By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – More than a hundred Arizona teachers are receiving training this summer through a statewide road show focused on reading instruction.
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State data shows more than half of Arizona’s third-graders cannot read at grade level.
The Arizona Department of Education’s Literacy Road Show aims to help teachers strengthen literacy strategies.
Teachers train in the science of reading
At the road show’s Tucson stop, 150 teachers attended training at the University of Arizona’s College of Education. The stop was the road show’s second (it was in Flagstaff last week), and it sold out.
Teachers paid $20 to attend. Experts worked with them on ways to improve their lessons.
Dwight Omar Valencia, a teacher at Challenger Elementary School in Nogales, said teaching reading has become more complicated as students come to class with different needs.
“When you’re in the classroom, and you have those 25 faces looking at you, and you have those 25 challenges, it is a different ballgame,” Valencia said.
Reading strategies change
Experts have developed the Science of Reading over the last few decades as an evidence-based way to teach literacy. The research concludes 95% of students should learn to read this way, but in Arizona, only 40% are reading at grade level.
Amy DeWitt, Board President of The Reading League, said many students are struggling because schools have not been using that science. She said better learning materials are one solution, but preparing teachers is more important.
“No matter what the curriculum is, a good teacher can use it appropriately and can really make a difference for their students,” DeWitt said.
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Valencia said the training showed him that some strategies teachers learned are outdated.
“Today was eye-opening to learn that a lot of things we’ve learned are outdated, and we are still continuing to implement them in the school,” Valencia said.
Karolyn Corey, a K-5 Literacy and Dyslexia Specialist with the Arizona Department of Education, said the training is meant to help teachers identify what they can change in their literacy routines.
“For teachers to have really those aha moments of what can I do, what can I pivot away from, or what can I take in and add to my routines in literacy to really make those differences,” Corey said.
The road show will be in Phoenix on Thursday for another sold-out day of training.
Isabela Lisco is a Report for America corpsmember covering education solutions for 13 News. Her position is made possible through funding from Report for America and the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund.
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