The Texas Reading Initiative: Continuing Conversations About Early Reading Instruction in Texas
Leslie Patterson, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA,
and Jackie Gerla, University
of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, USA
The Texas Reading Initiative is almost two years old. It began with
the announcement that one of Texas Governor Bush's goals was to have all third
graders reading on grade level by third grade and continuing at grade level
throughout their school years. The following report is an unofficial summary
of the events and the publications that have introduced the Texas Reading
Initiative to educators across the state. This sequence of events prompted
the organization of the Critical Balances conference as a vehicle to support
the Initiative and to broaden the dialogue about the research base.
Clearly,
all of us (educators, parents, the business community, and politicians)
are concerned about early reading in Texas. We want all students to
learn to read on grade level by third grade, and we want students to continue
achieving at or above grade level throughout their school careers. It is
difficult to argue with that goal, although we might prefer to state it
differently. Those of us who organized and sponsored this conference certainly
want to collaborate with others to support early reading and to support
the teachers who are ultimately the ones who most dramatically affect how
kids learn to read in schools. We assume that the business of the Texas
Reading Initiative is to do just that. The Voice of the Business Community Following up on Governor Bush's
announcements about his Reading Initiative, a well-known politician from
Dallas told teachers in a session at the 1996 state reading conference
that, much like John F. Kennedy's 1960 challenge to put a man on the moon,
Governor Bush's Reading Initiative would be able to achieve a clear, measurable
goal that had, before now, been unattainable (Luce, 1996). Several of us
in the audience tried to remind the speaker that elementary teachers had,
for years, worked toward that goal and that a great deal of progress had
been made in the area of early reading. He responded that in this new initiative,
there would be no excuses (like students' home and family background) for
not reaching the goal. When we pointed out that millions of dollars were
invested in wide-ranging efforts to meet President Kennedy's challenge,
our concerns were acknowledged, and we were told that funds for education
were always limited. When we asked how "reading at the third grade
level" would be defined, we were told that the statewide reading assessment,
the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), would be the way to measure
our progress. We were told that the business community, which supported
Bush in this initiative, values clear, specific, measurable goals. When
we questioned the wisdom of focusing resources on early reading rather
than upper elementary and middle school reading, where students tend to
fall behind and drop out, he gently informed us that we could not always
frame public policy discussions as we would like. The Governor's Reading Summits Beginning in April and continuing throughout
1996 and early 1997, the Governor's Business Council sponsored "Reading
Summits" around the state. On April 9, 1996, a Pre-Summit Workshop,
also funded by the Governor's Business Council, was held at the University
of Houston. This meeting provided an overview of the Initiative's agenda,
and several of the participants in this workshop became regular participants
in the Summits held in major cities around the state: Doug Carnine,
National Center for Improving the Tools of Educators; Jean Osborn, Center
for Study of Reading; Barbara Foorman, Professor of Educational Psychology,
University of Houston; four representatives from elementary schools; three
journalists from major magazines and papers in Texas; a number of business
people; the Governor's senior advisor; the Commissioner of Education; Texas
Education Agency staff; president of the Dallas Independent School District School Board; members
of the Governor's Business Council; and two reading consultants in private
practice, including one representative from the Neuhaus Center in Houston.
The purpose of this meeting was to "discuss openly how the Governor's goal
could be met and to build a record that could be used to encourage discussions
across the state" (Picking a Research-Based Program, 1996). The researchers
who were invited to participate in this and subsequent meetings were introduced
in this way: Our next three presenters [Carnine, Osborn, and Foorman] have impressive
research credentials. They have illustrious academic records. I'm not going
to go into that, in the interest of time. I would like to comment, however,
that we sought out qualified individuals who were serious about the need
to pick reading skill development programs and strategies after careful
review of experimental findings. (quoted from Winick, from Picking a Research-Based Program, 1996) In subsequent months it became increasingly clear that the last sentence
was central to the Reading Initiative agenda. The first Summit was held in Austin on April 26. Another was held in
Houston in June. The speakers for the Houston Summit were Barbara Foorman,
University of Houston; and Jack Fletcher, Department of Pediatrics,
University of Texas College of Medicine. The speakers at the Houston Summit,
including Governor Bush, made it clear that the body of research on reading
conducted by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development
(NICHD) was to be the driving force behind curriculum and staff development
decisions connected with the Texas Reading Initiative. On that day, and
repeatedly throughout the following 18 months, we heard that Texas teachers
needed to be "retrained" in order to know how to teach reading.
