Science of reading produces ‘remarkable progress’ in early literacy, new Alaska data shows

Evidence-based reading instruction is boosting Alaska’s K-3 test scores, new data reveals.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the success of the Alaska Reads Act, citing large increases in reading proficiency.

“I’m encouraged by the improvements Alaska’s students are already experiencing because of the Alaska Reads Act,” Dunleavy said in a press release. “As these results are beginning to show, when we implement effective education reform, Alaska’s students are capable of success.”  

Education Commissioner Deena Bishop also praised the “remarkable progress.”  

Overall reading proficiency for K-3rd graders rose from 41% to 57% during the 2023-24 school year.  

Evidence-based reading instruction – also called the science of reading – was especially effective among kindergarteners, whose proficiency jumped from 24% to 60%.  

Dunleavy signed the Alaska Reads Act in 2022, calling the effort to improve early literacy “a moral imperative.”  

Research has shown being a proficient reader by 4th grade is vital, since those who aren’t are more likely to struggle academically, drop out of school and suffer reduced earning potential as an adult. 

But despite the fancy new label, the science of reading isn’t a new invention.  

A decline in literacy became observable in the 1980s and 1990s, when questionable reading instruction methods gained traction across the globe. 

The “whole language” approach taught students to read, not by sounding out letters, but with techniques like using context to guess what the word might be or looking at just the first letter of the word.   

These techniques were called the “three cueing” system.   

Education researchers eventually found that whole language and cueing approaches weren’t effective. Instead, the age-old method of phonics – sounding out each letter to form a word – was the most effective and subsequently dubbed the “science of reading.” 

But bad instruction had already wreaked havoc on early literacy.  

According to the nation’s 2022 NAEP scores, two out of every three 4th graders aren’t proficient in reading. 

It was even worse in Alaska, where just 24% were grade-level readers.  

However, there’s good reason to hope the science of reading can change that.  

In 2013, Mississippi implemented the science of reading and jumped from 49th among states in 4th grade reading to 29th.   

Its NAEP scores nearly doubled, from just 17% proficiency in 1998 to 31% in 2022. Observers dubbed the phenomenon the “Mississippi miracle.”  

Now, leaders in both red and blue states are hoping to recreate the miracle. A June 2023 report from FutureEd showed nearly 30 states now require schools to use the science of reading, and some have even banned the three-cueing method.