Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer
Beginning this year, St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS) is launching a new initiative – SPPS Reads – designed to help students who are struggling with reading. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, only a third of students in the district are proficient readers, and that number is down slightly from 2019. Like other districts across the state and nation, learning was negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to school closures and distance learning.
To help students get back on track and improve proficiency in the long run, the district is implementing a new scientifically based reading curriculum for grades K-2 that emphasizes phonetic comprehension. It’s also providing more resources for parents to help their children practice reading at home, and hosting community events to raise awareness on the importance of literacy. According to the National Research Council and the National Early Literacy Panel, shared book reading is one of the top three ways to foster early literacy skills. The others are phonological awareness and speech-to-print connections.
In December, Humboldt and Central High Schools each hosted a screening of “The Right to Read,” an award-winning documentary created by LeVar Burton, longtime host of “Reading Rainbow, the former PBS television series. Also, a list of 10 ways parents can help their children learn to read at home can be found at spps.org by searching “family reading resources.” Geared toward kindergarten and elementary students, the list includes telling them stories about people important to them, exploring the SPPS virtual library to find books that interest them, and asking them open-ended questions about what they’re reading. It also provides links to free read-aloud videos, apps for literacy and learning, and more.
“It’s an everybody-issue and we’re coming at it with everybody, all to support kids in their ability to read in the information age,” said Craig Anderson, executive director of SPPS Office of Teaching and Learning.
This initiative follows new legislation that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed into law in May 2023 that requires teachers to complete training in evidence-based reading instruction practices over the next two years. About $70 million in state funding will be distributed across the districts to make this possible.
SPPS is already ahead of the curve, as it has trained more than 100 teachers in those practices since 2021. Trained teachers have been providing daily small group reading lessons to students in grades K-3, and as a result the number of students in those grades meeting grade level standards has jumped from 45-58%.
“If you’re still learning how to read words at fourth grade it slows you down and that makes it harder to comprehend what you’re reading [in all subjects],” said Anderson. “I taught sixth grade for 10 years and when kids couldn’t read, they would try to hide by faking it or looking at the pictures or coming up with other ways to get attention. It really holds them back if they don’t have strong reading skills by the start of fourth grade.”
Progress is measured by a statewide annual test for students in grades 3 through 8, and 10. SPPS has also had an internal screening program since 2017 that evaluates students’ skill levels in a variety of subjects three times a year. If a student isn’t meeting grade level standards, parents are contacted twice a year to help determine ways to intervene. For more information, visit spps.org/reads.