poor um and there is no real uh safeguard or guidance for what exactly needs to be addressed. A lot of other um professions have very clearly laid laid out standards or expectations of what a graduate should know and be able to do.
▶ 0:53:44education really doesn't have that that the education advocacy center that um short mentioned is an an effort to address that to um professionalize the field more to have agreed upon standards. You don't see in you know medicine or architecture or pharmacy or anything the lack of consistency that we see in education.
▶ 0:54:08It is it is frustrating. If I was a teacher and I had the skills to be able to teach that Mhm.
▶ 0:54:13And all of a sudden I had this program that didn't actually work. I would think I would be standing on top of my desk and screaming to the superintendent and the school board and everything else that this isn't working. Our scores are going down and we need to change.
▶ 0:54:29Uh and I think more of that needs to happen across the country. But I Idaho has adopted the science of reading program and they've seen over the last year our scores went up. In fact, I think uh Mr. Adhalt mentioned that only two states had reached pre prep preandemic levels.
▶ 0:54:46Idaho was the other one that had reached pre prepandemic levels, but they'd gone up from 66 to 70% uh at third grade reading level, which is good, but that still means about one in three students aren't at grade at reading level
▶ 0:55:02and we need to do much much much better. Thank you for what you do. It is very very important. Most important part of primary education, I think. Thank you,
▶ 0:55:12Miss Hoyer.
▶ 0:55:16Thank you very much.
▶ 0:55:18Thank you very much for what you do every day, which I think is so critical. As I told you, my wife was an early childhood education. She ran early childhood education, prek to third grade in Prince George's County, which is a school system of over 100, well over 100,000 people. Um, so this is a very important issue for me and has been my entire career in the state senate here.
▶ 0:55:46And I share m uh Congressman Simpson's frustration as I'm sure you share it that we haven't gotten to where we need to be when we have statistics that u children are not reaching the third grade levels at 85 and 90% levels which really ought to be the case and that ought to be our I was interested in both of you,
▶ 0:56:17Miss Short and Miss Lane, and I think uh, Mr. Salsbury, you as well, not not quite as direct, mentioned the word investment numerous times. And while I accept the theory that money is not everything, it's not. Uh most parents, particularly elementary school parents, think there's a they have a wonderful school if the teacher in that classroom is wonderful.
▶ 0:56:46Ultimately, that's the test. Um you mentioned, Dr. Lane, that you had received a lot of what you know as a result of federal research. Uh unfortunately, as you probably know, slashed by 50%.
▶ 0:57:09Uh the education the uh research and they slashed in addition to that NIH and NSA which you mentioned in your If we continue to do that, what do you believe will be the result?
▶ 0:57:27It's a great question. Um I do believe um continued investment in education research is essential. Having served on many grant review panels, I understand how very rigorous the review process is. There isn't a grant getting through the process without it being a really high quality thing is almost impossible.
▶ 0:57:56It's not completely impossible. Surely that could happen. But every one of the grants that we have reviewed that got funded was really rigorous and many of the ones that didn't get funded were really rigorous proposals. And so I feel like there's um kind of a misconception that a lot of money gets poured into uh education research that isn't high quality and doesn't produce useful results. It's not the case at all.
▶ 0:58:25I having been on both sides of that, I know the the rigor that goes into it. Um the investment in education research is what brought us the science of reading. And if we want to continue to learn what works and continue to attempt to solve the problem, we have to continue to invest in understanding it. Um it's not simple.
▶ 0:58:50There are many different issues and some of them are location-based kinds of issues. Uh we work in very affluent districts. We work in extremely resource poor districts and they have very different issues that they are addressing. And so understanding the impact of some of these demographic differences I think is really important and we know very little at this point about those things.
▶ 0:59:17um understanding as I mentioned earlier the implementation science and how um effective instruction can be um more systematically implemented and sustained over time. I think these are important things we without continued investment we will have no idea the effects of um technological changes and how those things are affecting kids.
▶ 0:59:41we are seeing more and more that some of the um technological innovations are falling short and are not producing those results but we won't know that and so we'll still be subject to the snake oil salesman if we aren't
▶ 0:59:55I want to thank you for that answer a I think it was comprehensive and I think it's right on target short u is it Dr. short or director short I suppose.
▶ 1:00:05Uh you mentioned on a number of occasions coaching uh these were I presume people who in addition to the teacher were in the classroom to help specifically with this particular skill uh which required additional investment by Alabama and expanding the teachers that were available to that child. Is that accurate?
▶ 1:00:28Yes, sir.
▶ 1:00:29Would you think that's absolutely necessary? Absolutely. And
▶ 1:00:32Judy, my wife uh taught in an experimental school in her early career and one of the experiments were to provide additional uh help within the classroom so that Judy could concentrate on the reading most specifically first grade. Um and that required additional expenditures in that school and that school was very successful.
▶ 1:01:01Now, first of all, they picked the best teachers in the county, so it was going to be successful no matter. It was an open classroom as well, which was also part of the experiment. Um, would you say that without the investment that Alabama had made in those extra resources, you would have been as successful as you were or have
▶ 1:01:25You have just teed it up for me. Thank you so much. Um, Alabama is really a cautionary tale. If you go back and you look at our data over time, um, back in the early 2000s, we were on our way. We had made the greatest gains that NATE had ever seen. We had hit the national average and then we hit prration. Our vision changed, our policy changed, our investment changed, and our data changed.
