K-12 Education

Digital Technology and the Reading Brain: What Reading Legislation Overlooks

The Shanker Institute and Maryland READS recently facilitated a conversation between state and local education leaders in Maryland and literacy expert Dr. Maryanne Wolf to explore the impact of digital technology on students’ reading development. As Maryland joins other states in implementing policy reforms to improve reading instruction, it is essential to recognize and explore additional ecosystemic barriers that might prevent the state from achieving its reading proficiency goals.

A growing number of studies (discussed below) are showing that choosing to read on screens versus using printed materials can be a significant obstacle to acquiring deep reading and thinking skills. This post explores whether and how reading policy – state legislation in particular – is responding to this emerging concern. 
 
The Shanker Institute has been tracking and analyzing the content of reading bills enacted into law since 2019. Technology, broadly defined,^[1] has been one domain whose presence or absence we identified in these laws. This post focuses on mentions of digital media related to students, including its use in instruction, progress monitoring and assessment, as well as in reading interventions. Our analysis reveals that laws in nine states out of 50 that enacted some reading bill and out of 33 with comprehensive reading legislation discuss these uses of technology, as summarized in Table 1 below. 
  

Out of School But in a Book: Leveraging the Socio-Cultural Aspects of Reading

So often, when we talk about reading, we focus on the technical or cognitive side of it – learning how students decode words and understand their meaning. While this makes sense because schools tend to prioritize the technical aspects of reading for beginning learners, the socio-cultural aspect of reading must not be forgotten. 

The socio-cultural aspect of reading refers to how our community, environment, and cultural background influence reading. The way that people learn to read, what they decide to read, and how they interpret what they read is largely influenced by their larger socio-cultural environment (Cartin, 2023). 

When you reflect on your experience learning to read, did just learning how to sound out words make you a strong reader? Or, did your environment play a role? Did learning how to sound out words in collaboration with your peers or the pride and joy from finishing your first book inspire you to keep reading? 

Only recently have some states – such as Minnesota, Michigan, and Florida – begun to include initiatives incorporating the community and environmental dimension of reading into their legislation. For example, Minnesota’s HF 2497 bill established a grant to support eligible after-school organizations in providing culturally affirming and enriching​ after-school programming that promotes positive learning activities, specifically including community engagement and literacy. Similarly, Michigan’s HB 4411 bill established an innovative community library fund to aid in furthering reading skills and address early childhood literacy gaps through the engagement and connection of students. Another example is Florida’s SB 2524 bill, which established a partnership with Just Read, Florida! to help distribute books at no cost to families to help instill a love of reading in students. Such initiatives can play a significant role in promoting childhood literacy and encourage young readers to view reading as a leisure and social activity. However, we need more states to adopt similar efforts to truly meet the needs of all students.

Valuing Teachers’ Voices on World Teachers’ Day—and Every Day

Our guest author is Julie Vogtman, Senior Director of Job Quality, National Women’s Law Center.

Did you know that Saturday, October 5th was World Teachers’ Day? According to Unesco, one of the day’s convenors, this year’s theme is “Valuing teacher voices: towards a new social contract for education,” which is meant to “underscor[e] the urgency of calling for and attending to teachers’ voices to address their challenges” and “most importantly, to acknowledge and benefit from the expert knowledge and input that they bring to education.”

This is a vital mission—one that merits far more than a day to honor. And it’s particularly important in this moment, when teachers in many U.S. school districts feel that the “expert knowledge and input that they bring to education” is being disregarded more than ever. When at least 18 states have enacted laws restricting K-12 public school teachers' instruction on topics related to race, gender, sexuality, and other so-called “divisive concepts”—and PEN America has documented more than 10,000 instances of book bans in the 2023-24 school year alone—many teachers across the country lack the autonomy and respect for their profession that they want and deserve.

A Legislator’s Lessons From Fifth Graders

Our guest author is Massachusetts State Senator Becca Rausch.

