(upbeat bright music)
-: Here's a simple question with a not so simple answer:
How did you learn how to read?
How did any of us learn how to read?
Is it ABCs and 123s and all that?
We took enough strolls down "Sesame Street".
(Sesame Street character speaking cheerfully)
-: I beg your pardon there, Bert?
-: Perhaps we just took a look in a bunch of books
on a rainbow.
♪ Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high ♪
-: In truth, reading is actually a science,
and there are a myriad factors
that contribute to our learning how to read,
write, and more.
There is a lot of research out there concerning literacy,
and there are a lot of different theories
on what might be the best strategies
to gain literacy skills.
And there's a shared consensus,
childhood literacy is absolutely paramount
to building a healthy, successful future.
Unfortunately, we might be falling behind
in teaching language and comprehension to children,
and that can be detrimental for a lifetime.
But there are those out there
who are working and striving to right that ship,
working to ensure children gain the skills they need
to succeed from a very early age.
(bright upbeat music)
I am Jacob Corozza
and you're listening to "Now at Ohio State."
We talk with researchers, innovators, and bold thinkers
who look at our world, see what the real challenges are,
and create the solutions that people need now.
(upbeat bright music)
Shayne Piasta is one such person.
She's a professor of reading and literacy
in early and middle childhood
in the Department of Teaching and Learning
here at Ohio State.
She's also a faculty associate
with the college's Crane Center
for Early Childhood Research and Policy.
Her research focuses on early literacy development
and how it's best supported during preschool
and elementary years.
Here, she talks with our Ross Bishoff
about the science of reading, what her research has found,
and what we can do better,
both inside the classroom and out,
to help children gain literacy skills.
-: Shayne, thank you so much for being with us today.
-: I'm so excited to join you.
-: Tell us a little bit about your research, first of all.
-: So I'm a professor here
in the Department of Teaching and Learning,
and I'm actually a developmental psychologist by training,
so I study how children develop early literacy skills
and reading skills.
I study how children develop and learn the alphabet.
I also study classroom practices and how those practices
can afford better learning opportunities for kids,
and better outcomes.
And I'm also very interested
in what teachers know about teaching early literacy
and how we can support teachers
in terms of professional development.
-: One thing I've read
is you really explore the science of literacy.
Explain what that is.
-: Sure, so I think the science of literacy
makes more sense as a term.
I think what people are currently referring to
is science of reading,
but it really does refer to all aspects of literacy.
So not just reading, but also spelling,
and writing, and composing.
The science of reading is really a knowledge base,
so it's this interdisciplinary collective knowledge base
as to what we know about how literacy skills develop,
what component skills are important
for successful reading and writing,
as well as what we know about effective practices
for supporting those who are learning to read and write.
-: How crucial is early literacy for lifelong skills?
What are the long-term benefits?
-: In terms of long-term benefits,
we know that children's early literacy skills pave the path
for them to be able to comprehend text
and critically think about text.
So generally, we talk about thinking about the early years
as learning to read, and then there's a shift
where there's more emphasis on using your ability to read,
to learn new vocabulary, new ideas, new concepts,
particularly in content area domains.
In addition to that,
we can also link these early literacy skills
and then continued literacy success during the school years
to adult outcomes.
So more likely to graduate from college,
more likely to be in a higher income bracket,
more likely to be physically healthy,
more likely to have savings,
all of these types of...
More likely to have healthy socio-emotional development,
all of these really important life outcomes
that we can trace back in some part,
to children's early language and literacy skills.
-: Some of the numbers that you see
indicate in the United States,
that children and even like, middle schoolers
have fallen behind when it comes to reading.
Why is that happening and should we be concerned?
-: It's a little hard to tease out the numbers
in terms of whether we are falling more behind
with children's early literacy skills.
Certainly, we do have evidence
that COVID severely impacted
children's learning opportunities,
and when you impact learning opportunities,
you're also going to impact children's learning.
Regardless of whether we're falling behind, what I can say
is that we're certainly not where we'd like to be,
particularly with supporting the literacy learning
of children who might be coming
from high poverty backgrounds
or from marginalized communities.
So it's really important that we are continually seeking
to improve and leverage research
to improve the reading and writing instruction
that is happening in schools.
-: I think that's a great point.
How can we address some of those disparities
or inequities in the pre-K classroom?
-: One thing that's important is for us to make sure
that we are meeting the needs
of all children in the classroom.
We can't assume that children arrive
with the same level of skills
or the same background experiences as other children.
So in one of my studies, I just simply took a look at
children who were entering kindergarten
and how much they knew about letter names and letter sounds,
and you could see that they were all the way from some kids
who had had no experience with that,
all the way to kids who had already fully learned
all the names and all the sounds of the letters,
and were ready to move on to something
more akin to actual conventional reading.
