Georgia to use $10 million in federal money to put literacy coaches in low-performing schools

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia school officials will use $10 million in federal money to place reading coaches to help improve teaching in 60 low-performing elementary schools, as lawmakers continue to pressure state Superintendent Richard Woods to do more to support a literacy law passed last year.

The move, announced Thursday by Woods, is the first time that the state will directly fund coaches in schools. Coaching is seen as essential because it helps teachers put things they learn about literacy instruction into practice.

“We know that professional learning, without coaching, doesn’t really stick,” Amy Denty, director of literacy for Georgia Department of Education, told a state Senate committee meeting on Feb. 9.

Georgia is trying to overhaul literacy instruction, with legislators last year mandating that each district must retrain all K-3 teachers by August 2025. Already, more than 5,000 of Georgia’s 27,000 K-3 teachers have enrolled in state-provided online training that includes 25 hours of classes on literacy instruction, Denty said.

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The state’s effort to help children read better is one example of many nationwide as the “science of reading” shakes up teaching and learning. Most experts now agree effective teaching should include detailed instruction on the building blocks of reading, including letter sounds and how to combine them into words.

The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress found only 32% of Georgia fourth graders proficient in reading, about the same as nationwide. Woods prefers a different measure, which finds about 40% of third-grade students are ready.

Woods earlier announced a plan to hire 32 regional coaches and pay stipends to school district personnel who lead literacy efforts. Those regional coaches would oversee coaches working in schools. A recent survey found more than 500 locally-hired coaches already working statewide.

Georgia will adopt Florida’s coaching standards to standardize what coaches do, Woods said Thursday.

Gov. Brian Kemp backed that plan in his budget, proposing $6.2 million to literacy coaches. Kemp also proposed $5 million to develop a screening test to detect dyslexia and other reading problems as early as kindergarten.

The federal money would place coaches in 60 of Georgia’s 1,300 elementary schools, including 11 in Atlanta, nine in Richmond County, eight in Bibb County elementary and four in Muscogee County.

The state plans to fund the coaches for three years beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, said Department of Education spokesperson Meghan Frick. She said local schools will hire the coaches, using a state-provided job description.

“The coaches announced today will work directly with the schools in greatest need of improvement and ensure they have the resources to deliver high-quality early literacy instruction to every child,” Woods said in a statement.

While the state is developing its own screening test that will be provided free of charge to districts, the state Board of Education approved 16 different screening tests in July that districts can also use. Lawmakers have criticized that move as making it hard to compare performance among districts, especially after an evaluation judged three of those screeners as weak. Denty said the board will discuss narrowing the number next week.