When the Wisconsin legislature passed Act 20 in 2023, it ushered in a statewide mandate for teachers to use a phonics-based approach when teaching elementary school students to read.
The law’s requirement to base literacy instruction on the “science of reading” left elementary schools across the state scrambling to adjust their approach, and it put pressure on universities to ensure that teacher education students graduate with the skills to teach reading in accordance with Act 20.
But the Marquette College of Education community — faculty, students and alumni — felt confident and prepared for the change. That’s because the College of Education embraced the science of reading in its curriculum long before the term became commonplace. Science-based phonics strategies are woven through the literacy sequence taken by all elementary teacher education majors, which includes valuable hands-on experience teaching reading to local grade schoolers in the Hartman Literacy and Learning Center.
As a result, elementary educators graduate with the tools needed to successfully navigate a post-Act 20 world. “Our Marquette teachers are uniquely prepared because of our literacy sequence,” says Dr. Leigh van den Kieboom, associate dean of the college. “We have three classes where they work directly with students on the science of reading to align with Act 20, so they are actually developing the skills to move students’ progress along in key areas.”
Research-based reading instruction
“What is now referred to as the science of reading is not new,” says Dr. Kathleen Clark, associate professor and director of the Hartman Center. “The term refers to an extensive and growing body of research accumulated over the last three to four decades in cognitive psychology, education and neuroscience about what is involved in reading and reading acquisition.”
The legislative push for literacy education standards arrived on the heels of “reading wars” that raged for decades, during which educators debated the merits of the phonics-based science of reading versus a “balanced literacy approach” popularized in the 1990s.
The balanced methodology incorporated limited phonics instruction while elevating other strategies — such as learning words and phrases through a focus on context and broader meaning. Many of those strategies were later found to be ineffective, leading Wisconsin and other states to ban their use through legislation.
When Wisconsin became one of more than 40 states and the District of Columbia to pass science of reading laws since 2013, Marquette faculty were prepared to respond quickly to these changes. Courses in the College of Education’s literacy sequence were already taught through a science of reading lens, says Kirsten Lathrop, director of field placements and licensure in the Educational Policy and Leadership program.
That gave Marquette a head start, but the “Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction additionally requires programs to provide very specific, detailed evidence that each aspect of the Act 20 statute is sufficiently taught and assessed,” Lathrop says. That means providing documentation down to the page numbers in readings to show how coursework addresses each component of Act 20.
Faculty worked to adjust course syllabi to be “really specific about where literacy topics were addressed in courses,” says Dr. Terry Burant, associate clinical professor and director of teacher education. “The bulk of it was already there; we just needed to be a lot more explicit about exactly where.”
Leveraging the Hartman Center
For more than three decades, the Hartman Literacy and Learning Center has been an asset as a teaching, research and service site housed within the College of Education in Schroeder Complex. Its programming focuses on improving the quality of literacy instruction provided by teachers and on serving children who struggle with learning to read.
And it’s where elementary education majors at Marquette have long obtained hands-on experience teaching reading. During the practicum incorporated in their literacy sequence, these students run their own small classrooms with students from local partner schools. Across an 11-week session they also conduct twice-weekly tutoring sessions with children who read below grade level.
The Hartman Center experience sets Marquette’s undergraduate program apart from others where students may only work with individual students in schools for shorter periods of time, Clark says. Future elementary teachers spend 30 hours of faculty-supervised instruction time focused exclusively on reading; they learn to plan, deliver and evaluate daily lessons, and track their students’ progress over time. These skills are in line with Act 20’s requirements, preparing them to work in compliance with the law.
“That’s not really typical at the undergraduate level to have that intensive level of reading tutoring,” Burant says. “That will very much help our students with what they’ll see in districts.”
Act 20 challenges districts
Act 20 spells out a long list of detailed requirements for districts, schools and teachers. That includes routine screenings of students in kindergarten through third grade, plus particular interventions for students who test below the 25th percentile in reading. Districts also must adopt a state-approved reading curriculum and choose from a list of approved screening and diagnostic tools.
Gianna Macchia, Ed ’10, an adjunct professor in the college, is the K-12 literacy facilitator for the Oak Creek-Franklin School District. Before Act 20 passed, her district was “in a fairly good spot,” she says — Oak Creek-Franklin had already adopted a state-approved reading curriculum.
“We were kind of ahead of the game, but many districts were not,” Macchia says. “Many districts had to completely pivot.”
But even for districts that were prepared, Act 20 has brought challenges: In addition to finding the time and resources to administer screenings and diagnostic tests, teachers must work with students who require extra help to create personalized reading plans: a “hyper-specific plan” with state-mandated components, Macchia says.
Despite the challenges for districts, a standardized approach to reading education across the state offers some benefits for universities like Marquette, Macchia says.
“Before this wave of the science of reading, it was difficult [for universities], because depending on where a graduating student might get a job, they had no idea what teaching philosophy that school might be using,” she says. Now, the College of Education can teach the science of reading in a more streamlined way, Macchia says — and future teachers will graduate prepared to thrive under Act 20.
“It’s all going to help Marquette students be better prepared when they interview and they get into these schools,” Macchia says.