So making sure that we know the kids
who are in the classroom, taking advantage of assessments
to be able to pinpoint what their current strengths are
and what their areas for improvement might be,
and then really making sure to
what's called differentiate our instruction
or provide instruction that is really meeting the needs
of different children in the classroom,
whether that's by providing different emphasis
for different kids,
whether that's by pre-teaching for some children,
particularly English language learners
might benefit from pre-teaching some of the vocabulary
in a storybook that's about to be read.
And even doing some small group work
with specific children who have specific needs
that need a little bit more attention from the teacher.
-: So where are we falling short?
-: There seems to be this misunderstanding
that the science of literacy or the science of reading
is specific to phonics instruction only.
And like I said, it's a knowledge base,
so we want to use instructional practices
that align with that knowledge base,
but we know from the science,
that there is so much more to the reading process
and to components of successful reading,
that phonics is necessary but insufficient on its own.
So one place I think we could be doing better
would be to ensure that we are, yes,
providing that foundational phonics instruction,
but we can't forget to also build language skills,
and comprehension skills, and even conceptual knowledge,
just knowledge about the world,
because if we want children to successfully read,
that really means that they're able to
extract the meaning from a book or from a text.
So they need to be able to not only
figure out what the words on the page are,
but also link that to the vocabulary that they have,
and be able to understand what those words mean
and what they mean when they're put together.
And generally, that also requires
linking to any prior knowledge that you have about a topic.
-: So we're falling short
on the language and comprehension end.
And what does that mean long-term
for children who maybe aren't absorbing that,
or maybe trying to on a deeper level,
figure out a story or whatever it may be?
-: So first I wanna say that
the reason that there's room for improvement there
is because the science also is trying to catch up.
And so we have a lot of research evidence
about effective instructional practices related to phonics,
or what I would call the code focus side of things.
So these are the foundational skills
that you figure out what is that word on the page?
We don't have as much in terms of instructional practices
that foster reading comprehension, foster language,
and that's both because
the science is still working on that area,
but also because I think the phonics sometimes overshadows
this piece of things.
And so we want to make sure
that we are building children's opportunities
to talk in the classroom.
Even just the amount of talk that children are doing
can often be associated with better outcomes.
So making sure that we're not just
learning the phonics piece
and learning how to read the words on the page,
but how to put those together
and how to make meaning of them.
-: Can you talk about
the science of reading legislations now?
I mean, maybe define that a little bit
and what it means to us.
-: This legislation, the intent is
for us to do a better job
of translating research to practice
and practice to research,
such that the practices that are happening in schools
are aligned with what we know about teaching literacy
and developing literacy from scientific research.
The intent, like I said,
is great in terms of this legislation,
but each different policy has a slightly different take
on how to do that,
and there are challenges sometimes,
in making a sweeping change like this
and not allowing kind of time, and buy-in,
and what we know from implementation science
in order to have those changes implemented
in a sustainable way,
in a way where we have teachers, and parents,
and everyone on board.
-: So if you were gonna advise policymakers,
what would be your advice?
-: First and foremost, I would remind everyone
that it is the teacher in the classroom
who is teaching children to read and write.
It's not a particular curriculum,
it's not a particular intervention.
Those can be really important supports to teachers,
but we need to remember
that the teacher is at the center of this.
Other recommendations that I would make
would be to provide very clear definitions
as to what is meant by the term science of reading,
or other terms that are being used in legislation,
so that it can be clear and we can all be on the same page.
I think we have an issue where science of reading
is being conflated with phonics first
or phonics only programs.
And again, I don't wanna downplay how important phonics is,
but we need to be also focusing on other aspects
of reading and writing at the same time.
And I would also encourage legislators to think about
or learn about what we know from implementation science
in order to really craft this legislation
in ways that it will be taken up,
in ways that are sustainable,
and that are able to be sustained and funded over time.
-: Shayne, this has been incredibly insightful.
Thank you so much for all your work
and for being with us today.
-: I've enjoyed this so much. Thank you for having me.
(upbeat bright music)
-: As one might imagine, most childhood learning
takes place in, you guessed it, the classroom.
Teachers play a huge role
in terms of helping children achieve their literacy goals.
That includes Meredith Schilling.
Meredith has been a team lead pre-K teacher
at the Ohio State University's
A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning for 17 years.
The school is a national model for best practices.
She takes some time to speak with Ross
about what she sees in her classrooms,
how trauma from the pandemic
is negatively affecting literacy and social development,
and what we all can do to help children learn and grow.
-: Hi, Meredith. How you doing?
-: I'm doing well, Ross. How are you?
-: Good. Thank you so much for doing this.
-: Of course, I'm happy to.
