Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox.New York officials want teacher preparation programs to revamp their instruction to align with the science of reading, a longstanding body of evidence about how children learn to read. Under the proposed regulations, many teacher preparation programs — including those focused on early childhood education, bilingual education, English language learners, literacy, and students with disabilities — would be required to align their instruction with the state’s science of reading framework.The framework emphasizes evidence-based approaches including phonics, the relationship between sounds and letters, as well as phonological awareness, oral language, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. The proposal, introduced at a state Board of Regents meeting last week, comes as some advocates and experts have raised alarms that roughly half of the state’s teacher preparation programs are failing to properly train educators in reading instruction, significantly higher than the national average.Prospective educators would also be expected to devote a portion of their “field experiences” and student teaching to providing evidence-based literacy instruction and assessing students with reading challenges. The proposed regulations require more explicit training on dyslexia, one of the most common learning disabilities, and officials said the proposal is consistent with recommendations from a state dyslexia and dysgraphia task force. “The knowledge base that supports the science of reading is not new,” Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young said during the meeting. “It is about ensuring that we’re using what we know about how children learn, grow, evolve, and making sure — by the regulation — that it exists in every teacher preparation program.”If adopted, the proposal would represent one of the most concrete steps so far from state officials to require higher education programs to adopt stronger approaches to training educators to teach reading.The proposed changes come as many students are struggling with reading. More than 40% of the state’s fourth graders scored at the lowest level in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often considered the gold standard in assessment. That was roughly 10 percentage points worse than in 2013. Reading proficiency on state exams has increased over the past few years, diverging from the federal test. The proposal is an outgrowth of a multi-state effort New York joined in 2023 to reform teacher preparation programs organized by The Hunt Institute, a nonprofit affiliated with Duke University. Officials said the regulations are designed to ensure all teacher preparation programs are consistently teaching evidenced-based literacy practices. If adopted, many teacher prep programs would be required to comply by September 2028.Some groups that have been critical of New York’s teacher prep programs said the proposed changes are promising. “This would be a significant step forward for the state,” said Ron Noble, the chief of teacher prep at the National Council on Teacher Quality, which released the report last month that found half of the state’s teacher prep programs did not adequately teach reading. Noble praised the idea of beefing up requirements for literacy-focused work in student teaching and other hands-on training experiences. “That is a great idea,” he said, “ one that I haven’t seen in lots of other states.” Still, several observers and members of the Board of Regents wondered how the Education Department would enforce the requirements, especially because teacher prep programs are reviewed on a seven-year cycle. Some Regents worried the state wouldn’t catch flawed practices for the better part of a decade.“How will we ensure accountability and follow through?” asked Regent Hasoni Pratts, who represents Brooklyn, during last week’s presentation. “We won’t know if they’re doing what they say they’re doing until we review in 2035, when I know many of us may not be here.” State officials said they can already require corrective action if fewer than 80% of prospective teachers pass certain certification exams. If teacher prep programs don’t align their coursework with the science of reading, state officials will first provide technical assistance. They could eventually be denied “reregistration,” a state education spokesperson noted, which would prevent the program from recruiting new students, according to state rules.State officials hope the Board of Regents will approve the new rules in November after a public comment period. Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