Earlier this year, I walked into one of the elementary schools in my district to visit with the fifth grade –- all 300 of them. (For those who might not work with young people routinely, that is a lot of fifth graders.) School visits and engaging with students is one of my favorite parts of serving in the Massachusetts Senate. Presently, I am the only mother of elementary school aged children or younger in our chamber, and I’ve worked with children for as long as I can remember, so the fact that I love and dedicate real time and energy to youth outreach is unsurprising. But this particular visit sticks with me because of the enormity of its embedded power.

When I speak with students, I always aim to enhance the existing civics education curriculum. I talk about my path to the State Senate through prior elected service in local government. I present students with an interactive “government tic-tac-toe” grid that shows the three branches of government as implemented within the three levels of government systems. Usually, students know most of the federal branches. Fewer know the state branches. Very few know the local government structures.

What are Third Places and Why Do They Matter?

When I was 10 years old, my mom and dad dropped me off at our local YMCA skatepark, hoping I would make friends. Over a decade later, I am still skateboarding. But, more importantly, I can confidently say that at the YMCA skatepark, I was transformed into the woman, scholar, and advocate that I am today.

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg first introduced the concept of “third places” in his 1989 book The Great Good Place. Oldenburg advocates that to live a balanced, happy life, people need engagement in three realms – at home, work, and in third places. Third places act as a core setting for informal public life, offering connection, community, and sociability (Oldenburg, 1989). For adults, examples include cafes, parks, gyms, and other places centered around a common interest that fosters community and civic engagement. Very simply, third places can be thought of as societal glue. They bind people together to construct communities (Low, 2020). 

For children, third places are places they regularly frequent outside of their home and school environments that are child-centered, such as after-school programs, extracurricular activities, sports, public libraries, clubs, and my personal favorite, skateparks. As is the case for adults, children’s third places provide the same sense of community. They help children develop a sense of self and consciousness of the greater world, allowing them to appreciate life and be enriched by its diversity (Oldenburg, 1989). 

The Threat of Technology to Students' Reading Brains

As Maryland’s state leaders join their peers across the country to push forward with policy reforms grounded in the science of reading, we asked ourselves: by focusing primarily on instruction, are we addressing the full scope of challenges that impact reading proficiency? While improving the teaching of reading with evidence-based practices is critical, a significant issue remains underexplored: the impact of our digital culture on children’s ability to develop and maintain the capacity for sustained, focused, and reflective reading.

Some might question whether this type of reading is feasible in today’s fast-paced, distraction-filled digital world. However, as Maryanne Wolf persuasively argues, this level of deep engagement is both attainable and essential for developing critical thinking, empathy, and insight. Wolf describes deep reading as a journey into the "innermost sanctuary" of our hearts and minds. In that space, we don't just comprehend or absorb the author's words; we actively reflect on their ideas, going beyond them to develop our own. Deep reading nurtures the intellectual and emotional capacities that make us human. So, why is this form of reading most at risk today?

Reading science has shown that learning to read is not a natural process; it requires explicit, systematic instruction and practice (also here and here). Unlike spoken language, which humans instinctively acquire through exposure and interaction, reading is a skill that our brains are not biologically wired for. In other words, humans do not learn to read simply by being exposed to books or observing others reading. Therefore, the reading brain must be intentionally built repurposing and connecting areas of the brain; science of reading policy aims to ensure that all children receive the best instruction to achieve this goal. Yet, we are learning that structured literacy instruction in elementary school is not a one and done. To sustain and grow our reading capacity, we must actively nurture, use, and protect this magnificent infrastructure that is the reading brain. Because, as Wolf argues, the brain's plasticity is its greatest strength but also its Achilles' heel; what is built can be unbuilt. And that’s what our digital culture might be doing.

Help Students Start the School Year with Confidence in Reading

Summer may be over, but efforts to build strong summer reading programs are just beginning. Now is the time to evaluate which programs were offered—or lacking—for our students in the past few months. In addition, September and October are when states plan and budget for next summer, and lawmakers consider bills for upcoming legislative sessions. Early planning secures funding and ensures readiness by June, making this the ideal time to focus on summer programming.