-: I think on the list of difficult jobs,
being a pre-K teacher has to be at the top.
Kind of give us an idea of what it's like
to be a pre-K teacher on a daily basis.
-: Being a pre-K teacher can be very rewarding
and it can be very stressful,
rewarding in the fact
that you know you're making a positive impact
on children and families on a daily basis,
and sometimes on a long-term basis.
Stressful in the fact that working with any human subjects,
we know that there's inconsistencies
and situations that might be unexpected at any time.
So it's really important to be flexible,
to maintain professionalism,
and always, the bottom line is the utmost respect
for children and families.
-: Tell us about the A. Sophie Rogers School?
-: Sure, the A. Sophie Rogers School is a demonstration site
and it intersects with research, practice, and policy.
And that's what I think is one of of the most unique aspects
of our program and our organization,
and as far as our research has shown,
there's nothing like it in the nation.
And so in terms of the intersection,
we're unique because of the partners of the Crane Center
for Early Childhood Research and Policy.
So we're able to learn from these other perspectives.
We have research, practice, and policy all under one roof,
which is quite unique.
This means that our researchers work
with classroom teachers like myself,
we're grounded in evidence,
and our staff care about each of these perspectives
when they translate research for policy makers.
The A. Sophia Rogers School
is comprised of four pre-K classrooms,
and in those classrooms
are children who are three to five years old,
and three infant and toddler classrooms, which is comprised
of children who are birth to three years old.
In mixed age grouping,
the idea is that children learn best from their peers,
as do many of all of us adults.
And so when you have children of different ability levels
and different ages,
they can work together to learn from each other.
-: Coming out of the pandemic, there were some statistics
that were pretty startling as far as
Ohio Kindergarten teachers readiness assessments, right?
-: Mmm-hmm. -: And they found
that 65% or almost two-thirds of kindergartners
are falling behind in just being ready for school.
What are you seeing from a pre-K vantage point
that points to this?
Or what are you seeing coming outta the pandemic
that children might be struggling with?
-: Children are struggling with trauma from the pandemic,
and trauma as we traditionally discuss it in education
and in other fields, are very severe things
such as violence in the home, drug abuse,
children being displaced from their home,
whereas the pandemic really caused everybody trauma,
it's just a different level of trauma,
and it depends on your resources
and how you were able to manage and cope
with those experiences of trauma.
So some children were at home
and maybe their parent had to go out and work
just to make money,
and maybe they weren't supervised well during that time,
maybe their parent had to work from home
and they were also not really supervised
or engaged in many things besides screen time.
And then some other children
had the resources in their family
where they might have had a nanny or group care,
in a bubble, so to speak,
and so you can really see, based on the year or two years,
depending on the family's choice
about how they were going to isolate or not,
how that impacts a child,
and specifically their social emotional growth.
If they're not interacting with any of their peers,
even if they're their siblings,
it still doesn't give the same robust experience
that group care and group education gives.
-: What are some typical things you see at your school?
-: So what you see is a trauma response.
So there is a trauma response called fight
where that's a perceived threat,
and therefore a child can be aggressive,
physically, verbally.
Flight, which means a child just wants to elope
or escape from a situation.
An example of this would be a group instruction,
and they might not understand
or they might not feel comfortable,
and so they'll engage in a behavior
that will naturally have them removed from the group,
even if it's still within the classroom setting.
And then another trauma response is freeze,
and that's what it sounds like.
A child who just really cannot move on to the next step,
or they have to really think through it
before they move on to the next step.
And then there's fawn,
and fawn is about appeasing other people,
pleasing other people, as to avoid a perceived threat.
And all of those responses, if they are not addressed,
then the child can never get to the learning portion
of, say, counting, addition,
letter-sound connection, and reading,
because their basic needs are not met,
tHeir nervous system is dysregulated.
-: How do you then get them ready for kindergarten,
if you're dealing with all this other stuff?
-: Exactly, and that's why I think part of the reason only
that there is this major gap
in terms of kindergarten readiness,
and it comes from both the home environment
and the school environment.
So what that takes,
at least in the school environment that I'm in,
is a lot of individualization and a lot of understanding
that maybe what that child needs
is just to be rocked for a little bit,
to regulate their system,
before they can even move onto an activity about patterning.
What that looks like in the classroom is asking a child
who might be really proficient with puzzles
to help a child who's really frustrated about it,
but they don't want to interact with an adult,
they would rather interact with their peers.
And so it is challenging, it's absolutely challenging,
and the best that we can do
is what we can control in the classroom.
Also very importantly,
is that we need to partner with parents
to help them understand what they can do at home.
-: What are some things that a parent could do in the home
that could help them get ready for kindergarten?
-: However you're getting transported to school,
back home, etc, you can talk about the environment.
