The Question Remains: Will CA Teacher Prep Programs Be Held Accountable for Meeting the New Literacy Standards?

On April 19th, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing voted unanimously to reaffirm Mills College at Northeastern’s (MC:NU) accreditation despite a complaint filed jointly by Decoding Dyslexia CA, Families in Schools, and the California Reading Coalition. 

Our complaint found the college’s new educator preparation program failed to meet the literacy teaching requirements mandated by Senate Bill 488.

This Complaint Matters
As a result of SB 488, which passed in 2022, California has new and improved literacy standards and expectations for teacher candidates and their preparation programs. DDCA fought very hard over several years for these standards because we know the solution to children’s struggles with reading are teachers who are knowledgeable about the science of reading and evidence-based teaching methods. Our educators deserve to be prepared for the critical job of teaching kids to read. CA kids’ futures depend on it.

The new literacy standards under SB 488 demand that pre-service teachers learn how to screen students for reading difficulties, including risk of dyslexia, as well as implement structured literacy in the classroom. The new literacy standards also require that teacher preparation programs incorporate the California Dyslexia Guidelines so that new teachers are better prepared to meet the needs of students with, or at risk for, dyslexia. 

The above components were not found in the MC:NU course syllabi. Furthermore, their coursework paid insufficient attention to the five components identified by the National Reading Panel as necessary for reading. The MC:NU coursework emphasized typical balanced literacy practices such as guided reading, leveled texts, and running records and also included required course readings by controversial curriculum authors Fountas & Pinnell. The three-cueing method of reading instruction, which was debunked by cognitive science decades ago, was embedded throughout their coursework. Finally, the program didn’t mention how to provide additional help for struggling and multilingual students.

Failing to follow science fails kids!

The MC:NU program is one of the first new teacher preparation programs to apply for accreditation under the new literacy standards. If MC:NU’s program is accredited, this will set a dangerous precedent. The door will be wide open for what is deemed “acceptable” coursework and literacy instructional practices for all other California teacher prep programs. 

The 4/19 Meeting
In addition to nine written public comments, the meeting had many call-in commenters who brought passion and expertise to the topic. We urge you to listen to the voices of those who care deeply about this issue. (To listen to the public comments, please click on the images below.)

The first two audio clips are from Maryanne Wolf and Sue Sears who were two of the literacy experts appointed by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to develop the new standards. In their public comments, they each expressed significant concern that MC:NU’s teacher prep program has fallen short of meeting the standard requirements.


“[The new literacy standards] seem to be misunderstood at Mills College at Northeastern. It is unfortunate, but from my opinion after 30 years of intervention work, this fails to meet the standards that you [the Commission] asked us to bring to every teacher so that every teacher could be prepared to teach every child.”

 

“In the case of Mills College, we have three concerns [insufficient coverage of foundational skills, very little attention to reading assessment practices, and the omission of the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, which are integral to meeting the needs of all California students]. We think the syllabi deserve further examination as does the program.”

 

“We sincerely hope the Committee on Accreditation and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing take into consideration the rigorous requirements institutions of higher ed must meet in order to adequately comply with [the literacy standards].”

 

“My team of analysts reviewed the syllabi provided by Mills College. Based on these documents, had Mills College been part of the sample of programs we reviewed for our [June 2023] report, it would have earned a grade of F for failing to provide adequate coverage of the five core components of reading instruction.”

 

“We are at a critical juncture as the literacy standards will not make a difference if the Commission does not hold our teacher prep programs accountable for complying with them… The [Commission] is required, under law, to ensure that the programs satisfy these new literacy teaching standards.”

 

“Most families simply trust. They trust that people in power, like you, will uphold the law to ensure that their children will have educators equipped to teach their children to read and to help them succeed in school. They trust the system, and so because you are the system, I am here today to ask you to investigate our complaint and ensure the law is followed so that every new teacher can effectively teach every student to read.”

 

“I urge the Commission to take appropriate and immediate action to investigate the complaint filed on the Mills College at Northeastern’s teacher preparation programs. There are fundamental issues at stake here. 2022’s SB 488 put into law specific key requirements for preparing new teachers to teach reading aligned with the best current evidence. Our young students deserve this evidence-based instruction and our new teachers deserve to be prepared. [Mills College at Northeastern] falls well short on meeting those requirements.”

 

“Running records, guided reading and three-cueing failed me as a teacher and failed my students who deserved instruction grounded in science… My story is not at all unique. Thousands of teachers are currently seeking knowledge counter to the balanced literacy methods they learned in their teacher prep [programs]. Please use your authority to enforce California’s standards for teacher preparation.”

