Testimony: Illinois teachers need ‘science of reading’ training to fix illiteracy

Illinois students will struggle throughout their educations when 7 in 10 third-graders cannot read at grade level. Illinois Policy supports and submitted testimony in favor of a bill to train Illinois teachers in ‘science of reading’ methods to boost early-grade literacy.

Many Illinois teachers were taught that reading was best fostered when youngsters guess at the words, but the traditional methods such as “sound it out” are key to improving literacy.

Those methods are known as the “science of reading,” and they would get a boost under House Bill 1368 by mandating they be part of teacher professional development. The bill unanimously passed the Illinois House April 8 and received a Senate Education Committee hearing April 29.

Illinois Policy staff attorney and Senior Director of Labor Policy Mailee Smith filed written testimony in favor of the bill. Her testimony is below.

The bill then was passed out of the committee unanimously and will next be considered by the full Illinois Senate.

Testimony in support of House Bill 1368, amending the Educator Licensure Article of the School Code

Thank you to Chairperson Loughran Cappel, Vice Chair Lightford and members of the committee.

I am Mailee Smith, staff attorney and senior director of labor policy at Illinois Policy.

The first years of school are critical years during which students must build a firm foundation of skills to become strong readers. Being a strong reader then helps children develop into strong learners.

In other words, strong reading skills early on set up students for success.

On the other hand, research shows students who fall behind in reading skills, especially in lower elementary grades, later drop out of school at much higher rates than their classmates. In fact, a student’s likelihood to graduate high school can be predicted by their reading skill at the end of third grade.

This is because students transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” from fourth grade onwards. If a student struggles to read at grade level by the end of third grade, up to half of the printed fourth-grade curriculum is incomprehensible.

This is bad news for Illinois. In 2024, just 31% of Illinois third-grade students met or exceeded reading proficiency standards on the state’s end-of-year assessment, the Illinois Assessment of Readiness. That means 7 in 10 third graders could not read at grade level. Illinois students’ performance on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed similar struggles: just 30% of fourth graders met grade-level reading proficiency standards in 2024.

Illinois students are struggling, and reforms are needed to ensure students receive the instruction and support they need to thrive.

Fortunately, we have a path forward. With the staggering rates of early learners struggling to read across the country, many states already have passed legislation to improve the literacy and academic achievement of students. This includes Illinois, where lawmakers amended the school code in 2023 to include a section on literacy.

But that was just an initial step. More explicit action is needed to address the low rates of reading in Illinois public schools. That’s why I support House Bill 1368.

Specifically, HB 1368 amends the school code to ensure any professional development activities related to literacy instruction are aligned with the evidence-based strategies developed in the state board of education’s Comprehensive Literacy Plan.

These evidence-based practices are referred to as the “science of reading.” A federally funded report by the National Reading Panel in 2000 first outlined five essential components of effective reading instruction as the basis for the science of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development and reading comprehension.

According to Education Week, 40 states and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation since 2013 concerning evidence-based methods to teach students how to read. Thirty-four of the states and Washington, D.C., have enacted science-based reading legislation since 2020.

But as states have rolled out these best practices, we’ve observed that schools and teachers need support on how to tailor instruction to the five foundational components of reading and the science of reading. Training is needed as districts shift away from a method called “three-cueing,” which leans on pictures and context to encourage students to guess at new words and has been shown to hinder reading proficiency. HB 1368 fills that void by ensuring professional development related to literacy is centered around evidenced-based practices and the science of reading.

In conclusion, HB 1368 represents a necessary step for education in Illinois. I urge this committee and members of the Senate to vote “yes” on HB 1368.