There's a stop sign there, let's talk about that.
You can talk about shapes, colors, letters, letter-sounds.
Those are all just things that are in our environment.
Other things include symbolic languages
like the Target sign.
Children often know what that is.
That is still a language,
it's a symbol that represents something else.
Other things are basic activities
such as making a grocery list.
So many of us adults now use a device,
be it a tablet, or a phone, or something you can talk into
to make a grocery list.
But if your child really likes Cheerios
and you're out of Cheerios,
or they really like bananas and you're out of those,
say, "You know what?
We better write that down so that we'll remember."
And so what that tells the child is that their thoughts
are connected to their words,
which are connected to writing.
And so that all works in your brain
to develop those synapses
that help you make those connections
and give some foundational skills for reading
and other types of literacy.
-: This is the most important time
in a person's life, zero to five.
If we get it right,
it supports them for the rest of their lives.
If we don't, it can really set them down a rough path.
If we don't get this stuff figured out,
what are the long-term effects for our country, I guess?
-: Well, certainly, people won't be as prepared
for the workforce.
It's in my opinion, that it's innately important
to support children during this time.
But if you wanna look at it from more of a business aspect,
there's children that are not prepared for the workforce,
that because they didn't get a good foundation
in early childhood, are then going through school systems
where they're not prepared,
and that they are getting passed through grades
while still being unprepared.
-: So some parents may not have the financial ability
to get a great pre-K experience.
Is there something we as a society can do
to help underprivileged families
get better pre-K educations, to level the field?
-: The most important thing is subsidizing education,
and that goes for children who might be underprivileged
or qualify below the poverty line,
as well as children who have two parent incomes
that are high enough to be able to pay for tuition.
But it is really confusing for parents,
and for teachers, as a matter of fact,
how childcare can cost so much.
And also know that teachers are so under-compensated.
And it's in my opinion,
that where that bridge is met or created
is because government funding is not there.
The reason that K-12
is able to have teachers with higher pay
and they're able to go for free,
is because the government subsidizes that,
our tax money subsidizes that.
That doesn't happen pre-K and below.
-: Statistics show tremendous turnover for pre-K teachers.
What can be done to support teachers
doing this incredibly difficult but important work?
-: Yes, I've witnessed a high amount of teacher turnover,
especially within the past two years.
Whether that's related to the pandemic or not,
teachers aren't feeling valued.
There's a decent percentage of people
who are educators in early childhood
who are still on government assistance
because of the low wages.
Something that is a superpower of preschool teachers,
and also to our detriment,
is that we handle stressful situations
and we internalize quite a bit,
and we are not so great at self-care.
That's something that was talked a lot about
in the pandemic.
But when you are working at eight plus hour day
and you're exhausted, it's really difficult to go then home
and know that it's difficult to pay the bills,
or it's difficult to deal with your own children
or your own partners.
And so it's in my opinion,
teacher compensation cannot be the only answer,
but better working conditions
and better respect across the board,
for teachers and what they do.
-: So this is a tough job, but I imagine you love it.
I mean, we've talked before, you have a passion for this.
What is your favorite part of the day?
-: When you walk in,
the majority of children who run up to you are like,
"Hi, Ms. Meredith."
There's not a lot of other workplaces where you walk in
and your coworkers,
I can consider them my coworkers to a degree,
run up and just give you all this love
and just cannot wait to see you.
Other parts that I really enjoy are those little moments
where you notice that a child is grasping a concept.
Also when they're sharing with you
some things that you can use in order to help them grow,
they're letting you into their lives,
because they don't have to and some children don't like to.
And the more that we share
a little bit of our lives as teachers
and they share with us as students,
the more that bond grows.
And education happens within relationships,
and if that relationship isn't strong,
then the child's not gonna be as likely to trust you
and you might not have as much access
to what's in their life
that would help you as a teacher to help them.
-: Meredith, thank you so much for all your work,
and thank you for being with us today.
-: Thank you, Ross. I appreciate this opportunity.
(upbeat bright music)
-: As Ross stated, from birth to age five
is the most important part of development.
The beginning stages of literacy development
are vital, essential.
Reading, writing, speaking, and understanding,
these pillars of communication
are what the rest of their lives are built upon.
They're like the sturdy legs of a chair,
and if one is shorter than the other,
things can get a little wobbly.
So we all need to work together
to make sure these pillars are equally strong in children,
because a sturdy, comfortable chair
is the perfect place to settle in and open a good book.
(upbeat bright music)
"Now at Ohio State"
is produced by The Ohio State University's
Office of Marketing and Communications.
For more information, visit us at go.osu.edu/now.
I'm your host, Jacob Corozza. Thanks for listening.
(upbeat bright music)