▶ 1:01:54Not for the better. Now that we have sound policy in place, we have invested personnel and when you talk about investment, yes, the finances is very important, but it's also the commitment of the individuals to be able to say, "Hey, I'm standing with you.
▶ 1:02:11These are tough decisions that we're going to make for the benefit of children, but we're going to do what's right for the long-term success of um you know that investment is really making a difference in Alabama and um I definitely think that without it we have proven that it's problematic.
▶ 1:02:33Thank you very much. Thank you both.
▶ 1:02:34Dr. Harris,
▶ 1:02:34all three of you.
▶ 1:02:35Dr. Harris,
▶ 1:02:36thank you very much. And thank you all three of you for, you know, paying attention to taking care of our children, making sure they can succeed in the 21st century economy. Well, I'll tell you, it's striking to me that the federal government uh sometimes creates a problem and then spends a whole lot of money trying to solve it.
▶ 1:02:53Um, you know, and again, everyone on on and on on this uh committee knows, uh, we have a nutrition program that buys junk food and then we have to do research on how to treat obesity and overweight and spend a whole lot of money on GLP-1 drugs for children. And some people argue, well, you got to do the research. No, you got to go back and figure out exactly what what's going on here.
▶ 1:03:19So, I think in this case, we may have created the problem and now we're going to solve it. Why do I say that? Prevention is much better than a this book, Failure Factory, fascinating book written by an investigative reporter on the Baltimore City public school system, talks about a man born in 1908 named Thorough Good Marshall. Goes to Frederick Douglas High School. His mother's an uh his mother's a teacher, I'm sure read to him. Father taught him how to debate.
▶ 1:03:49Goes to Frederick Douglas High School, a segregated high school in Baltimore. goes on to become the first African-American Supreme Court justice. Obviously well educated, obviously knew how to read. That high school has 0% of their students proficient in reading now. 0%. So what's changed? Well, our uh single parentage for I'm going to ask a question about the effect of a family on reading.
▶ 1:04:20Uh you all know about the millionword gap. I mean, look, you're educators, you understand it, if you're read to as a child, you're likely not to have the millionword gap.
▶ 1:04:32And if you come out of a single parent you're more likely to not succeed in reading and literacy. And maybe and and family literacy is really important because you're right, we have we have perpetuated this problem. uh maybe we need a make America read again uh you know uh policy or something uh because this is not something we didn't know about back when I was in the state legislature and Dr. Simpson reminded me about this. Uh this is now 35 years ago.
▶ 1:05:02Uh we had a what was called the class size reduction act and they said this was going to solve our problems. We were going to reduce class sizes across the board. It was a big teacher union effort. And I did a little research and looked at the Tennessee Star study. Wow. They' done the research. They said, "Oh, what you got to do is you got to reduce class before third grade so students can learn how to read." Basically, that's a summary of it. They spent a whole lot of money, increased all the class size, couldn't afford it. Now the class sizes are big throughout uh Maryland.
▶ 1:05:33And Maryland is now though a wealthy nation is 40th in the nation in reading. And under the air quotes leadership of our current governor in 2024, the board of education decides to implement a retention policy for the third grade reading, but not implemented until 2027. So, let's leave three more classes behind. Whereas states like Alabama, states like Mississippi are taking the lead on this.
▶ 1:06:04I just got to ask what in the world is going on here? This committee also should be looking at every single policy because again going back to the single parent households and we know the data. 69% of uh black children are born to a single family household. 52% of Hispanics, 28% of white children. and our single parent household rate is three times as high as the rest of the world. Our reading is worse than the rest of the world.
▶ 1:06:30We should be looking at every single policy we have and make sure we promote a household that will support literacy. Now, it could be family literacy programs. No question about some catching up to do. But I'm just going to ask you, is that true that in fact family structure is important a predictor of literacy? I'll start with you, Dr. Lane. Is it an an important predictor?
▶ 1:06:55Okay. Thank you.
▶ 1:06:58I was going to add a mother a mother's level of education is one of the most um highly predictive.
▶ 1:07:03Sure. Especially Yeah. And again, family structure and I and I get it. So family literacy is probably important. Short
▶ 1:07:10uh you know, if you have two individuals in a household, I definitely think there's more language likely to be spoken. So that's beneficial. I also don't think it's the determinant and the children come to us
▶ 1:07:22of course not just like childhood obesity what what you eat is not is not
▶ 1:07:25we're going to make sure we provide whatever we can for them
▶ 1:07:28Mr. Salsbury.
▶ 1:07:28Yes, I I do agree that it is important. Um that family structure is very important and as you were speaking, I was um reminded of a school that has a schoolto home literacy project. Uh and it's been amazing. Uh they actually won an award for it. Uh but I think about those families that have multiple students in the home, you know, and whatever we can do to send a book home. This particular school, M Elementary, sends a book home with their students.
▶ 1:07:54And so just imagine the power of reading in that home because now my older sibling or whomever is bringing it home. So now we're all having that reading time around the book of the week or maybe the book of the month. So I do agree that that's important going to libraries uh doing whatever it takes uh encouraging compet competition with reading uh accelerated reader initiatives or whatever competition can be encouraged. I do agree that it is
▶ 1:08:19Yeah. Thank you very much. I yel back.
▶ 1:08:20Mr. Pukan.
