Survey shows Iowa teachers vary in reading practices

Results of a new survey find uneven approaches in how Iowa teachers approach reading instruction.

“What's happening is we have pockets of excellence but we also have places where best practices aren't being implemented despite the best intentions of teachers,” said Michelle Hosp, director of the Iowa Reading Research Center which commissioned the survey. “There's not a lot of consistency around teachers' knowledge and understanding of best practices.”

The state's three regent universities conducted the survey, gathering responses from educators throughout the state over a six-month period, and the results show that the majority of schools spent between 61 to 90 minutes on daily literacy instruction.

The 2013 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress show that Iowa fourth- and eighth-graders have made slight gains in reading performance. The concern in Hosp's estimation is that progress isn't reaching all students.

The center works with the Iowa Department of Education and Hosp supports its Collaboration for Iowa's Kids (C4K) initiative, in which the department works alongside the state's area education agencies and school districts to close the race and socioeconomic achievement gap between students, ensuring that learners are proficient by the time they complete third grade. The Grant Wood Area Education Agency, which serves Eastern Iowa school districts, is the Iowa Reading Research Center's fiscal agent.

The C4K approach includes encouraging districts to participate in Response to Intervention, an Iowa Department of Education-supported framework in which teachers tailor reading instruction to where students are; meaning that staff provide additional support for learners who are not proficient.

“It allows (teachers) to really identify who is most at need of additional intervention,” Hosp said.

According to the center's survey, 30 percent of teachers have received professional development for targeted- or intensive-level – as opposed to basic – reading intervention from area education agency personnel.

Hosp said that the center's role in helping educators create more consistency in literacy education is doing the research to find the best approaches and teach them to effectively perform them in the classroom.

“I don't think there's a silver bullet for anything,” Hosp said.