The science of reading: LETRS goes beyond memorization and phonics

Kindergarten teacher Samantha Hunt and four of her students gathered around a small table.

“Say spoon,” she said, and the children repeated the word to her. 

“Tap it out,” she said, and they counted on their fingers as they sounded out each part of the word.

The lesson also required the children to spell words.

“How did you know that word ended in CK and not a K?” she asked for the word “pack.” One child quickly replied, “Because it’s a short vowel sound.”  

While working in the small group, they read together a short book. Each child followed the words with their “puppy pointers,” a small fluffy ball they held to trace the lines as they read. When one of the lines referred to “tin pots and pans” they had a discussion about the difference between ten and tin.

Many of the tactics Hunt employs with her Drexel Elementary kindergartners are directly from her LETRS training, which was mandated as part of the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021. All PK-5 teachers in the state will be trained in the methodology between 2022 and 2024. 

Each school district is assigned a cohort for training with staggered start dates. Burke County Public Schools is in the third cohort. Burke teachers began their training this school year and will complete training in 2023-24.

LETRS stands for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling. 

“It’s not a program or a curriculum,” Hunt said. “It explains the science behind reading. We apply what we learn to what we do in the classroom.”

Prior to this year, Hunt taught at McDowell Public Schools. That district was in the first cohort. She began her intensive training last school year and was able to incorporate what she had learned so far into her instruction this year. She will complete her training next year with the rest of Burke County teachers.

“There are phonological skills, auditory drills, decoding skills, blending skills,” she said.

When this school year began, her students came with wildly different skills. A few students knew some of the alphabet but many didn’t know any letters. The outcomes she is seeing in her students this year are proof that LETRS is making a difference.

“I’ve been teaching for 11 years. This year, 100% of my kids can read. I’ve never been able to say that before,” she said. “That proof right there that we’re doing something right for these kids.”

LETRS training is a significant time commitment

LETRS is based on phonics - sounding out the letters - but the training goes beyond most phonic programs of yesteryear. And there is a significant time commitment, about 160 hours over two years. 

The elementary schools in Burke County have half-day for students on five days this school year and next. The teachers attend the training in the second half of the day. In addition to the on-site training, the teachers must complete individual work on their own time. 

Dr. Brett Wilson, director of elementary education for BCPS, said the school district had been following a similar methodology that he called the “brochure version” to emphasize the depth of the LETRS training.

“The teachers are learning the basics of fluency,” he said. “The Greek roots of words, the Latin roots of words. There are even correlations made between when certain concepts should be taught because it complements what they are learning in math and science. It’s a big undertaking.”

The training covers the following aspects of reading instruction and learning:

• Background knowledge (facts, concepts)
• Vocabulary (breadth, precision, links)
• Language structures (syntax, semantics)
• Verbal reasoning (inference, metaphors)
• Literacy knowledge (print concepts, genres)
• Phonological awareness (syllables, phonemes)
• Decoding (alphabetic principles, spelling-sound correspondence)
• Sight recognition (familiar words)

Wilson is completing his training in the program as part of the first cohort. 

With the approval of the school board, BCPS has expanded the program beyond the teacher training funded by the state. Enrichment teachers (music, art, and physical education) are also being trained so that all teachers can support each other. The board also approved a stipend for teachers who successfully complete the program in recognition of the tremendous work that is required outside of their typical duties. 

As a teacher, Hunt was initially skeptical but soon realized that LETRS was not simply another program being forced on them. She sees the value in the training. 

“I almost wore my shirt today (knowing she would be interviewed) that says ‘Literacy and Justice for All.’ This is a social justice issue. I love that all the kids in North Carolina, no matter where they live, will have highly trained teachers.”

Angela Kuper Copeland is the education reporter at The Paper. She may be reached at angela@thepaper.media or 828-445-8595, ext. 2003.