One unambiguous message at that summit, and in speeches and written documents
since then, is that teacher education programs are not preparing teachers
to teach kids to read. Another is the need for early accountability through
testing, prior to third grade. Individual school districts around the state also held reading summits
in an effort to speak to the public about ongoing district efforts to focus
on research-based approaches to early reading instruction. Moves by the Texas Education Agency During the spring of 1996, we learned that the Texas Goals 2000 money,
a block grant from the U.S. federal government to the states, had been earmarked
for the Texas Reading Initiative. We learned that an individual from the
business/political community, Robin Gilchrist, had been hired as the Assistant
Commissioner for the Texas Reading Initiative. We learned that a nationally
known consultant had been identified to come into the state to provide
technical assistance and advice. We later learned that Jean Osborn had
agreed to participate in that role. During that fall, Mike Moses, the Commissioner of Education,
convened representatives from nine professional organizations, two universities,
three private consultants/providers, and the Quality English Standards
for Texas (QuEST) to develop a statement entitled Good Practice: Implications
for Reading Instruction - A Consensus Document of Texas Literacy Professional
Organizations (1996). The resulting brochure includes a list of implications
for reading instruction, for the delivery of balanced reading instruction,
for professional development, and for community involvement. A University
of Texas team, led by Nancy Roser, received the grant to establish
the Professional Development Center. During 1996 and 1997, among other activities, the Professional Development
Center solicited video vignettes and descriptions of exemplary teaching
practices across the state, produced videos about the early literacy assessment
instrument to be used statewide, and developed a Web site and a newsletter to
facilitate the dissemination of information about early reading instruction.
During 1996-97, a series of training sessions provided information for
personnel from the Regional Education Service Centers across the state.
These sessions focused on phonemic awareness and decoding as the central
aspects of beginning reading instruction, although the importance of rich
literacy environments and time to read was also acknowledged. Again, the
NICHD studies were cited often, with the work of Marilyn Adams, Phil Gough,
and others. In addition, Jean Osborn was a primary consultant in the development
of a document entitled Beginning Reading Instruction: Components and Features
of a Research-Based Reading Program (1997), the official statement of the principles
underlying the Texas Reading Initiative. A copy of this booklet was attached
to grant applications as a guide for instructional and staff development
decisions to be funded through monies targeted for innovative programs
and improved reading instruction. This booklet included a list of references
at the end of the document, but it did not include particular citations
within the text. It is difficult to interpret and critique the use of these
research findings without those citations. The introduction, however, promises
the publication of Beginning Reading Instruction: A Review of Research,
by the Texas Education Agency in the summer of 1997. The National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Studies The NICHD studies were cited (in speeches and in written communication)
again and again as the primary, sometimes the only, scientific research
on early reading instruction. The study receiving the widest publicity
during this time was conducted by Foorman and colleagues in a suburban
district near Houston. According to an article published in Learning Disabilities:
A Multi-Disciplinary Journal (Foorman, Francis, Beeler, Winikates, & Fletcher, 1997), preliminary data analysis
from this study suggested three main findings: Results from a kindergarten prevention study of 181 children show that
15 minutes of daily phonological awareness activities accelerated growth
in phonological analysis skill relative to a comparison group.
In a study with 113 second and third graders identified with reading
disabilities, children who received an Orton-Gillingham, synthetic phonics
approach outperformed children receiving a combined synthetic/analytic
phonics approach or a sight word approach in the development of literacy-related
skills (with comparable gains in all three programs when verbal IQ and
ethnicity were included in the model of skill development).
