The Washington Post - 02.03.2020

B2 eZ re THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAy, MARCH 2 , 2020

education

PALS or RAN is the better way to

identify reading difficulties

seems technical and obscure. But

parents such as Walker with a

child falling behind find the

numbers galling. Arlington

County school officials have, for

instance, discovered in seven

elementary schools that

15 percent to 21 percent of

students — much like W alker’s

son — passed the PALS but failed

the RAN, a signed of undetected

problems.

The delay is likely to bring

even more heated discussion in

Virginia, part of a national trend.

The reading wars — the 1980s

conflict over teaching that

subject — appear to be back.

[email protected]

NAACP pointed to bad news for

children in a January letter to

state delegates.

There has been a persistent

drop in scores on Virginia’s

reading tests, according to

federal data, the letter said.

“Black and Hispanic students

fare the worse in these results

and are disproportionately

impacted,” it stated.

They point to conclusions from

the 2000 National Reading Panel

that students need direct

instruction in phonics, fluency,

vocabulary and comprehension.

But they said “educational

institutions are failing to

implement the Reading Panel’s

findings.”

The argument about whether

It is one more sign of rising

concern over failure to give all

children the intensive phonics

lessons proven many years ago to

be essential to mastering reading.

Reading is becoming a lively

issue in many parts of the

country. California recently

agreed in a lawsuit settlement to

spend $53 million over three

years in 75 low-performing

elementary schools to improve

reading instruction. Only about

half of third-graders have met

that state’s reading standards,

part of a national failure to teach

the vital skill to impoverished

children.

It has hit hard in Virginia.

Walker and two other leaders of

the Arlington branch of the

spokesman Charles Pyle said

officials worried that what

parents such as Walker wanted

educators to do with RAN was “a

broader purpose than for which

it was designed.” Because RAN’s

performance data was based on

tests in the Midwest, he said,

“there are concerns about the

dissimilarity between this sample

and Virginia’s student

population, as well as the sample

size.”

Pyle said the department

wants to improve PALS and also

add a RAN test to its system for

identifying reading difficulties.

But parents who have been

working on the issue say they are

enraged by the delay. “I am sick to

my s tomach,” Walker said.

battle as he is headed into high

school in August and could be in

jeopardy of not graduating on

time based on the e xtensive

remediation that he needs.”

How was his problem finally

spotted? He was given an

expensive battery of other tests.

Several experts and activists,

including Walker, want Virginia

to start a pilot program to see

how what they consider the

quickest, least-expensive and

best-researched of the alternative

methods, the Rapid Automatized

Naming test (RAN), works as a

supplement to PALS.

A Virginia Senate

subcommittee delayed action on

that until next year. State

Education Department

Schools in
Virginia use a 23-
year-old test, the
Phonological
Awareness
Literacy
Screening, to
assess student
literacy and see
whether students risk developing
reading difficulties. It took
Symone Walker, a parent from
Arlington, a long time to realize
the test — known by the acronym
PALS — didn’t work for her son.
He took PALS several times but
was never identified as having
dyslexia until last year, when he
started eighth grade.
“Consequently,” Walker said,
“he is facing a daunting uphill

At issue in Virginia: How to best identify reading di∞culties among children

Jay
Mathews

BY CARALEE ADAMS

LOVELAND, COLO. — Soft instru-
mental music played in the back-
ground as families walked into
the gym at Laurene Edmondson
Elementary School about 5:30 in
the evening. Dani Roquett, a
school psychologist, held four col-
ors of notes as she greeted kinder-
gartner Ellison Hutt: “Hey, love.
Do you remember what the zones
are?”
Each morning, kids at Ed-
mondson pick a color for the
“zone” t hey’re in that day — g reen
for happy, blue for sad, red for
mad and yellow for scared. This
evening, the children showed
their parents the routine. Ellison
and her dad picked green; Elli-
son’s mom took yellow, signaling
to her daughter it was okay to be a
little nervous at the big event.
The evening event was not the
classic school fundraiser or social.
No one from the PTA begged for
donations; the kids didn’t dance
across the stage in costumes. The
goal was to connect with busy
families in a more meaningful
way: showing parents what’s hap-
pening in the classroom and, crit-
ically, how they can support
learning at home.
The school calls the events,
held twice a year, GET To gethers
— Guaranteed Education Te ams.
The name captures Edmondson’s
intention to elevate parents as
team members in their children’s
education.
In keeping with that spirit, the
evenings are designed to be far
more interactive than a typical
curriculum night, in which teach-
ers run through what they’ll be
teaching that year. Last fall, the
students explained new home-
work policies. At another event,
teachers taught parents math
games to play with their children.
In January, adults could attend
two 30-minute workshops on top-
ics including how to set limits and
understanding trauma — topics
the parents had suggested them-
selves.
Investing time and creativity in
getting parents involved often
pays off. Out-of-school factors
weigh heavily on student success,
studies show, and research indi-
cates family engagement can lead
to higher grades and test scores,

improved attendance and better

behavior.

And yet surveys suggest most

teachers find it challenging to

connect with families.

Many s chools rely on tradition-

al back-to-school nights or

p arent-teacher conferences to

gauge whether parents are en-

gaged in their children’s l earning.

At schools where parents don’t

show up for PTA meetings or

volunteer to chaperone field

trips, it can be a blame game:

Te achers think parents don’t c are,

and families say they don’t feel

welcome or valued.