▶ 1:08:23Thank you Mr. chairman and thanks for having this hearing and thanks to the witnesses for being here. So, uh, let me go back to the testimonies you all gave and I think each of you talked about the emphasis on professional development for teachers and I do think as much as you want to avoid the snake oil salesman and get the right programming, if you don't have that right teacher with the professional development to do that programming, it's much more difficult. Um, Wisconsin is one of the states that passed a science and reading law as well.
▶ 1:08:49So, we appreciate um the work that you're doing, especially in Alabama and Florida on this. But in the last uh budget cycle, title 2A funding, which is probably the largest federal investment in uh teacher professional development, was completely eliminated by the White House um in their budget. Fortunately, we were able to put that back in moving forward, but we're going to have another budget coming to us very soon. Um you know, I know uh Miss Lane, you Dr.
▶ 1:09:16Lane, you specifically talked about teachers prep and uh supporting educators uh on this and uh Miss Short, you talked about support for educators and ongoing professional development. And Mr. Salsbury, you also talked about um supporting teachers and professional development. So, could you just address if you can't address the fund specifically, I understand if you if you know, you don't work directly with that, but why investing in that professional development is integral to this this work that you're doing.
▶ 1:09:44And anyone who wants to take it is more than welcome or all of you. Okay.
▶ 1:09:48You know, the science of reading is complex. Um it involves um as chairman ranking member Delero mentioned earlier, it involves those five pillars and those five pillars have elements all within them. And so we're looking at individuals who are coming with their own background and we're having to navigate um what are the areas that they're strong in and what are the areas that they're weak in.
▶ 1:10:11So having that knowledge, making sure that we have the professional learning, the understanding of what the science of reading is and probably more importantly what it is not um is essential for our teachers to make sure that they have that. Um I mentioned to you earlier about coaching in Alabama and you know Alabama's known for their football.
▶ 1:10:34I I'm remiss in not uh bringing that up, but um you know, obviously the first string players, they have coaches. Coaches are not just for the weak. Coaches are for everyone. Everyone deserves a coach. Everyone deserves to have someone who's going to work alongside them and see how can we make this better for the outcome that you're looking for.
▶ 1:10:58Thank you. Go ahead. I would also like to add um you know it's very important that we challenge the mental models of how teachers as they're coming into the classroom were taught how to read themselves. Uh so they're thinking maybe I need to take the approach that I was taught but uh that PD is important for them uh such as I mentioned in my testimony about letters for elementary educators andor early childhood educators uh taking those teachers through those courses.
▶ 1:11:26But even if you can't do that, um, our coaches, our reading specialists are very important. They have to implement, let's just say for first semester in our district, there were 18 PD sessions that they had to turn around at schools. Uh, there are full coaching cycles, uh, which could be anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks, many coaching cycles, maybe roughly one to two weeks, uh, that they're expected to implement.
▶ 1:11:48So even if I can't go enroll in a full course, maybe I have uh demands from my family at home or maybe I'm pursuing another degree, you know, I'm able to get something during that day uh from another educator who can, you know, assist me in really breaking down those challenges that maybe I'm encountering maybe at the small group table with my students.
▶ 1:12:10Um, so I think the professional development, um, the the funds that we have for substitute teachers, uh, to pay them so that teachers can have days to go and get the learning that they need, uh, or have time to work on any requirements that they need to submit for the Alabama Literacy Act, etc. I think that's very One of the things that Miss Short um mentioned earlier was the um statewide effort to really build background knowledge about reading.
▶ 1:12:40When we go into a school or a district to prepare them to implement our program, one of the things that we can immediately tell is if they've had that kind of background knowledge building. And it's not a quick one-day workshop. We're talking long hours spent really digging in and learning. And if you don't have that professional development, then the science just stays with the academics.
▶ 1:13:08We need to get it into the hands and into the minds of the teachers who are using it. And coaching is one of the most powerful tools. If you have a a really uh well trained um literacy coach that can guide a teacher, model effective lessons for them, help them plan effective instruction, you will see better outcomes.
▶ 1:13:30Great. Thank you. I yield back, Mr.
▶ 1:13:34Yeah. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Dr. Dr. Lane, I'm from Palm Beach County and our school system actually has a contract with University of
▶ 1:13:44on your subject and my son's a gator. Go Gators. And he he reads very well. it's interesting how my one of my colleagues uh introduced the subject of the single parent. I I I want to just say I I look at what you are promoting which sounds very logical. It's a tool.
▶ 1:14:08It's it's but it's not the end all because ch and you know just look at this committee. We don't just deal with education. We deal with health. We deal with uh safety for children.
▶ 1:14:23And I would like to just hear your comment on how the importance of taking care of a child, making sure they have the nutrition, the health, [clears throat] the stable family, uh how that makes your job easier. Who wants to start?
▶ 1:14:43Sure. Um certainly when a child comes to school with extensive language experience where they've been spoken with a lot at home and in preschool settings. Um when they are healthy and they don't have urgent other more pressing concerns in their lives and they can focus on learning. When they are wellfed and can focus on learning, they do better. Absolutely.
▶ 1:15:13they come to school ready to learn and they do learn and when those things are absent in their lives. Um it certainly has an impact. So in terms of the the work of educators everywhere it makes a huge difference but those those children exist and we still need to teach them and we need to not expect that oh they won't be able to learn because they don't have all of this ideal circumstance. We need to ensure that we're using effective practice.
▶ 1:15:41Yeah. I I mean we have seen uh over the past year uh we're we're going to see cuts to SNAP which is food security food security for to parents.