A study of 375 first and second graders eligible for Chapter I tutorials
highlights the importance of explicit instruction in the alphabetic code
during classroom instruction if reading failure is to be avoided. (pp. 63-71) Subsequently, that study received national publicity, with summaries
of the findings in news releases and on the Internet, but details about
the study itself, including descriptions of the interventions, were, at
that time, difficult for many Texas educators to obtain. Foorman joined
Osborn as a consultant to the Reading Initiative staff at the Texas
Education Agency, where she participated in staff development efforts and
in the final revision of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (the
statewide curriculum framework). Messages Within the Texas Reading Initiative In early January, Commissioner Mike Moses invited representatives from
universities and school districts across the state to come to Austin for
an informational meeting about the Reading Initiative. At that meeting
on February 18, Osborn and two NICHD researchers, Foorman
and Torgesen, presented to over 500 people their work and its implications
for early reading instruction. Again, the primary focus was on phonemic
awareness and the alphabetic principle. The meeting ended with a message
from the Commissioner that the NICHD studies were the primary scientific
research on early reading instruction and that those studies would directly
influence decisions about curriculum development, textbook selection, staff
development, and preservice teacher training in Texas. During the spring of 1997, it became clear that the themes that had
been clearly articulated at the Pre-Summit Workshop a year before had become
the central messages about early reading coming from the Governor's office
and from the Texas Education Agency. For example, at the Southwest Regional
International Reading Association conference, speeches and informal conversations
held with representatives of the Texas Reading Initiative made it clear
that reading professionals in Texas would have little or no input into
subsequent decisions about state-level decisions about early reading instruction.
The Texas Education Agency innovative grant proposals clearly gave priority
to campuses and districts choosing to focus more directly on phonemic awareness
and word-level skill development than on writing or extensive reading among
early readers. Texas Reading Educators Join the Dialogue With these moves on the part of the Texas Education Agency, the Governor's
Business Council, and certain individuals around the state, it became clear
to many of us who have taught reading and reading education in Texas for
years that the research base for the Texas Reading Initiative would be
much more powerful if it were broader and deeper. Based on what we know
about staff development and school change, we knew mandated instruction
would not have long-lasting changes at the classroom level. But it was
becoming increasingly clear that the policymakers at the state level were
linking this rather narrow research base to funding opportunities. The
potential influence of those funding decisions at the district and campus
levels was obvious. Many of us were increasingly concerned about this high-profile,
statewide initiative linked to competitive funding and a range of political
agendas.
Our primary concern was that the research base repeatedly cited
by the spokespeople for this Initiative focused on one line of research,
at the total exclusion of research concerning oral language development,
comprehension strategies, writing and invented spelling, and response to
literature. We wanted to work with the representatives of the Initiative
in this ongoing dialogue about a comprehensive research base for decisions
about early reading instruction. Another concern was the clear connection
between this narrow research base and particular commercial materials and
programs. The February 18 meeting served as a catalyst for teachers, supervisors,
and university professors from across the state to join together to organize
the Critical Balances conference. It was our attempt to support
the Texas Reading Initiative and to broaden dialogue about research on
early reading instruction. We decided to target as our audience both educators
and policymakers. After an initial meeting and a few phone calls and faxes,
34 individuals, professional organizations, universities, and publishers
offered to cosponsor such a conference. We decided to name of the conference Critical Balances: Early
Instruction for Lifelong Reading and to give it a theme of "An institute
on research-to-practice connections." The objectives of the conference
were We invited a number of researchers whose work is nationally and internationally
known -- Marilyn Adams, Barbara Foorman, Jean Osborn, and Bill Teale were
not able to come. We were pleased that Richard Allington, Phil Gough, David Pearson, Taffy Raphael,
and Constance Weaver agreed to come on rather short notice. Almost 600 Texas policymakers and educators attended Critical
Balances at the University of Houston Hilton on May 16, 1997. Attendees
represented 81 school districts, 31 colleges and universities, 6 regional
service centers, 24 other literacy institutions, and 10 publishers. Over
80 people were turned away because of limited space. The conference received
the particularly critical support of two board members of the International Reading Association, James
Hoffman from the University of Texas-Austin, and Kathleen Jongsma from Northside Independent
School District in San Antonio. Not only did Hoffman and Jongsma help in the early planning
stages, but they also served as moderators during the conference itself.