Next Steps
The Commission voted unanimously to send the complaint back to the Committee on Accreditation (COA) for reconsideration. The COA is the body established in state statute to review programs and make final program accreditation decisions.

At the June 6-7 COA meeting, they will vote on whether to reconsider their previous approval of the MC:NU Multiple Subject program based on the complaint. 

While DDCA was disappointed the 4/19 meeting did not result in an investigation of the complaint or provide technical assistance, we are heartened that there is a next step. It is now in the hands of the COA to review and determine whether the MC:NU program upholds the new literacy standards. 

The evidence is clear to us that MC:NU is out of compliance with SB 488. We hope the COA uses their authority to uphold the law. 

For the future of 6 million public school children in California, DDCA stands on the side of science.

Read more about the complaint here: Sharp divisions over how California’s aspiring teachers will be taught to teach reading | EdSource

And, please encourage family, friends, and colleagues to sign up for DDCA emails to stay informed on all literacy-related efforts in California.

AB 2222 is Dead; DDCA Continues to Fight for the Right to Read

Assembly Education Chair, Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) did not schedule AB 2222 for comprehensive early literacy legislation to be heard by the Assembly Education Committee. The deadline for scheduling the hearing was 5 pm Thursday, April 11. This means our bill is dead without even the benefit of being heard in Committee.

It is very disappointing that it came down to two legislators (Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and Assembly Education Chair Muratsuchi) who decided not to let our bill move forward for a vote in Assembly Education.

This is the EdSource article that was released today on AB 2222. Please take a moment to post a comment at the end of the EdSource article.

The decision came in the face of tremendous support for AB 2222, built in just over two months. AB 2222 had:

  • 69 supporting organizations 
  • 16 bi-partisan co-authors
  • More than 1,000 individual letters of support
  • 41 letters from school district leaders representing 25 school districts serving more than 300,000 students

The organization, Education Trust-West, took a support if amended position. The bill faced opposition from 4 organizations:  California Teachers Association, California Association for Bilingual Education,  Californians Together, and Loyola Marymount University Center for Equity for English Learners.

We knew from the introduction of AB 2222 that passing comprehensive early literacy legislation in a significant state deficit year was going to be a challenge.  DDCA is committed to continue pursuing this legislation next legislative session and beyond if necessary and hope you will join us!

Special thanks to Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) for authoring AB 2222 and for her fearless advocacy to improve literacy outcomes for all California kids.

We are grateful to the following 69 organizations and bill co-sponsors for their support for AB 2222:

Organization Letters of Support on Record:
Decoding Dyslexia CA (co-sponsor)
EdVoice (co-sponsor)
Families in Schools (co-sponsor)
21st Century Alliance
Alliance College-Ready Public Schools Foundation
Black Parallel School Board
Boon Philanthropy Inc.
Boys & Girls Club-Hollywood
California Catholic Conference
California State Parent Teacher Association
California Reading Coalition
California Education Justice Alliance
California Youth Services
Charles Armstrong School
Chico Unified School District
Children’s Defense Fund-California
Democrats for Education Reform (DFER)
Disability Rights California
Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund
Dyslexia Training Institute
Educators for  Excellence-Los Angeles
Equitable Ed Advocates
Equitable Literacy For All
Eye to Eye
Families in Action for Quality Education
Fourth District PTA
Fulcrum
Glean Education
GP II Foundation
Hawley Special Education Advocacy
Innovate Public Schools
KIPP Bay Area Public Schools
KIPP So-Cal Public Schools
International Dyslexia Association – Los Angeles
International Dyslexia Association – Northern California
International Dyslexia Association – SoCal TriCounties Branch
Learning Disabilities Association of California
Learning Rights Law Center
Lighthouse Community Public Schools
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Mt. Diablo Unified School District Community Advisory Committee for Special Education
NAACP California Hawaii State Conference
National Council On Teacher Quality
National Parents Union
North Bridge Academy
North Region SELPA Community Advisory Committee
Oakland Literacy Coalition
Our Voice: Communities for Quality Education
Palomar Council Parent Teacher Association
Peralta District Parent Teacher Association
Project Second Chance, Inc.
Reading for Berkeley
Right to Read Project
Sacramento Literacy Foundation
San Francisco/Second District PTA
San Francisco Unified School District Community Advisory Committee for Special Education
San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs
San Ramon Valley Unified School District SELPA
Santa Barbara Reading Coalition
Seaside Elementary School PTA
Smart Justice California
San Francisco Parent Coalition
The Dyslexia Project
The Oakland REACH
The Reading League California
Third District PTA
Thirty-Second District PTA
Thirty-Third District PTA
Walnut Grove PTA