The science of reading is widely touted as an effective, proven method for teaching reading and literacy. Yet, implementation can lag. Some administrators struggle to integrate it into their curricula and daily schedules, and some teachers and staff don’t see how they will “make the magic happen” for their students.
All of that is fair. I like to use an “operating room” analogy to help paint this picture:
- Everyone in the operating room is qualified to participate in the process. However, anesthesiologists and surgeons don’t have the same training. They will need to work together and trust each other to ensure a successful operation.
- Before entering the operating room, everyone involved in the surgery will discuss the plan to treat the patient. The plan will account for everyone’s unique expertise.
- These professionals have a common goal but will take different steps to achieve it. The anesthesiologist will set the stage for the surgeon, and the others will step in as needed to support the effort.
Everyone is prepared. Everyone knows their assignment and is ready to go. No one walks into the room asking, “Okay, how are we going to do this?”
This operating room approach works for implementing the science of reading and training your staff and teachers to use it. I have seen it in action with multilingual learner programs in my district. We use Lexia LETRS. Here’s how we made it happen.
- Train the people who will support school leaders. We can’t lead from an office. Our educators need us to do “life with them.” For that reason, I went through the training with my staff. I felt this was necessary in order to provide true support. We discussed what we expect from teachers, how prepared the staff was to engage in robust training, and whether or not we had been delivering that level of rigor in previous trainings. It was a humbling but productive experience.
- Trust the process. People are generally resistant to change—it’s just human nature—so expect to answer questions like: “Do we have to do all of this training? Can we just do this piece? Can we skip this piece?” School leaders must remind their teams of the “why” behind the training. It’s key to student success. Encourage everyone to trust the process and see it through to completion. Changing direction midway, then trying to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, is a recipe for failure.
- Reflect. This is an important step. Make time to assess the rollout. I use a strategy I call “kid watching” – visiting classrooms to see how students are responding to the curriculum. I observe how they’re interacting with the resources we adopted and how teachers are making sense of the expectations that we set. The goal is not to judge anyone, but rather to see if the plans we created for the “operating room” materialized as intended.
- Lead with curiosity and intention. If I visit five or 10 schools and notice a lack of consistent implementation, I ask questions to find out why this is happening. Do they have the right resources? What challenges are they facing? We school leaders should never assume that we know the answers to these questions. We need to be intentional with our support and keep an open, curious mind. The same applies to innovative practices. These classrooms are our voices in the field. Their insights are invaluable.