Brief remarks were also delivered by a number of people who have played
a role in the Texas Reading Initiative: Jack Christie, Chair of the
Texas State Board of Education; Alma Allen, Texas State Board of Education; Phyllis Gingiss, Associate Dean of the College of Education, University
of Houston; Robin Gilchrist, Assistant Commissioner, Texas Reading Initiative;
and Darvin Winick, Governor's Business Council. Afternoon panelists included
Sam Gwynne, TIME Magazine Austin Bureau; Phyllis Hunter, Houston Independent School District Reading
Manager; Frank Jackson, Houston READ Commission; Connie Newman, Teacher
in Clear Creek Independent School District; Michael Sampson, Texas Association for the Improvement
of Reading; and John Stevens, Texas Business Education Coalition. Rob
Smith, Spring Independent School District, served as moderator for that afternoon panel. The conference was intended to encourage ongoing dialogue about the
issues surrounding early reading instruction. To facilitate that dialogue, conference handouts included information
about study groups and a brief annotated bibliography of books and articles
that would provide reading materials for those study groups. The focus
of the day was on the information and dialogue about the research base
for early reading. However, surprising insights came from Darvin Winick, representing
the Governor's Business Council, and John Stevens, representing the Texas
Business Education Coalition. Each of these men made memorable contributions
to the conversation that day by delivering radically different messages
from the Texas business community. And the Next Steps? In the summer of 1997, the Texas Reading Initiative
is alive and well, and our conversations continue. The Legislature voted
to support the Initiative with $32 million, less than the Governor asked,
but a significant amount earmarked for early reading instruction. A bill
mandating an early reading test to screen for reading difficulties at kindergarten
and first grade was passed in early summer. The most recent revision
of Beginning Reading Instruction: Components and Features of a Research-Based
Reading Program, the official statement from the Texas Reading Initiative,
offers a more balanced perspective on the role of phonemic awareness and
the alphabetic principle than its earlier versions have and than the speeches
to the business community have during the last 18 months. The Texas Essential
Knowledge and Skills curricular framework was approved by the State Board
of Education in a divisive 9-6 vote, with the final draft representing
a clear compromise with the interest groups supporting explicit instruction
for all early readers. The latest scores on the Texas Academic Assessment
System (TAAS), released in July, continue to show gradual but significant
improvement across the state, even before the effects of the Reading Initiative
can be felt at the classroom level. In an effort to contribute to these
ongoing conversations, we have mailed transcripts of the Critical Balances
conference to all who attended, to members of the Texas House and Senate
Education committees, to representatives of professional organizations
at the state and national levels, and to State Board Members. The work goes on. The dialogue continues. We did not come to this discussion
naively. We know that these are emotionally charged issues, and we understand
that some of us have a significant stake in the answers to all these questions.
For some of us, that stake is economic; for some, it's political; for some,
it's professional; but, for all of us, it is a very personal stake.
Children
are beginning another school year, and teachers will again do their best
to support these young people in their journeys toward early reading success
and lifelong literacy. We will each work hard in our own worlds as parents,
as community volunteers, as publishers, as administrators and supervisors,
as politicians, as business people, and as teachers. Together, with children
as our focus, we can find ways to continue the dialogue and to continue
the work. The difference this year is that we know a bit more about the
agendas brought to the process by politicians and business leaders. We
no longer assume that the primary decision makers are reading researchers
and educators, that we can close our classroom doors and ignore statewide
initiatives. We no longer assume that all reading educators necessarily
agree on which research is significant. We no longer see top-down mandates
as impotent, particularly when they are linked to competitive grant monies
and high-stakes testing. We no longer assume that it is enough to know
the research. We must also learn the politics and the people. References Beginning Reading Instruction: Components and Features of a Research-Based
Reading Program. (1997). Austin, TX: Texas State Education Agency. Foorman, B., Francis, D., Beeler, T., Winikates, D., & Fletcher,
J. (1997). Early interventions for children with reading problems: Study designs and preliminary findings. Learning Disabilities: A Multi-Disciplinary Journal, 8(1), pp. 63-71. Good Practice: Implications for Reading Instruction - A Consensus Document
of Texas Literacy Professional Organizations. (1996). Austin, TX: Texas Education
Agency. Luce, T. (1996). Speech presented at the annual conference of the Texas
State Reading Reading Association, Austin, Texas. Picking a Research-Based Program. (1996). Transcript of the Pre-Summit
Workshop sponsored by the Governor's Business Council. Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted October 1997
© 1997-2000 International Reading Association, Inc. ISSN 1096-1232