A Case for Caution: Providing History & Data for Consideration in NYS, Part 1 of 3

Keith Newvine
Central New York Reading Council
April 24, 2024

As in my other works of fiction: All persons living and dead are purely
coincidental, and should not be construed. No names have been changed to
protect the innocent as a matter of Heavenly routine.
- Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, 1999

On March 22, 2024, two researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago released a
study in the Harvard Kennedy School of Misinformation Review which suggests that
some Americans are unable to determine fact from fiction. All told, “fewer than 5% of
adult [participants] correctly identified all 12 statements” (O’Connell-Domenech, 2024).

As a literacy teacher educator and researcher, I couldn’t help but wonder: what does
this have to do with, to, and for me as a teacher, and–perhaps just as importantly–as a
literacy teacher educator? I then began to wonder: what is it, specifically, about literacy
instruction in American schools that seems to occupy the minds and hearts of so many
families and politicians? Then I remembered Dr. Bettina Love’s latest book, Punished
for dreaming: How school reform harms Black children and how we heal (2024).

In her text, Dr. Love reminds us that educational reform, especially the right to read, has
been a common trope and platform in “reform” movements, both conservative and
liberal and neo-conservative and neo-liberal. In fact, and as we see all-too-often (and as
I often tell my undergraduate and graduate students), it is the “adults” in the room who
are getting in the way of the reform that youth need, want, and work for every day.

Let’s take, for example–and more to the point–the current literacy education reform
movement sweeping the nation and, more specifically, taking hold here in our state, the
state of New York.

To begin this three-part series, I would like to provide a relatively recent historical
context for the current reading reform taking place in New York State. Because I think
best in lists (a part of my disability), here is a timeline I made of New York State
legislative and New York State Education Department actions for ease of use.

5
November 25, 2019
New York State Assembly Bill A8786A is introduced. The bill stalls in the Assembly
Committee and is eventually referred to the Education Committee.

January 8, 2020
Almost the exact same bill is proposed in the New York State Senate as New York
State Senate Bill S7093. It, too, stalls in the Senate Committee and is referred to the
Education Committee.

January 6, 2021
A revised version of New York State Senate Bill S7093 is introduced as New York State
Senate Bill S441C. The bill is passed by the Senate, after some revisions through
various committees, and sent to the Assembly for consideration.

January 14, 2021

A revised version of New York State Assembly Bill A8786A is introduced as New York
State Assembly Bill A2185B. The bill is passed by the Assembly. This bill is packaged
with New York State Senate Bill S441C and sent to Governor Kathy Hochul for approval
or veto.

November 23, 2022

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul vetoes New York State Assembly Bill A2185B /
New York State Senate Bill S441C, among others, citing “fiscal impact” of
“approximately forty million dollars” for this “packaged legislation.”

October 11, 2023

The New York State Education Department posts a press release stating that the
“Literacy Academy Collective and New York State Education Commissioner Betty A.
Rosa are thrilled to announce that New York State has been chosen to participate in the
third cohort of Hunt Institute’s The Path Forward for Teacher Preparation and Licensure
in Early Literacy” (see press release here). Their stated aim: “to transform early literacy
instruction in New York State by embedding the science of reading into teacher
education.” [Note: The link provided by the press release to the science of reading was
embedded in the press release.]

January 4, 2023
A revised version of New York State Assembly Bill A2185B is introduced as New York
State Assembly Bill A133. The bill is passed by the Assembly.

6
January 23, 2023
A revised version of New York State Senate Bill S441C is introduced as New York State
Senate Bill S2599. The bill is passed by the Senate.

December 12, 2023

New York State Assembly Bill A133 / New York State Senate Bill S2599 are delivered to
Governor Kathy Hochul for approval or veto.

December 23, 2023

Governor Kathy Hochul signs S2599/A133 into law.

