By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — Westport will join a growing list of school districts in saying thanks, but no thanks, to the state’s new “Right to Read” legislation.

The law, passed in 2021, requires school districts to adopt one of several state-approved reading programs or seek a waiver.

So far, 67 districts and charter schools have indicated they plan to seek a waiver, according to Melissa K. Wlodarczyk Hickey, director of the Center for Literacy Research and Reading Success for the state Department of Education.

That accounts for more than one third of the state’s school systems.

Included on the list are New Canaan, Darien, Ridgefield, Wilton, Hartford, Monroe, Shelton, Trumbull, West Hartford and Woodbridge.

“Perhaps this law will help some districts who struggle maintaining teachers [or that] lack a coherent literacy approach … This law does not help our students, our faculty, or our system,” Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice wrote in a Jan. 26, 2023, memo to the Board of Education.

State intervention opposed

Scarice said the law has the potential to dramatically affect the methods and delivery of early literacy instruction in Westport, a school district where 85 percent of third-graders meet or exceed the goal on the state’s Smarter Balanced Test.

At the board’s Monday meeting, the panel was not asked to vote on the district’s intention to seek a waiver, but it was clear members support the idea.

Board member Dorie Hordon called the law an obnoxious overreach by the state.

“I think what Westport is doing is great,” said board member Robert Harrington, adding he didn’t want the state anywhere near the district’s reading program.

Scarice said under the law, the district can request a waiver if it can demonstrate its reading curriculum is evidence-based, scientifically based and focused on competency in oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

“Our literacy program meets these criteria,” said Scarice.

District staff told the board that questions on the state waiver application do not completely align with the state statue.

Still, Allison Moran, the district’s K-5 curriculum coordinator, told the board she feels confident in the 120-page case the district is making for a waiver.

‘Shocked’ if Westport fails in waiver bid

“I would be shocked if they don’t approve it,” said Assistant Supt. Anthony Buono.

Westport’s program, as explained to the board, includes a systematic approach to phonemic awareness, a study of phonics, adjustments and additional instructions for students who get stuck, and consistent word study. There are reading workshops that include read alouds, writing workshops and classroom libraries as well as literacy coaches and interventionists. 

Teachers have received training by both Teacher’s College and Orton-Gillingham, an explicit, multi-sensory and prescriptive approach to teaching literacy.

The state law, which applies to reading curriculums in pre-kindergarten through grade five, requires a school district to implement a reading program reviewed and approved by a new Center for Literacy Research and Reading Success at the state Department of Education by fall 2023.

According to Scarice, the state-recommended programs would not only be costly, but in his view have no evidence-based data to back up goals.

“One-size-fits-all” approach to improve reading skills

“It’s a one-size-fits-all model,” said Scarice.

He liked the state effort to an attempt in 2012 to require all districts use the same teacher evaluation model, but questioned the motivation behind the reading effort.

“This law reaches beyond outcomes and mandates methods and materials for instruction at the individual teacher level, far beyond the scope of the state board of education and [state Department of Education],” Scarice said. “The disregard for consideration of local decision-making is stark.”

Mandated “boxed” programs and software without regard to individual students in front of a teacher are an affront to the professional judgment of educators, Scarice added.

The seven state-recommended programs would cost between $165,039 for Harcourt’s Into Reading program to nearly $1.7 million for American Reading Company’s Core Reading program.

Most of the programs also require purchasing workbooks or online student accounts with annual renewals, according to the district.

State funding was included with the new law, some of which went to create the Center for Literacy Research and Reading Success. The state estimates it would cost $7 million statewide to fund the proposed reading programs.

Moran said while she has not done a thorough analysis of the state-recommended programs, she has seen samples of all seven and called them scripted and in stark contrast to instruction delivered in Westport.

Westport students already at head of the class

Statewide, only 46.7 percent of third graders meet or exceed state expectations in reading. Only three districts have 80 percent or more on target, and Westport is one of them.

“Our third grade students most recently performed second highest in the entire state,” Scarice told the board.

Statewide, in 2021-22, across all grades, the average student performance index in English/Language Arts was 64.2 percent on a 0-100 scale. In Westport, it was 80.2. The state target is a performance index of 75.

Even so, the state’s Right to Read Coalition has put out a Q&A, suggesting that even in high-performing and well-resourced districts, extras such as parents paying for afterschool tutoring, can mask curricular problems and increase inequities.

The school board was told that Westport students who need extra help, get it and the local program combines several approaches that evolved over time.

“Most [students] do very well,” said Coleytown Elementary School Principal Janna Sirowich.

Westport has long history of using phonics, it was added.

Scarice: No need to change

“There is no need to change our … approach,” Scarice said, “only to continue to modify and adjust through continuous improvement efforts as the district has done for many years.”

Scarice said changing programs could jeopardize progress made in the area of student literacy.

“Instead of classroom libraries, students would have anthologies similar to those used decades ago,” the superintendent said, if a switch to a state program were made. 

“Instead of authentic writing opportunities, student writing would be largely in response to text,” he added. “These programs would drive the district to move away from fostering student voice and choice in their literary endeavors.”

Scarice said there are no funds in the 2023-24 budget proposal the board approved Monday to support a new literacy program.

To comply with the waiver deadline of Feb. 28, Scarice said the district will send the state a breakdown of its performance data by race, ethnicity, gender, free or reduced priced lunch eligibility, English language learners and disabilities, as well as its strategies to address reading achievement gaps.

He told the board he is not sure what will happen if the waiver is denied.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.