▶ 1:15:52We're going to see people losing their health care
▶ 1:15:55and let me go uh Mr. Mr. Sbury, I don't think we've given you the time that you deserve to answer some of these questions, but can you explain why it's important also for the parents
▶ 1:16:08to be wellfed, to be healthy,
▶ 1:16:11to have a job? And incidentally, uh there's 10 million children growing up in single family homes. And we're not going to play the match game, folks. Okay, that that's like really uh but what what is it that the parents So for the parents, um I think about the different demands. Uh you have several parents who are working more than one job. Uh you may have um parents who are taking care, excuse me, parents who are taking care of elderly family members.
▶ 1:16:40We even have teachers who are taking care of elderly family members. Uh so there additional people in the home that they're trying to feed. Um, and they're working against or working with all of the different systems that they're trying to get that funding for from or get that support from to help pay a bill or whatever it may be or uh to help keep food on the table so that everyone's fed. Um, so parents really sometimes in some situations are really relying upon, you know, what's happening at the school.
▶ 1:17:09So, anything that we can do to provide a full tummy bag um to make sure that the kid is getting those meals each day. Uh sometimes it's three meals a day. Uh for us um we provide uh tutoring uh after school. Some schools do it before school. Uh so the students are able to get an additional meal. Uh even if they're not staying for tutoring, an additional meal to take home, maybe on the bus or maybe in the car.
▶ 1:17:35Uh so that helps take some of that stress off of, you know, okay, you haven't eaten and I've got to rush home and get a meal prepared for you. Um, so if the parents are uh knowing that their kids are taken up, taken care of, if they know that they're taken care of, they have more confidence uh maybe to say, you know what, let me sit down at the table with you and work on this homework assignment or read through this.
▶ 1:17:56I'm sorry to interrupt you. I'm running out of time, but thank you. Okay, for sharing that
▶ 1:18:01because here's the point, and I have a couple more things. When grandma or grandpa gets kicked out of a nursing home because of the Medicaid cuts, right? or we lose all our workers in the nursing homes because they're being sent back to uh Haiti. Um the fact of the matter is that's more stress on the family. And the point really I want to make which is this. I mean and your Thank you because you're we're using your tool of science in our in Palm Beach County.
▶ 1:18:30point I want to make is and and this this committee has the ability in so many ways to make sure that children get off to a good start and we should understand that there are policies that we are engaged in right now that make it much harder to implement what you are talking about today. But thank you very very much for being here.
▶ 1:18:55Thank you.
▶ 1:18:55Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, [clears throat] thank you to our witnesses and for appearing before this subcommittee today. I just came from uh the uh budget committee where we had the CBO director Swaggel in front of us. So, I appreciate the time.
▶ 1:19:14I'm encouraged to hear of your commitment to advancing literacy through the science of reading that puts results first and empowers educators, families, and states to lead the way because I think education should be done at the lowest level possible um the closest to parents and students. Today, we face a national crisis in reading proficiency. However, federal costs on education have only skyrocketed since the 1960s. US taxpayers have spent nearly $3 trillion on education in public schools.
▶ 1:19:44Yet test scores have failed to meaningfully improve with only about onethird of our fourth and eighth graders reading at proficient levels according to the latest National Assessment of Education Progress data. This isn't just an education failure. It's a threat to America's self-reliance, its future workforce, and its global competitiveness.
▶ 1:20:05For for much too long, federal education policy has embraced radical ideology, ineffective mandates, and bureaucratic compliance that wasted America's tax dollars without delivering real outcomes for students. And that's what I want. I want real outcomes for students. I want our students to excel.
▶ 1:20:25Um, given this, I think it's time to rethink federal involvement in literacy, focusing on what actually works, which are state-led initiatives, rigorous teacher preparation, and accountability tied to measurable results like grade level proficiency. We can no longer afford to subsidize failure at the expense of America's students. Um, [clears throat] now, I'm a businessman. I believe in return on investment.
▶ 1:20:52I think um that's uh the way we grow and the way we we make things better. So, Dr. Lane, my first question is for you, ma'am. Uh federal education funding has grown dramatically over the past several decades, yet literacy outcomes have remained largely stagnant from what I've seen. From a research perspective, which literacy investments show the strongest return on taxpayer dollars, ROI, and which types of spending have the weakest or have no demonstrated impact on reading proficiency?
▶ 1:21:23What's your thoughts? What are your thoughts on that?
▶ 1:21:25All right. So um in terms of investments that have made a big impact,
▶ 1:21:32highquality instruction
▶ 1:21:35and making sure that teachers understand how to implement that has is is the most direct impact.
▶ 1:21:43U there have been numerous studies over the years of different kinds of instruction. One of the most famous uh uh studies in reading was the follow-through studies. one of the largest uh federal investments of um research dollars in looking specifically at how kids were doing in reading. And very little came out of that.
▶ 1:22:08Not because there weren't programs identified as very effective and instructional methods identified as very effective, but it was not uh politically popular. the will to implement
▶ 1:22:24that the the particular programs that were shown to be effective and the particular programs that were shown to be ineffective um were not um the popular fattish programs. The program that was found to be very effective was direct instruction and an explicit way of teaching
▶ 1:22:46um young children and it proved to be very effective but it was that the the results of that were really never
▶ 1:22:55because of political pressures. And so I think that's one of the things that we need to understand is that um really honing in on what does and does not work and ensuring that programs that don't work are not permitted. We have so
▶ 1:23:14uh expectation of a program that has all the bells and whistles must work best and that's seldom the case. sometimes the bare bones really simple types of
▶ 1:23:25getting back to the basics.
