Gov. DeWine gets look at Walsh University's efforts to prepare future educators

NORTH CANTON ‒ Gov. Mike DeWine visited Walsh University Thursday to see the school's education program and the lengths Walsh is taking to make sure its students are prepared to teach reading.

The university began moving toward evidence-based literacy courses in 2019 for those seeking a teaching degree. By 2020, all undergraduate and graduate literacy courses were aligned with the science of reading, a research and evidence-based method of literacy instruction based on how the human brain learns.

Since then, the university has secured thousands of dollars in grant funding to further the program and to provide its future educators will the needed resources, including a literacy library with teaching tools students can use.

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Walsh students have taken what they learned and partnered with local school systems to help younger readers improve their skills.

This is the first academic year Ohio school districts are required to teach the science of reading curriculum.

Perry Local and Walsh U reading program

Perry Local's Watson Elementary School has worked with Walsh students in recent years. Perry adopted the science of reading program five years ago.

Lindsey Roush, assistant professor in Walsh's Division of Education, has been teaching the methods of developmental literacy courses to sophomores and juniors. The students spend a day at Walsh with Roush and the remainder of the week working with the students at Watson.

Those students are analyzing data and creating lessons based on an individual reader's strengths and weaknesses.

At Watson, Principal Stacy Daugherty said, they have seen a great improvement since implementing the science of reading methods.

"We used to have four or five kindergartners reading by January; now we have half of them reading fully by January," Daugherty said.

The interaction with the Walsh students means meeting a reader at their skill level while also boosting student confidence, Daugherty said.

Daugherty told DeWine when Perry switched to the science of reading - also know as structured literacy - there was some hesitation by staff. Once they saw the results, instructors were on board, she said, and by the second year, they began to see growth in their students.

"Now we teach sounds first instead of letters," Daugherty said. "Before we taught the letter people and then the sounds."

Gov. Mike Dewine at Walsh University

DeWine said experiences like those at Watson are the greatest argument for other districts to get on board with science of reading

During DeWine's visit, students demonstrated some of the methods they use, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Forty percent of Ohio's third-grade students are not proficient in reading and 33% of third graders were not proficient in reading even before COVID-19, DeWine said.

Reading proficiency is not up to par, but the introduction of science in reading is a step in the right direction, he said.

"When we get the science of reading in every school classroom, we know it will make a huge difference," the governor said.

State leaders are in the process of surveying Ohio's districts to see who has implemented the new program and who is moving toward it.

The governor called Walsh's efforts impressive, noting it is ahead of the game. He urged other colleges and universities to prepare future educators to teach the science of reading.

"They are preparing their future teachers," he said.

Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or amy.knapp@indeonline.com.

This article originally appeared on The Independent: Gov. DeWine gets look at Walsh University's efforts to prepare future educators