January 3, 2024
New York Governor Kathy Hochul releases her “Back to Basics” plan to improve
reading proficiency in New York State. Among other things, Hochul states,

When I was younger, we used to learn about phonics. There's a basic way. It's
called back to basics. How you learn to read. And what happened was, they
decided to change it…Teaching programs in colleges have focused on [Balanced
Reading]. [The Back to Basic Initiative] is a set of solutions to design, to reset
how our schools approach reading. So, we're going to be teaching phonics,
decoding, vocabulary and comprehension.” (see full transcript here)

NOTE: To read the section of the Article VII Bill, go here.

January 10, 2024

BOCES throughout the state hosts a “NYS Literacy Initiative: An Overview of the
NYSED Literacy Briefs” event. At this hybrid meeting, attended by hundreds of
educators across New York State, the New York State Education Department releases
“The Science of Reading Briefs” authored by Dr. Nonie Loseaux and Katie Carr, M.Ed.

April 22, 2024

The New York State Legislature and Governor Hochul passed the budget for the 2025
Fiscal Year.

So, today, on April 24, 2024, where are we? Closer to or further away from our
collective goal of helping youth be/become better readers and writers?

Answer: Nobody knows–just yet, but there are many items in the works. New York
State Senator John Mannion from the 50th District in Central New York confirms in an
email on April 29, 2024 that

7
 The final enacted [budget] did include the “Back to Basics” reading plan which
will require the New York State Education Department to provide educational
best practices to school districts in the teaching of reading to students in
prekindergarten through grade three by January 1, 2025 and there is funding in
the budget for the Hoylman dyslexia task force.

What I will say, though, is that much of the elements from the timeline provided above
stems from claims made in the media or by not-for-profit organizations. For example:

At the national level:

1. “A third of America’s fourth graders basically can’t read.”

2. “Two thirds of America’s kids can’t read fluently.”
3. “34 percent of fourth-graders couldn’t even read at a basic level.”

At the New York State level:

1. “42% of fourth grade students scored Below Basic – the lowest National
Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP] performance level.”
2. “Only 32 percent [of New York State fourth grade students] are deemed proficient
[at reading].”
3. “New York fourth-graders lost twice as much ground in math and reading as their
peers nationwide…”

At the state and national level:

1. “…over 40 percent teach prospective teachers to use ineffective reading
instructional methods.”
2. “Teacher Prep Programs Fail on the Science of Reading, report shows”
3. “Teacher preparation programs in New York and across the country…[are] failing
to embrace long-standing evidence about how children learn to read.”

To be absolutely clear: the efficacy rate at which we help students learn to pass
reading assessments in New York State needs improvement and/or the assessments
we use to measure students’ reading abilities needs improvement.

8
I am also aware, thanks to some mentoring from academic and literacy colleagues, that
what I am potentially arguing for is a different “reform” that Love argues has led and will
lead to tragic consequences for youth, especially youth of color. I would argue that I am
not and have not suggested any reform in this article but more of a caution against the
literacy reform being proposed in New York State and which has already been
implemented in many other students: strict adherence to scripted curriculum adopted by
schools. Such a “reform” is in response to a “crisis” that, as I have stated here and will
argue later, may be exaggerated, to say the least, and hysterical to say the worst.

So, the question is:

Where does all of this “There is a reading crisis in the state of New York” come
from?

The answer:
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the National Council of
Teachers Quality (NCTQ).

In the next installment of this article, I will talk about the National Council of Teachers
Quality (NCTQ) Teacher Prep Review of Reading Foundations to provide the specific
data that NCTQ collected, how they collected that data, and what it does, and perhaps,
what it does not say about the way teacher preparation programs do or do not teach
undergraduates and graduate students how to teach reading to/with youth.

Stay tuned…
Keith

PLEASE NOTE: This article reflects my own views and thoughts on the topic and in no
way reflects the opinions or stances of any of my current, previous, or future employers
or the organizations of which I am a member or of which I have been a member.