North Dakota aims to raise reading scores with new literacy plan

BISMARCK, ND (KXNET) — According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), reading scores among fourth and eighth graders across the country, including North Dakota, declined from 2019 to 2022.

The North Dakota State Legislature took notice when they passed legislation in 2021 that authorized funding for the Statewide Literacy Improvement Plan. It mandated that all school districts in the state to submit a literacy plan that incorporated a new way to teach reading.

With the lower reading scores, North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) Superintendent Kirsten Baesler says that older strategies of reading curriculum were proven to be ineffective.

Baesler explained, “What we learned was some of the ways that our teachers had been trained to teach reading were, in fact, not only not helpful, but were actually damaging to nurturing and curating good readers.”

She said the Statewide Literacy Improvement Plan requires all school districts in the state to retrain educators on how to use the new “Science of Reading” curriculum to teach reading to their students.

Baesler added, “We’re working with our university systems and our colleges, that have the teacher preparation programs, to revise and redefine their curriculum for teacher candidates as well.”

Baesler says the new curriculum focuses on four key components in teaching reading to students, which are phonics, vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and reading fluency.

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