▶ 1:23:27Yeah, absolutely. And and that's not to suggest that you know I we developed a phonics program so folks may think that I think phonics is the end all and be all. It is absolutely not. We have to have really strong language development, really strong um content and knowledge building as well. And those things are just now starting to gain traction in the education field.
▶ 1:23:52And if we don't have it all of those things together, then we're not going to see our return on investment at all.
▶ 1:23:59Well, thank you. And uh in just a few seconds I have left, Miss Short, um if you if I may, initiatives under Alabama's literacy act have shown remarkable results through state-led implementation and family focused communication. How can we further support similar state initiatives without imposing burdensome mandates or a one-sizefits-all kind of requirement uh that undermine local the local uh education boards?
▶ 1:24:23I I definitely think continuing to support the states um in funding is an important element. I also think um to kind of piggy back off of what Dr. Lane said there are some safeguards that we can put into place um to help protect to make sure that we are not investing in programs that are known to be
▶ 1:24:46Well, thank you very much. And with that, I yield back. Mr. Chairman,
▶ 1:24:50Miss Watson Coleman,
▶ 1:24:52thank you very much. I want to thank all three of you because this is been very enriching for me. I'm not an educator, but I'm very concerned. I come from New Jersey. In New Jersey, we have 600 plus school districts. In New Jersey, folks are always talking about nationally, we come up number two, number three within the, you know, five uh states, the best at this, the best at that, and yet 53% of our students are not reading at grade level.
▶ 1:25:22I'm wondering if there are studies which have been done in the areas in which the same resources have been applied financial resources but the outcomes have not uh been um evidenced improvement. I want to start with you Mr. Salsbury and then I would like for you Dr. Lane and Mr. Short to respond. Okay. Okay.
▶ 1:25:52Uh so uh right now I'm thinking of uh actually the the community that I'm from where uh in which we had the funding, we had the support and there were gains uh a bit above the state average in reading. Uh so that is my my best example of where you know when the resources are there when the professional development is there when [snorts] the support is there even for families um that things can move forward.
▶ 1:26:20Um, so I don't have maybe that best example of, you know, when you're pouring that in and it's not happening. Uh, so I don't have that best example, but I do know of an example where, you know, if you surround that school district or surround that community with the support they need that you can see the gains. So,
▶ 1:26:37how many school districts are there in
▶ 1:26:39Uh, 149
▶ 1:26:43versus 600 and some in New Jersey. That's crazy. Anyone else have a comment about this? Have you seen research about what why it doesn't work in the poorest whether they're rural or urban school districts and the students aren't performing yet you're seeing the dollars go into the effort.
▶ 1:27:08I there is quite a bit of research on the the role of context in in the implementation of a program or the implementation of any type of instructional reform. Um the the research basically is helping us understand that context does matter. And
▶ 1:27:29what does that mean?
▶ 1:27:31What does it mean that context matters?
▶ 1:27:33Well, what does it mean when you're talking about this instance context matters? Well, when we have a a a district that has um a lot of educator expertise, both the teacher in the classroom and at the district level, then things tend to get implemented more
▶ 1:27:52So, do you has has the research found that you don't have those educational experts in those poor areas or those urban areas or those um segregated
▶ 1:28:05They do. correlation
▶ 1:28:08there there tend to be uh they tend to have a lot harder time recruiting teachers and and keeping teachers. The teacher workforce situation in general is such that teachers are leaving the field in droves. um most teachers don't last more than three years in the field and so we are you know investing in high quality teacher preparation and then they don't stick around
▶ 1:28:34because the the working conditions are really problematic and there is quite a bit of research on that. Miss Short, do you think that there's a relationship between uh poverty, um things like things of that nature, socioeconomic issues that are that we're not addressing sufficiently to make those outcomes better in those areas that are not showing the
▶ 1:29:04kind of improvement yet resources to the education ational um to the schools and and and and to the programs at the schools are actually happening. So is there this correlation between poverty, race, segregation, racism, whatever low expectations?
▶ 1:29:25What we're seeing in Alabama is that the plan that we're working right now is working for all children. We're seeing increased literacy rates in every demographic and every subtop population on our state assessment.
▶ 1:29:39Are you doing things with the whole family? Is it holistic? Is it
▶ 1:29:44Everyone in our state receives support. The level of support they receive is based on their outcome data. So our schools that we see are needing the most support based on their outcome data. Our literacy act prescribes how much time our regional coaches spend in those schools to provide them the support.
▶ 1:30:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to yield back, but I really haven't hit that nut yet, which is I I need to what kind of support those communities need that they are not getting in terms of h how they're living,
▶ 1:30:22how they're living and the impact of that on their um children's outcomes. Thank you very much. I
▶ 1:30:29may I comment more on that? Is that
▶ 1:30:33Okay. Uh I I just wanted to bring up an example. We are working with a school in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has um one of the largest racial literacy gaps in the country. And one of our mantras at the University of Florida Literacy Institute is it's not these kids, it's this instruction. If you give really solid instruction, you will get good results no matter what kids are sitting in front of you.
