By Kindel Turner Nash, associate professor, early childhood education, UMBC

Because I conduct research about reading, parents often ask me the same question: “What can I do to help my child become a better reader?”

I always give them the same advice: “Read with your children. Enjoy books together, and whatever you do, don’t worry about teaching them to read. Leave the teaching to the teachers.”

This reply draws on my research regarding the literacy practices of high-performing teachers, as well as my experiences as a parent, teacher and literacy specialist. Ample evidence indicates that a solid foundation of reading, writing, talking and playing with words fosters a love for books at an early age and leads to later success as a reader.

But what happens when children do not learn to read, or when they struggle with reading? That problem is all too prevalent. Only about a third of all eighth-graders can read at or above grade level.

Successful teachers

I have studied how successful teachers at multiple high-performing urban schools in New York, Ohio, Missouri and Maryland that are helping struggling readers dramatically improve their reading fluency. Many are getting children to read passages multiple times.

Teachers and researchers have found that doing this almost always leads to improvements for struggling readers between second grade and the end of high school.

For kids, this strategy is a lot like learning a new song by reading lyrics while singing along with a music video. When children practice reading this way, they listen to and echo a more experienced reader while tracking the print with their eyes and touching the phrases of the book as they read and reread the book together.

By activating the senses of hearing, seeing and touch, this approach makes recognizing familiar words easier and faster, increasing fluency. The strategy works best when it’s repeated regularly – ideally 10-15 minutes per day. Considering the millions of children who don’t read at grade level, it’s very important.

Digging deeper

Psychologist Robert G. Heckelman first identified this method of repeated reading in the 1960s. He encountered an adolescent whose reading level increased by three grades after being tutored using this system. Heckelman repeated the method with 24 middle and high school students who were struggling with reading.

After just 7.5 hours of instruction in what he called Neurological Impress Method, students advanced by an average of two grade levels.

Those findings were later replicated with greater numbers of children, leading to a study published in 2016. In that study, the literacy researchers Chase Young, Timothy Rasinski, and Kathleen Mohr called the method “Read Two Impress.”

This new name reflected a change in the method: Kids had to read each page aloud after their tutors finished reading it to them. In addition to making kids better readers, Read Two Impress also helps them become more confident and spend more time reading.

Empowering families

Yet the Read Two Impress method, until now, has never formally involved a child’s family. Additionally, no studies of this strategy have investigated the impact of using books that reflect student culture and language.

To see if his strategy would be effective as a tool for families to use to improve their children’s reading, I partnered with co-researchers, Joshua Michael and Kris’tina Ackerman. Together, we conducted a study over 10 weeks at a school in a large Northeastern city.

There were some hurdles. For example, the grandmother of a thoughtful and inquisitive child expressed anxiety about her lack of confidence and perceived ability to read. “I’m not much of a reader myself,” she told us during the first training. “I don’t know if I can help my grandchild with reading.”

She, along with 25 second-graders and some of their relatives, participated in five training sessions.

In the final one, the adult participants described how they were teaching this strategy to others. They told us they believed similar opportunities should be broadly available. This in turn prompted us to host an open training for the whole school and a group of teachers-in-training.

This time, the grandmother, once apprehensive, helped facilitate the training. She had gained confidence in her ability to teach this learning strategy to others.

We also found that when families read books that reflected their culture and language, they enjoyed reading together more. In particular, we learned through surveys and focus groups that parents and other guardians took pride in playing a role in helping their kids become better readers.

We will publish the results of the more expansive approach to the strategy, which we call “Read Two Impress Plus,” in an academic journal.

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Header image: Photo by Andy Kuzma from Pexels.

UMBC doctoral students Joshua Michael and Kris’tina Ackerman contributed to the study of Read Two Impress and this article.

Kindel Turner Nash, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

• A definition of Sexual Coercion added as a prohibited act of sexual violence;
• Student’s rights to retain an attorney, paid for by the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC); and
• Identification of the nearest hospital(s) to campus to obtain a Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE).

Newly released Maryland PARCC test results reveal that Baltimore City schools partnering with UMBC have seen dramatic growth in student math performance. The Baltimore Sun has called this trend one of the “bright spots” at a challenging moment, when many schools across the state are struggling to move the needle on student learning in math.

Math test scores for the six city schools involved with the UMBC Math Project grew by an average of five percentage points this year. Included are Liberty Elementary School, Mary Rodman Elementary School, James McHenry Elementary/Middle School, Federal Hill Preparatory Elementary School, Lakeland Elementary/Middle School, and Maree G. Farring Elementary/Middle School.

In comparison with this proficiency increase, Baltimore’s overall PARCC math scores remained flat and the state of Maryland experienced a drop of 1.1 percent. This year’s growth also builds on last year’s average increase of 6.9 percentage points at UMBC Math Project partner schools.

