Pittsburgh Public Schools will debut a new reading curriculum this school year, supported by a converging body of research known as the “science of reading."
Kindergarten through 5th grade students will use materials from Open Court Reading, a curriculum that emphasizes foundational skills.
PPS chief academic officer Jala Olds-Pearson said that’s something the district’s previous curriculum lacked.
“We do not, as we follow the science of reading, support students learning how to read by looking at pictures, using clues or anything like that,” during a presentation Wednesday at Westinghouse Academy.
The science of reading instead stresses phonics, demonstrating the relationship between how letters sound and are written. A national push to teach students this way gained footing as reading proficiency slipped during the pandemic.
District leaders hope the change will get more students reading on grade level. Just 39% of all PPS third graders scored “proficient” on state tests during the 2021-2022 school year, according to the district’s performance dashboard.
That’s down from a 56% proficiency level among third graders during the 2017-2018 school year — the same year the district began implementing its previous reading curriculum, ReadyGen.
PPS spent roughly $4 million on the reading program, and one year later district officials argued it was already yielding promising results. In 2019, however, teachers and leaders on the school board voiced concerns that some students — especially Black and brown students — were being left behind.
While scores from the 2021-2022 school year reflect pandemic learning loss felt nationwide, they also give weight to some of those earlier concerns. Among third graders that year — who had used the ReadyGen curriculum since kindergarten — just 24% of Black students scored proficient or above on state reading exams, compared to 46% in 2017-2018.
The same program received pushback in 2021 when Colorado state evaluators rejected ReadyGen for failing to cover foundational reading skills thoroughly enough.
Olds-Pearson said the new curriculum, Open Court, will give students a clear understanding of all foundational skills. The program was selected by a panel of more than 100 students, teachers and parents.
“We are excited to implement the new K through 5 instructional materials that are aligned to the science of reading because we know we must follow the science to ensure our students are successful,” Olds-Pearson said.