But at Edmondson, the focus

on building relationships is

grounded in research showing

that trusting relationships with

families can improve learning

outcomes. The 22 0-student

school extends personal invita-

tions to events, solicits parent

input, communicates in Spanish

and works to get families basic

resources, including groceries,

when they need it. In some cases,

teachers and school staff mem-

bers even visit families at home, a

practice that’s gaining traction in

schools such as Edmondson t hat

serve vulnerable populations.

“I have never met a parent who

didn’t c are about their children or

value education — but they may

not show it in ways that white,

middle-class people would ex-

pect,” said Anne Henderson, a

senior consultant for the National

Association for Family, School,

and Community Engagement,

based in Alexandria.

One study of 71 high-poverty

schools found that when teachers

were active in outreach to fami-

lies, students’ reading and math

scores improved at a 50 percent

faster rate in reading and a 40

percent faster rate in math. What

worked? Meeting every family

face-to-face, sending materials

home for parents to use to help

their children and staying in reg-

ular touch with families on kids’

progress.

“The more we can educate par-

ents and are all speaking the same

language, the more powerful it is

going to be for kids and easier to

be moving toward the same

goals,” said Trish Malik, Edmond-

son’s principal.

Initially, Malik relied on tradi-

tional meetings to get parent

feedback. She convened a “school

accountability committee” an

hour before PTA meetings to

make attendance convenient, but

turnout was low. Malik said it felt

like she was presenting informa-

tion for a stamp of approval rath-

er than having a dialogue.

“I felt very fraudulent saying I

was going to get input from my

parents when only one or two

people showed up and they, hon-

estly, didn’t represent the majori-

ty of my population,” she said.

At the same time, the school

population was changing. By

2016, almost 70 percent of Ed-

mondson’s students received a

free or reduced-price lunch and

came from low-income families.

A decade ago, less than a third of

the school’s students came from

low-income families.

Malik brainstormed with her

team about a more creative way to

reach families. One that centered

on listening. The idea for the GET

To gethers emerged from parents’

suggestions. They wanted meet-

ings to be more interactive and to

equip them to help their children

with academics. Feedback gener-

ated changes in traffic patterns

for drop-off and pickup and trig-

gered the addition of more after-

school programs.

The whole staff has embraced

the effort to be more hospitable.

The school’s o ffice manager, April

Hoyland, says a cheerful hello to

everyone who walks through the

front door. “One of my goals is to

learn every student’s name and

every parent’s name,” said Hoy-

land, who last year turned her

desk to face the entryway to be

more welcoming.

Colorado has been a leader in

family engagement policy and

provides support to districts to

promote evidence-based prac -

tices. Last year, it established an

Office of Family, School and Com-

munity Partnerships in the state

Education Department, led by

Darcy Hutchins, who said having

a dedicated role at the state level

and legislation gives the issue

traction.

“If a district is doing a family

night or a carnival, I say that’s a

great starting point,” Hutchins

said. “I encourage them to look at

the overall school population. Are

you getting the two-parent white

family, or are you getting every-

body? When we say every, we

mean every.”

Several studies demonstrate

the positive link between family

engagement and student achieve-

ment. An analysis of 100 public

schools in Chicago with strong

parental involvement found that

students were four times as likely

to improve in reading and 10

times as likely to improve in math

than at schools in which ties to

community were weak.

Last year, Edmondson began

offering home visits to all kinder-

garten families. About half of the

families agreed to the 30-minute

informal chats. Kindergarten

teacher Erik Hagan said the meet-

ings were invaluable to establish

rapport and get a glimpse into his

students’ world. “Some parents

can be intimidated by school, and

by us going to their home first and

visiting with them, I feel it’s more

comfortable,” Hagan said.

Once those relationships are

established, educators said it’s

easier for teachers and parents to

tackle challenges that may arise.

Tiffany Rodriguez and her hus-

band are raising four children,

along with three nieces and neph-

ews, ages 3 to 16. She doesn’t

hesitate to text or call to alert the

school before drop-off if her

nephew is having a rough morn-

ing. “They are always on top of it,

getting back to me if he still has a

bad day, texting me, calling me —

or letting him call me,” she said.

“They are respectful and kind and

they love the kids.”

Maria Carsi, another Edmond-

son parent, said she learned how

to better communicate with her

four children — and especially

manage bedtime struggles — in

parenting classes sponsored by

the school district and promoted

by family engagement liaisons at

Edmondson. The six-week ses-

sion, conducted in Spanish, her

primary language, was held at t he

Loveland Public Library. As a bo-

nus, the location prompted her to

get library cards for the family.

Since trying these approaches

to connect with families at Ed-

mondson, informal parent per-

ception surveys show the school

is on the right track. While there

have been no big boosts in test

scores, growth rates in student

achievement have increased

slightly in recent years and the

school has begun to meet state

performance measures.

Robin Campbell, the mother of

a fifth-grader at Edmondson,

moved from California to Love-

land because of its small-town

community vibe. She and her hus-

band regularly volunteer and at-

tend Edmondson’s evening

events, because the message is

clear that parents are welcome.

“It’s always, ‘How we can help you

at h ome and how you at h ome can

help us at school,’ ” Campbell

said. “It’s a collaboration.”

[email protected]

this story about family engagement

was produced by the Hechinger

report, a nonprofit, independent

news organization focused on

inequality and innovation in

education.

Family matters to this elementary school in C olorado

cArAlee AdAms/HecHinger rePort

Laurene Edmondson Elementary in Loveland, Colo., holds events that encourage parents to be partners in their children’s education.

Parental involvement can

improve grades and test

scores, research shows

(202) 919-9209

(703) 650-9337

(301) 778-4222