Learning to read requires explicit instruction and ample practice, making it important to consider how out-of-school time can support beginner readers. Yet, every June many 6-, 7-, and 8-year-olds transition to camps or other forms of childcare that often provide limited opportunities for academic engagement. While this may be fine for many children, it is also during this time when others experience the so-called summer slide, a regression in academic proficiency due to summer break. Among these children, some are on track to becoming competent readers, while others are at or slightly below grade level. A third group of children is well behind their peers at the end of the school year, potentially due to reading difficulties, whether formally identified or not. 

No Statute of Limitations on Learning to Read Well: What do Upper-Level Students Need When They Are Struggling to Read?

Our guest authors are Sue Pimentel, co-founder of StandardsWork, and David Liben, and Meredith Liben founders and directors of Reading Done Right.

In American middle schools, it’s not enough to merely know how to read. Students are expected to understand, analyze, and make meaning from grade-level complex texts, which is only possible if they have the skills and knowledge to read well—fluently and with ease.

Yet nearly one in three U.S. eighth-graders reads below a basic level, including almost half of Black and Hispanic students. Most often, these students blame themselves for weak literacy skills and assume they just aren’t as bright or talented as their classmates. Extra help that uses materials from elementary school does little to dispel the notion. And it denies students access to the sophisticated grade-level vocabulary and content that can help them catch up, a vicious cycle where students are forever left behind.

American educators need a better playbook to coach upper-level students up to grade level—one that seamlessly integrates within a mainstream classroom while exposing all students to appropriately rigorous content and ideas. It’s never too late to learn how to read well, and it need not come at the expense of learning the knowledge and vocabulary they are expected to know by graduation. 

New Hampshire’s Divisive Concepts Law Was Ruled Unconstitutional, Sending a Message to the Nation

Our guest author is Deb Howes, President of AFT-NH. A version of the article originally appeared in the Concord Monitor on June 14, 2024.

A funny thing happened on New Hampshire’s way to threatening to fire teachers for teaching so-called divisive concepts involving gender, race, history and identity. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro ruled late in May that the law was so unconstitutionally vague that teachers would be “incentivized to steer well clear of anything that could be construed as violating” the law, thus inhibiting them from doing their best work—exactly the kind of work public school students deserve to help them learn and succeed—and forcing students “to bear the costs” of the law’s ambiguity.

The federal judge’s ruling sends a strong message to other states, such as Florida, Georgia, Texas, Idaho, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and South Dakota, that have passed variations of diversity, equity and inclusion laws restricting instruction on aspects of American history, sexual orientation, gender identity, race or racism. 

Tackling Chronic Absenteeism Is a Crucial Investment in the Future

Our guest authors are Kate Suchomel, the Lead Development & Communications Officer, and Jim Davnie, Executive Director, of the Minnesota Alliance With Youth.

This week, Minnesota Alliance With Youth had the opportunity to engage in conversations at the White House around addressing the issue of chronic absenteeism in our schools. At the “Every Day Counts Summit: Addressing Chronic Absenteeism and Increasing Student Engagement," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden, along with state Governors and local leaders, highlighted the many efforts to increase student attendance and engagement and help students come to school every day.

The Alliance was invited to participate and share successes from our AmeriCorps Promise Fellow collaboration with the Check & Connect Student Engagement program in Minneapolis middle and high schools- a long standing collaboration that has resulted in significant attendance gains for Minneapolis students (the results of which are highlighted as a district-level example in the new Digital Backpack of Resources to Address Chronic Absenteeism in Your Community released by the National Partnership for Student Success).

Chronic absenteeism has become a critical issue for K-12 schools across the country, and Minnesota is struggling with exceptionally elevated rates in recent years. Statewide data from the U.S. Department of Education indicates a dramatic increase in the percentage of Minnesota schools with high or extreme chronic absenteeism, rising from 34% in 2017/18 to a staggering 71% during the 2021/22 school year.