▶ 1:31:03and the school that we're working with um in Wisconsin, we're hoping to develop it into kind of a model demonstration site. It is a charter school, but it's unlike a lot of other charter schools in that they actively seek kids who other schools would rather not have that they it is um predominantly black, predominantly low SCES, but the um school itself is committed to ensuring
▶ 1:31:33really good outcomes for these children and they take a holistic approach and they do things like they have started they've worked with uh philan philanthropies. So they are able to provide um support for families that go through a financial literacy program um get that those families get access to a um funding for a down payment to purchase a home that then provides a stable place for these children to live.
▶ 1:32:01So it is a wraparound kind of approach and they have lots of other initiatives but they are seeing really good outcomes in a state where the outcomes for the students they serve are not good and so it's a I think learning from examples like that is such an important piece of what we need to do.
▶ 1:32:24Uh thank you so much to all of our witnesses for being here and a huge thanks to our chair and ranking member for for making this hearing possible. Um one of the uh few bipartisan education hearings we've had in Congress in in recent years. There used to be a lot of discussion on education in a bipartisan way. We had uh No Child Left Behind during the Bush administration. We had Race to the Top during the Obama administration.
▶ 1:32:49And then we've really had a lost decade um where there has not been an enormous amount of attention or enough concern at the federal level but also in many states on how we can make sure that kids are getting the reading math outcomes that we need. I think one big reason for that is we've run out of ideas. Uh we have really lost hope that we can change student trajectories.
▶ 1:33:15And so I want to thank all of you for giving us some of that hope because it is so rare in education to find success stories that scale from one amazing teacher through to one class through to a whole school through to a whole state let alone to multiple states. Uh and that's why I think this is such a remarkable story is that it has been both scaled and replicated across several different states.
▶ 1:33:42Um, one area of concern that I want to dig into is [snorts] that many states think they're doing this, uh, and yet the outcomes disagree. Uh, 40 states since 2013 have passed, uh, some semblance of reading bills. Um, and they're patting themselves on the back and they're saying, "We're using phonics. Everything is fantastic in the classroom." And yet their reading outcomes are not budging.
▶ 1:34:10And I think it's really important to understand what has happened that's different in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama that hasn't actually happened in these 37 other states uh that are telling themselves that they have the right curriculums but are lacking some of those different elements. So, uh Dr. Lane, uh you um have probably the best comparative uh uh understanding of what's going on in different states.
▶ 1:34:37What do you think is different about the states that have actually seen reading outcomes improve and the states that
▶ 1:34:45Well, quite honestly, states like Alabama have expertise, people who know what they're doing leading the efforts. That is not true in all of the states. We have um people in leadership roles in education who don't understand reading. And when you don't understand it, you just don't bother with it as much. It's not as much of a priority.
▶ 1:35:10And what they're attempting to do in a lot of settings is check off the boxes that have emerged as, oh, this is what made Mississippi. This is what made Alabama successful. We'll just check those things off, but we're not really investing our time and our effort in learning and understanding them. And I think that's the thing that I see most from one state to the next because we do deal with um schools in every state. And there the context could not be more different.
▶ 1:35:41And it almost always comes back to leadership and who what do the people in charge know and what are they able to do in order to affect the kind of changes we want to see.
▶ 1:35:54Sure. I I hear you on that. I I will say, you know, Maryland has hired Dr. Carrie Wright from Mississippi and uh I think it's a little bit too early to tell what's going to go on Maryland, but they certainly have not seen uh you know the recent improvements that that Mississippi has had. So just to push back a little bit, I think it's um what I see is uh a a couple really important components that I think can be scaled through other states.
▶ 1:36:19Uh I see a curriculum aligned teacher training that is driven down into the schools and is evidencebacked. Uh I see accountability me metrics and screening that often uh are are not implemented well in other states. How do you sort of think about the role of accountability?
▶ 1:36:42And do you think that that's a key differentiator between the Mississippi and Alabamaas and Louisiana of the world and the states that haven't necessarily seen significant reading improvements?
▶ 1:36:52I do I think that accountability certainly is a big driver in most states. I know that in Florida um under Jeb Bush is when a lot of those things got implemented that have made Florida more successful in reading. Um we have not grown to the same degree as a lot of these other states um in recent years but a lot of those uh institutional uh systemic kind of things have have mattered.
▶ 1:37:23Um, ultimately though, I think the the the effort to do things quickly often results in them being done badly. And so, um, Chairman Adhalt mentioned the Mississippi Miracle is more accurately known as the Mississippi Marathon. It started 15 years ago. It didn't start last year, the year before. and the the investment of time and effort and expertise is what has made such a difference there.
▶ 1:37:54Thank you. And and final question, h what do you think is the role of federal support to help states distinguish between evidence-backed programs, effective programs, non-effective programs? Uh how do you think that we use federal resources to drive towards those outcomes that we all we all want?
▶ 1:38:13I I feel like that the the federal government has kind of kept their hands off in in terms of uh not allowing the department of education to make any kind of u recommendation of a particular curricula.
▶ 1:38:28The only entity that attempts to do that is the what works clearing house a a function of the um institute of education sciences and although it has a lot of excellent uh resources it has fallen short in this particular regard mostly because I think it does a very poor job of translating um research in ways that can be accessible to practitioners.
▶ 1:38:55So they don't, for example, um, make it clear the distinction between this was a high-quality study versus it had really good outcomes. And they're very very restrictive of what gets reviewed. It has to have a standard of research that without a lot of research funding can't can't happen. The randomized control trial for a program, that's something that's very expensive to um to get.