UMBC Math Project

To achieve this growth, the UMBC Math Project supports teachers and school leaders in elementary and middle grades through ongoing coaching and professional development. The project has involved 60 educators and supported over 2,000 city school students.

Professional development sessions build teachers’ math content knowledge. They also provide teachers with data analysis techniques to understand where students face challenges, and instructional practices to improve student learning outcomes.

UMBC’s current approach builds on an early partnership with Lakeland Elementary/Middle School supported by the Sherman Family Foundation, with professional development provided by Christopher Rakes of UMBC’s education department. 

Today, UMBC facilitators connect with each school in the project in slightly different ways, based on school structures and needs. For some, support is very hands on. For others, consultation focuses on work with school leaders, who then implement professional development strategies with their teachers. 

Intentional focus on early grades

Joshua Michael ‘10, political science, and a doctoral student studying education policy, serves as assistant director of the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program at UMBC. He meets with educators in each school every two weeks for collaborative planning and professional development sessions.

“Our focus on elementary and middle grades mathematics is intentional,” Michael says. “Over 50 percent of students are performing notably below grade-level by third grade. We must adapt what and how we teach to meet students where they are and set a plan to meet rigorous standards. We know that algebra readiness is a key link to success in high school and beyond.”

Michael, a graduate of the UMBC Sondheim Public Service Scholars Program, taught in city schools earlier in his career, and he enjoys helping educators develop a renewed sense that they can have a measurable impact on student learning.

“Teachers want to do this work, and will go above and beyond when they are empowered as professionals,” Michael says. “Classroom teachers have great insight into what works for students, and when we honor that knowledge and support teachers in developing more tools to do their work, we see students grow.”

Data-informed approach sees results

Michael has found that schools particularly value learning how to use data analysis as a tool to determine what’s working in class, and what they should adjust. As UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski has explained, “We’re bringing more specificity to the work.” And it’s paying off.

From 2016 to 2019, Liberty Elementary School saw an increase from 21.7 to 26 percent in math proficiency. Sara Krauss, assistant principal and math lead at Liberty shares, “Working with the UMBC Math Project has broadened our view on how to attack data. Each teacher now has the tools to make predictions about student growth based on their current math levels using several sources.”

“We use this information to monitor students’ growth, have conversations with students about where they are, and set learning goals,” Krauss explains. “Including students in conversations about their learning is essential.”

Over the same four years, Lakeland Elementary/Middle School saw an increase in math proficiency from 16.7 to 31.8 percent.

From 2017 to 2019, Mary E. Rodman Elementary School has grown from 2.2 to 22.8 proficient in math. “The partnership that our math team formed with UMBC has been transformational,” says third grade teacher Emily Campbell. “The triangulation of data from multiple sources has allowed us to group students in ways which meet their individual needs. It’s taken differentiation to a new level.”

Within that same time frame, Federal Hill Preparatory Academy has also seen incredibly strong results, growing from 17.9 to 43.3 percent. Sara Long, principal of Federal Hill Prep, says, “The partnership provided me with an opportunity to grow as an instructional leader. The planning, collaboration, data analysis, and instructional strategies that we developed allowed our staff to implement differentiated high quality instruction that was individually tailored to meet the needs of all of our students.”

James McHenry Elementary/Middle School has also seen steady growth. Of the partner schools, James McHenry started with the most challenging test results, with just 1.7 percent of students reaching proficiency in math in 2017. Just two years later, that has increased nearly three-fold, to 4.9 percent.

Maree G. Farring Elementary/Middle School is the newest UMBC Math Project partner. Over the past year, the school grew its math test scores from 9.2 to 13.1 percent proficient.

Access for all students

Although the current trends are significant, UMBC Math Project leaders and participants also recognize the importance of expanding partnerships like this to more schools across the city and the state. And the partners are beginning to explore the possibility of summer programs to accelerate student learning.

UMBC’s Susan Sonnenschein, professor of psychology, and a team of graduate students are currently evaluating the UMBC Math Project. This is an essential step to ensure future investments are driven by detailed knowledge about how the program works and how it can have the most impact.

“We approach this work with the mindset that these are our students,” says Michael, “and we design learning experiences that we would expect for our own children.”

“Student engagement has sky-rocketed as more and more students are gaining confidence through accessible instruction and high expectations,” he notes. “This is the education our children deserve—an experience where they can build on their strengths and grow to their fullest potential.”

Featured photo: Sherman STEM Teacher Scholar Vanessa Gonzalez ’19, American studies, works with Lakeland Elementary/Middle School students. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. Photos not by Demond are by Josh Michael for UMBC.

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