PHILADELPHIA — Many of the nation's colleges are missing the mark when it comes to training prospective educators on how to teach children to read, according to a new report by a national teacher quality group.
Only one-quarter of the teacher prep programs cover all five core areas for reading instruction, which the National Council on Teacher Quality says in its report are based on more than 50 years of scientific research. Another quarter don't cover even one of those areas, the council said.
The five competencies associated with what is called "structured literacy" include phonemic awareness — the ability to identify sounds within spoken words, which allows children to link those sounds to the written word — phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The council said it looked at how elementary teachers were prepared in these areas based on their course work, including instructional hours, assigned readings, assignments and assessments and practice opportunities.