▶ 1:39:23And if you don't have that level of support, you're you won't get reviewed by the what works clearing house. So helping uh understand the pros and cons of different programs beyond that when they don't have that level of evidence behind them. Um doesn't mean they're not good. They just don't have that kind of study that that shows that how good they are.
▶ 1:39:45having um a an entity like what works clearing house be more practitioner friendly and um usable in that inst in that uh respect could have a tremendous impact on what happens in in schools.
▶ 1:40:03Thank you
▶ 1:40:09Uh I thank you chairman Adhalt, Ranking Member Delaro. Um, thank you for convening this hearing. Thank you for the three testifiers today. Uh, I admire your passion and your expertise uh with uh probably one of the most critical roles uh that any of us will ever play uh educating our kids uh teaching them a love of reading. I come at this as a mom to three sons, grown sons, but now grandmother to seven uh little ones.
▶ 1:40:39Uh and it is so fun to watch a kid uh and it's renewed in me with these my new little ones uh find a love of language and want to turn the page and understand what that word is. Uh so thank you for what you do with such passion and expertise. Uh I'm a former professor of writing at Lasell University for 10 years.
▶ 1:41:00So, of course, what you're talking about and what you do leads directly to um what I had fun doing, which was teaching writing and rhetoric and ethics uh and the use of language. Uh I come at it um at a time we all are talking about this and that's why I'm glad for the focus on it in this committee. Um uh my home state is Pennsylvania. uh about onethird of fourth graders in 19 in 2024 were proficient in reading.
▶ 1:41:29Uh it's it's I think a very sad statistic. Uh I think we talk about the gift of of learning to read. I think it is the right I think every child has the right to know how to read because that is absolutely the key to their future. If we got that right, we would solve so many other ills. uh every other subject becomes difficult when a child struggles. You've all talked about that.
▶ 1:41:56Uh children from low-income families as well as uh children of color, black and his Hispanic. Um in our state, sadly, the numbers are even worse. Uh and those inequities follow children into adulthood, holding them back from their future.
▶ 1:42:14Um, and we've heard today through your expertise, uh, that children don't fail to learn, we're failing to teach them and to adequately prepare and resource those who teach our children. It isn't the children's fault. Um, so what I think about is um, and maybe I'll start with you, Mr. Salsbury. Uh, your stories and anecdotes in, um, education have been really interesting. Building on what Mr.
▶ 1:42:44was asking about from the federal level. Here we are. This committee uh has a focus on education. What do you think the federal government can do to support states and school districts uh in this uh teaching through science of reading?
▶ 1:43:02Uh so as I mentioned uh in some of uh what I submitted uh really ensuring that we have access to giving that support to the classroom. uh we we're looking at initiatives that go beyond grade three currently. Uh so if I'm that student that you know if I did well or maybe I I you know I was sufficient as a third grader and I was able to go on to fourth grade I will still need that support.
▶ 1:43:29And so if we can get professional development for our fourth and fifth grade teachers and even beyond, I mean even after after the elementary grades, uh students are sometimes still behind, right? Uh but if we can get that support uh for ensuring that those fourth and fifth grade teachers who may not have um may not have had that motivation to enroll in a letters for elementary educators course. And so now there's that motivation to now get more knowledge of the science of reading uh training.
▶ 1:43:58Uh so giving them that support, giving support for intervention. So even when I've done what I need to do in the classroom um for different tiers of instruction, tier one, tier two instruction, and so when it's time for that tier three piece, you know, if I'm going to as the classroom teacher be the one to do that, uh do I have what I need? And then if it's not me, is there someone else who can come in and support that work uh of working with those students?
▶ 1:44:25Um so I would say the professional development uh the appropriate personnel uh additional uh support for coaching uh right now we do I feel a good job of coaching uh grades K through three. Uh but maybe not um you know as far as
▶ 1:44:42country we need we need to be doing that as as
▶ 1:44:45yes in our in our state. Uh so going beyond that third grade um going beyond third grade and giving uh the coaching and support that's needed for fourth and fifth grade teachers and maybe even beyond that
▶ 1:44:57and I know you all know this but we are talking about a backdrop of this administration uh as evidenced in project 2025 on what I think is page 319 uh an ambition uh and the secretary of education sat here in this very committee room an ambition to shutter the federal department of educ education. I decry that kind of nonsense.
▶ 1:45:19Uh if we want to be the great country that I know we are, uh we educate our children well and the federal government has a role to play. Could somebody comment briefly if you would on the science of reading methodology as it affects children with differences, learning differences, and
▶ 1:45:39I'd be happy to. That is uh my area. I am a a professor of special education and and honestly when you were uh asking your previous question it made me think of something specific that I didn't get to in my response to um ranking member Deloro and that is in the grant funding that we um have received in at the University of Florida. A lot of the the grants are not research grants. They are personnel preparation grants.
▶ 1:46:09And so we have this really tragic uh workforce problem in education. And in special education, there have been available grants to support the training of special education teachers. So giving someone an an incentive essentially to maybe do make a career change and go into education because we're so desperate for them. And it functions pretty much like a loan. If you it has a service obligation attach attached.
▶ 1:46:39If you don't teach for however many years is assigned to the grant, then you have to pay it back. So there is some guarantee that that there will be some dividend paid from it. And so in terms of the types of reading instruction that we're talking about reaching children with disabilities, our focus is we do a lot of work with um preparing teachers to work with children with dyslexia particularly.
