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Tag: rigor

  • Why schools and public libraries must unite–in summer and all year long

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    Key points:

    This weekend, I’m taking my little guy for an indoor activity using the free game of bowling he got for meeting our first family reading goal LAST summer!  When sub-zero temperatures and snow days plague our country, summer reading probably sounds a LONG way away.  But this is the time public librarians are designing and planning for their big summer reading program!

    This year, some librarians are creating their own summer reading programs to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America.  Others are relying on established national programs like:

    1. Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP): A multi‑state consortium that creates high‑quality, affordable themed summer reading resources for libraries nationwide, or
    2. iREAD (Illinois Reading Enrichment and Development): A flexible national summer reading program developed by the Illinois Library Association and used by thousands of libraries across many states through statewide partnerships.

    But one of the most powerful drivers of lifelong reading isn’t a program at all–it’s a relationship. And some of the most effective literacy ecosystems today are those where schools and public libraries work not in parallel, but in partnership with parents and students.

    Few places demonstrate this more clearly than East Hampton, Connecticut, where a decade‑long collaboration between school librarians and the public library has created a seamless year‑round literacy experience for students.

    “It just seems very natural to us,” said school librarian Katie Tietjen during a recent conversation. “Why wouldn’t we all work together? We all have the same goal of getting kids to read.”

    That shared mission–paired with mutual respect and a willingness to adapt–has become the backbone of a thriving model other communities can learn from.

    A partnership built on trust and continuity

    The collaboration began organically with a simple outreach from then–public librarian Ellen Paul, who invited Katie to connect as she entered her role as a new school librarian. There was no formal program, no grant, no directive–just two professionals with aligned goals.

    As Katie explained, that openness is what created a decade‑long tradition: “There’s really been a long tradition of just collaborating… it just seems very natural to us.”

    Even as staff changed over the years, the partnership didn’t fade. Instead, each new librarian–school and public–was welcomed into a system that valued cooperation over silos.

    Public Library Director Christine Cachuela echoed this mutual appreciation: “We know you have a lot to do – especially at the end of the school year.” Her team sees their role as stepping in to lighten the load, not add to it.

    A summer reading program that actually works

    While many communities struggle to engage students meaningfully over summer break, East Hampton has built a program that is personal, relational, and rooted in consistent school–library contact.

    For elementary students, the children’s librarian visits every single K–5 classroom to introduce the summer reading program. This isn’t an assembly or a flier sent home–it’s face‑to‑face engagement that builds excitement and trust. Christine described this individualized approach as a key differentiator–one that “helps build familiarity and excitement among students.”

    Older students benefit from challenge‑based activities, flexible reading choices, and visits embedded directly into English classes. Public librarians present in the school library, making the program feel like a natural continuation of the school year rather than an add‑on.

    Christine adds that “face time” deepens the community partnership: “The kids would come into the library over the summer, maybe for the first time, and the first words out of their mouth were like, ‘Oh my gosh, you were in my classroom!’ And so they’re just so excited to have that familiar face.”

    And community support amplifies impact: Local businesses donate prizes, teachers volunteer for summer read‑alouds at the public library, and students see their future teachers outside the school setting, deepening connections.

    A year‑round literacy ecosystem

    This partnership isn’t a “summer project”–it’s a 12‑month collaboration that supports students at every stage.

    • Preschool visits and teacher read‑alouds strengthen early literacy pipelines.
    • Middle school lunch‑wave book clubs, create weekly touchpoints for students.
    • High school “library minions” and Teen Advisory Boards give teens ownership of library activities.
    • Public librarians participate in school Wellness Days, embedding themselves into school culture.

    Christine shared that she advises public librarians to “take as much of the burden off the school as you can… reach out with something very specific: ‘This is what I can offer you. I planned this activity. When would you want me to come do it?’”

    This mindset–proactive, flexible, and supportive–is the secret to sustainability.

    Breaking barriers to access

    The partnership also tackles a structural challenge: ensuring every student has access to public library resources.

    Together, the teams:

    • distribute library cards to preschoolers and third graders,
    • run in‑school library‑card sign‑ups for eighth graders,
    • provide tutorials of Libby, Hoopla, and other digital tools, and
    • streamline card‑issuing processes for high school students.

    This means that when a student wants a new print book, audiobook, graphic novel, eBook, or research material the school doesn’t have, they already know how–and where–to get it.

    A blueprint for communities everywhere

    If there’s one thing East Hampton proves, it’s that impactful partnerships don’t require massive budgets or complicated structures. They require:

    • proactive outreach,
    • flexibility,
    • shared values, and
    • the willingness to show up–together.

    As Christine summarized: Public librarians should reach out with specific ideas, not broad offers–schools are too busy to decipher vague intentions. And Katie reaffirmed that understanding each other’s rhythms and constraints is critical to building trust.

    Together, they’ve created more than a program. They’ve built a literacy ecosystem that meets students wherever they are – school, library, or home.

    Getting started

    Every community has the ingredients to replicate this model. In fact, many are already trying. But what East Hampton demonstrates is that true success lies in sustained, intentional partnership–not one‑off events or seasonal coordination. Because when schools and public libraries work together, they don’t just promote summer reading–they nurture lifelong readers.

    And as Katie put it, the question isn’t whether collaboration is possible, it’s: “Why wouldn’t we all work together?”

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    Britten Follett, Follett Content Solutions

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  • A quicker climb up the literacy mountain: Why rigor and efficiency matter in early reading

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    Key points:

    In early literacy, the goal is simple but urgent: Help students become independent readers and writers. Every instructional decision we make either moves them closer to that goal or keeps them circling the mountain instead of climbing it. As literacy researcher Timothy Shanahan reminds us, “If a mountain is high, we should help children to climb that mountain. With appropriate supports and scaffolds it can be done.”

