Study: No gains for North Carolina 3rd grade literacy effort

North Carolina State University released a study last week over the third-grade reading campaign the state has spent more than $150 million on, finding the program was too focused on third grade and that having each school district implement it leads to inconsistencies from teacher skills to the type of summer reading camps offered.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson and other officials say the study doesn't show that the program should end. They say they're working to improve it as summer camps have been expanded to first- and second-graders, testing has been reduced and schools are doing more to work with parents.

"The report about 2013 and 2014 cohorts, the first to go through the Read to Achieve initiative, confirms what we already know: implementation of the new policy was inconsistent. Improvements have already been made in the years since, but this report’s analysis was limited to those earliest cohorts," said Pat Ryan, a spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, who championed the literacy program in the General Assembly.

"As the report acknowledges, [school districts] have taken different approaches with different results. Senate staff has already been analyzing the successes and failures at the local level to make policy adjustments, as would happen with any major initiative," Ryan said. "Early reading proficiency is arguably the most consequential metric in childhood education, and we’re committed to preparing North Carolina’s students for a successful future."