Literacy coaches funded by the state will arrive next fall in Wisconsin schools where students are struggling to learn to read, fulfilling a key component of the 2023 Act 20 legislation that was stalled by political infighting.
The Department of Public Instruction announced Wednesday literacy coaches will be placed in 50 public and four private schools over the next two years beginning next school year.
The coaches will be paid for by the more than $9 million released by the Joint Committee on Finance in June, following a long legal battle.
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“Improving literacy takes sustained effort,” State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement. “This work is about doing what’s best for kids and making sure every student builds the strong reading foundation they need to succeed. That means ensuring educators have the time, support, and coaching necessary to meet students where they are.”
About 36 percent of Wisconsin’s youngest students are below the 25th percentile for reading, according to DPI’s first literacy screening.
Through a competitive application process led by the DPI, the 54 schools were selected based on the results of third grade state reading tests, geographic distribution and the school’s demonstrated commitment.
Participating schools and districts will hire the literacy coaches directly through contracts with the DPI.
The coaches will be embedded members of the school, working alongside educators to improve reading instruction.
The goal is to increase the number of Wisconsin students who meet or exceed grade-level reading by the end of third grade.
“When we invest in our teachers, we invest in kids,” Underly said in a statement. “High-quality instruction starts with well-supported educators. Literacy coaching provides the tools, feedback, and ongoing support educators need to help every student succeed.”
Coaches will support 11 Milwaukee Public Schools selected by the state.
Those schools are: Allen-Field School, Clara Barton School, Brown Street Academy, Cass Street School, Eighty-First Street School, Elm Creative Arts School, Hopkins Lloyd Community School, Keefe Avenue School, LaFollette School, Ralph H. Metcalfe School and Westside Academy.
“Our literacy plan is centered on the science of reading and these new coaches will help us ensure all students — and all means all — learn to read,” said Superintendent Brenda Cassellius in a statement.
Literacy coaches have been shown to work in other states
The Georgia Department of Education placed 60 literacy coaches in the lowest performing elementary schools in 2024.
Those coaches worked to boost teacher capacity and effectiveness and improve K-3 student literacy outcomes through evidence-based coaching aligned with Georgia’s Early Literacy and Dyslexia Act.
According to a study, Georgia students showed a 15 percent improvement rate in reading after one year of coaching, with the strongest gains in kindergarten.
The Mississippi Department of Education also put literacy coaches in the state’s lowest performing schools.
Six years later, Mississippi was the only state on the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress test that showed statistically significant improvement in fourth-grade reading.
Mississippi is often pointed to as the model for reading reform in the nation. The results of its program was one of the reasons Wisconsin legislators wanted to implement the legislation known as Act 20.
Act 20 changes the way students are taught to read
Lawmakers passed Act 20 in 2023. It required schools to shift away from “balanced literacy” curriculum to a phonics-based model known as “the science of reading” beginning this school year.
The law also prohibits the use of curriculum in kindergarten through third grade that uses three-cueing instruction, which means encouraging children to use clues like pictures to guess unfamiliar words.
Despite Act 20 having bipartisan support, the $50 million needed to develop an office of literacy and recruit dozens of literacy coaches was not released by the state Legislature. That led to lawsuits on both sides of the aisle.
A state Supreme Court ruling against Gov. Tony Evers gave control of the $50 million to the Joint Finance Committee. The group released $9 million for the literacy coaching positions in June.
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