    As an early literacy coach specializing in pre-K to grade five, I work with teachers and districts to accelerate access so all students can become independent, empowered readers. I focus on the most efficient, research-supported strategies to help children learn to read with confidence.

    Unfortunately, many traditional literacy approaches treat third grade as the finish line for learning to read, leaving too many students stranded on the mountainside.

    The phonics code introduced in K-2 doesn’t disappear as texts become more complex. In fact, upper grade reading places even greater demands on decoding as vocabulary grows longer and more morphologically complex. While many teachers want to support students through this shift, they often lack the training, tools, and time needed to continue explicit instruction in word recognition.

    The danger of a slow rollout

    Time is of the essence. One longitudinal study found that first graders who are behind in reading have an 88 percent chance of still being behind in fourth grade. This pattern reflects what researchers call the Matthew Effect: Students who fall behind early tend to fall further behind over time unless instruction accelerates their progress.

    This is why students who are catching up still need regular opportunities to engage with grade-level text. Students need rigor paired with intentional scaffolding–not simplified reading assignments that limit access to the language, ideas, and vocabulary found in complex texts.

    There is a common belief that, after enough reading lessons, a switch will flip and reading will simply click. But learning to read is far more nuanced. While phonics instruction is typically organized across a K-2 scope and sequence, students who miss or only partially master early skills often carry those gaps forward. By third or fourth grade, these unresolved gaps can block access to grade-level text.

    A brain-based, research-aligned approach

    At any age, when students understand the logic behind the code, reading stops feeling random. They begin noticing patterns, decoding unfamiliar words, and approaching text with genuine confidence.

    English is a morphophonemic language, which means our spelling system represents both morphology (meaning) and phonology (sound). When instruction reflects this, everything changes for students. That’s why I advocate for teaching how sounds, spelling patterns, and meaning work together, rather than relying on rote memorization or delaying access to key phonics patterns. It’s also important to introduce morphology and etymology early, giving students access to the meaningful building blocks of complex words.

    Here’s what this brain-based approach looks like in practice. While working in a district implementing a systematic, research-aligned literacy framework, I began tutoring a student at the very end of second grade. He had little confidence in his reading ability and regularly said things like, “I’m a terrible reader.”

    To accelerate his literacy development, I focused on three priorities: identifying his precise gaps, closing them efficiently, and ensuring he could access grade-level text with support.

    To understand where he was struggling, the first step was administering a universal literacy screener, Acadience Reading. His results showed he was well below benchmark in oral reading fluency for his grade. 

    From there, I administered a phonics diagnostic to pinpoint his specific needs. I used the Intervention Placement Test from UFLI Foundations, which placed him at a lesson within the program’s scope and sequence and clarified exactly which skills still required explicit instruction. I then began targeted, systematic phonics instruction using UFLI Foundations.

    But assessment and phonics instruction alone weren’t enough. Decodable texts are essential, but they must be paired with supported access to grade-level text. Because this student was moving into third grade, I selected grade-level texts from ReadWorks around a topic he was interested in.

    To accelerate his progress beyond the limits of a traditional scope and sequence, I integrated Secret Stories–an ESSA Tier 1 supplemental phonics resource with an average effect size of 1.62 that helps students quickly learn and apply complex phonics patterns through brief, brain-based stories.

    I used Secret Stories within UFLI phonics lessons to teach tricky patterns, and outside of phonics instruction to unlock words in grade-level texts he was not “supposed” to be able to read yet. Because most Secret Stories take under 30 seconds to teach, they can be embedded anywhere in the day. For example, when the calendar shows the month of August, teachers might pause to review why AU makes the “aww” sound. Once learned, those explanations become tools kids can immediately apply during reading, writing, and content instruction. 

    To further prepare him for these grade-level texts, I pre-taught key vocabulary and explicitly introduced relevant morphemes–prefixes, suffixes and root words. I also used The Writing Revolution, a book with resources for teaching writing and sentence syntax, and Brainspring, a morphology resource my district had just started using for third grade and up to teach new prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

    Putting this set of literacy “mountain-climbing gear” in place took intentional effort, and I worried it might be too much. Instead, he leaned in. With the right supports and someone beside him, he embraced the challenge and began to see himself as a capable reader. The rigor didn’t overwhelm him. It gave him confidence.

    Achieving the peak of independence

    Many older students face the same struggles as the second-grader I supported. They never fully mastered the early phonics sequence, and those gaps accumulate over time. By the time they encounter texts filled with multisyllabic words, unfamiliar morphemes, dense syntax, and academic vocabulary, reading can feel overwhelming.

    But when those patterns are reintroduced through clear, brain-based explanations, older learners often catch on quickly. Words that once felt confusing begin to make sense. They experience the same “aha” moments as younger learners with an even deeper sense of relief and empowerment–and without feeling remediated. For students who felt stuck below grade level for years, this shift is transformative.

    Today, that same student, now halfway through third grade, is confidently reading grade-level text, with a renewed sense of competence and joy. In just eight months, his oral reading fluency moved from ‘well below benchmark’ to ‘at benchmark.’

    Each successful mountain climber is a reminder that the end goal of literacy instruction isn’t mastery of isolated skills like phonemic awareness or sight words. In isolation, these skills move students sideways or, as Shanahan describes, “walk students around the mountain rather than up it.” Instead, the goal is upward progress, toward independent reading and writing. Every instructional decision, assessment, program and resource we choose should point students efficiently up the mountain, helping them reach the peak with confidence and purpose.

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    Leah Ruesink, Early Literacy Coach

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