▶ 1:47:07And the same practices work across um whether you have a disability or not. the amount of time, the amount of practice that you need with the skills is the main um distinguisher of what instruction will look like in in various contexts, but the same science applies essentially.
▶ 1:47:28Well, I appreciate that and I do appreciate the extra time to hear about uh instruction for children with disabilities, but also the important role the federal government plays in supporting states and supporting teachers and supporting the research and the wraparound. Uh we need to do more of that, not less.
▶ 1:47:47I agree.
▶ 1:47:48Thank you. I yield back.
▶ 1:47:49Okay. Thank you. I know we're closing in on close to two hours in the hearing, but I know I think Mr. Loro, if you got something you want, let me refer to you. And uh before we close out the hearing. So, Miss Laura, you have the floor.
▶ 1:48:01Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank uh my my my colleagues. I think that this has been um a a when I say an intense uh hearing, a hearing filled with um real content and information about how we uh should proceed on what is a fundamental issue in our society and that is the reading capabilities of our children.
▶ 1:48:29And um for it it sounds like there are pockets and places in this nation where there are uh models of programs that are succeeding that are working. Now it may be that is we I understand state by state etc. But our our our children are not just state by state.
▶ 1:48:58It is about looking at how children uh across the board from wherever they are are being given the uh the the opportunity for success and the
▶ 1:49:12and the teachers provided with the tools that they need. Um uh uh and and so I I I think we compartmentalize something that is not having [snorts] the broadest and biggest effect overall uh on on the nation on this national issue.
▶ 1:49:34So there is then a federal role in this effort which we should not be afraid to No one is proclaiming that uh like it's You know when you know when people want to just editorialize and say oh it's a federal government and it's reaching down and it says hell no it is about looking at what are the best practices what is working nationwide what is providing
▶ 1:50:04the biggest and broadest effect on uh reading we have looked at and I'm just just I'm going to make an assumption because the answer to this would be yes and I will just say to the uh to the chair. Uh I believe we need to reconvene the national reading panel. I think we did this in and and uh it's been 26 years since we did this and this is the committee that did it.
▶ 1:50:30So we can do that and you know go back and take a look at what what has happened to pile more research on the science of reading. What topics now should we be focused on? And so I I'm I think about that this is a proper role for this committee to engage on. Um I I I I would ju I just would say I want a couple more things if the the chair is usually indulgent but of my of of my making comments.
▶ 1:51:00Look, I'd like to know when Mississippi today is the gold standard or appears to be a gold standard, what are the federal resources that have helped to provide that effort? Okay. Is it title one idea, title 2a which is the professional development? What is that? Is that the case in Alabama? Where is writ large the federal role in helping us to achieve the goals in this area.
▶ 1:51:29Uh so uh I I I take you and I'm sorry Mr. Salsbury, I I was going to ask you about, you know, building on the phonics instruction, and it's not the only piece, but how do you build on on that on that effort? How do we sustain and increase our investments in federal education research? Okay. The science of reading would not exist without it.
▶ 1:51:55Exactly. And if we know that and understand that as you have so well portrayed today then there shouldn't be any question about our looking at increased investments in this education effort. What works you talked about the what works clearing house and education department can translate. How do we translate effective practices to districts?
▶ 1:52:25Um, safeguard against the snake oil salesman. Um, how do we sustain our commitments to federal education programs? I'm going to just say it.
▶ 1:52:38We had to fight like hell on a bipartisan basis to make sure that Title One, IDA, Title 2A, early childhood were provided with resources for them to do the job that they are intended to do. We should not have to fight like hell to do that.
▶ 1:53:02There ought to be an that this is where the strength of this nation lies. And I'm going to just ask all of you, you are just your testimony is, you know, on point, not afraid to speak up about what works and what doesn't We don't say everything works and here's all the money to do even things that don't work. Hell no. Again, it's what works.
▶ 1:53:31You've identified things that are as the federal government, which is the largest source of resources. My state of Connecticut is going to put up four and a half million dollars to deal with coaches. Drew pointed out, people need coaches because they see it it's something that we should do at the federal level.
▶ 1:53:56you need to help us say these are the things that you should be doing.
▶ 1:54:04This is an appropriate role for the federal government. Don't tell us everything we have to do, but help us to reach the goals and the vision that we know can work because of the work that we are doing and we understand it.
▶ 1:54:21So I I'm just asking you first of all I want to thank you you know uh it is indepth testimony today uh from all of you and it it it works but help us to help you but more importantly help us help you help our kids no matter where they are no matter where they are no matter what that background is.
▶ 1:54:49Because when you provide a kid with the opportunities and the environment in which to thrive, that child will thrive. We know it. You know it. Help us to make that case here. Tell your story writ large. Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. And Mr. Chairman, thank you for convening this hearing
▶ 1:55:11Thank you. Well, thank you. I I think this has been a good hearing. It has been uh very good to hear from from all of you here today and really how we can try to highlight the tremendous work of of state and local leaders and trying to advance um what um you know we call the the science of reading.
▶ 1:55:29uh hap I was very happy to see this article in the New York Times about how uh three uh southern states are the the best hope in schooling and uh that was just uh published uh earlier this month and um so very glad to see u my home state of Alabama being mentioned on that as one as well.
▶ 1:55:49So, um, with that, uh, the, um, uh, hearing is adjourned and, uh, we look forward to working with you and, uh, following your success as you help, um, uh, students across America be able to read better and especially from a very early age. So, thank you. We're