Ashley, in her second year teaching kindergarten at Horizon Elementary School in the Kent School District, has seen in her own classrooms the difference between using the science of reading, which is primarily phonics-based, compared to other, less systematic approaches that have dominated the teaching profession over the past few decades.

She was a member of the 2018 TFA corps teaching first grade in Prince George's County, Md. There, she said, the school employed what is known as a balanced literacy approach, which relies less on phonics and more on word recognition and using pictures and other context for clues to meaning.

She was a member of the 2018 TFA corps teaching first grade in Prince George's County, Md. There, she said, the school employed what is known as a balanced literacy approach, which relies less on phonics and more on word recognition and using pictures and other context for clues to meaning.

“No matter how much time I put in, I wasn't getting anywhere with a significant portion of my students,” Ashley recalled.  “And that was really frustrating for me because I wanted to reach all the kids. I felt like I was hitting a wall.”

Ashley spent one post-TFA year teaching in Prince George’s County. While there, she also earned a Master’s degree in early childhood education from Johns Hopkins University. When Covid hit and she had some time on her hands, she began reflecting on her practice and reading research.

That’s when she discovered the breakthroughs in brain science that pinpointed the best way to teach young children to read. “That became my rallying cry,” she said.

When she moved to Washington in 2021 and started teaching at Horizon, she began applying what she had learned. “I was fortunate to have a really supportive administration and team that were willing to make adaptations to the curriculum that we have in Kent to make it more aligned with the science of reading,” Ashley said.

It didn’t take long for her to recognize the validity of the approach. She saw it almost immediately in her students’ learning trajectories. “Last year I had kids that came to me who were newcomers and who didn't speak English,” she said. “I had kids with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs for special education students). At the end of the year, every single one of them ended up on or above grade level in literacy. I had never seen that before.”

At the end of the year, every single one of them ended up on or above grade level in literacy. I had never seen that before.”

To what did she attribute the success? Ashley said last year was the first time she applied science of reading principles and skills “in a very structured and purposeful way.” Now that last year’s kindergartners are in first grade at Horizon, they continue to excel, Ashley said.

Together with other kindergarten teachers at Horizon, Ashley advocated with school leadership for structured literacy training for the entire staff. The school has adopted a two-year literacy training program called Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS).

The first cohort of Horizon teachers are halfway through the training, Ashley said. They have been able to impart their newfound knowledge to other teachers who haven’t yet had the training.

Getting students to read proficiently by the end of third grade is a major benchmark for future academic success. Ashley said she feels confident that the science of reading strategies will continue to take hold, and that in turn will mean more students will have academic success and, ultimately, economic mobility.

This piece is written by our freelance writer, Alan Gottlieb.