Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham went into further detail about her literacy plan that she highlighted in her State of the State address Tuesday.
Lujan Grisham announced her plan to improve literacy in New Mexico by developing a literacy institute at a press conference Thursday.
“We want $60 million, that’s new $30 million for a building— and I think I’m gonna give them a good case for the building— and $30 million to embed all of that structured literacy— science of reading education, individual tutoring— with at least 10,000 students every year,” Lujan Grisham said.
The $30 million for the building to house the literacy institute would come from capital outlay funds. The institute would focus on improving literacy skills in people from the youngest children to adults of all ages. It would also support professional learning for educators.
The technique used is called structured literacy which is an explicit approach to teaching students proficiency in reading, spelling, writing and language skills based on the science of how children learn to read.
The term was first coined by the International Dyslexia Association.
Senate Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, is a retired teacher.
“And they said, the research is in, we now know how to teach the science (of reading). We know what works. And we know what doesn’t and here it all is,” Stewart said. “I stayed up most of that night reading that magazine. And ever since then, I’ve been working on this issue. So we’re talking 30 years.”
Stewart said that the embattled No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 had the science of reading built into it. Part of that program included $10 million in annual funding for five years for New Mexico to promote the science of reading, Stewart said.
The science of reading is a body of research on how children learn to read by using phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and phonemic awareness which is identifying and working with the sounds that make up a word, according to the National Center for Improving Literacy.
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“I’m telling you this only because the evidence behind the science of reading is so fantastic,” Stewart said.
Stewart expressed her frustration that in 30 years, the science of reading is not taught in post-secondary education degree programs.
The program also includes $11.5 million for early literacy coaching in Pre-K programs, with $3.5 million to support New Mexico’s Pre-K educators to access professional development regarding structured literacy.
The program also allotted $50.1 million for structured literacy programs including $30 million for reading interventions statewide beginning this summer, $15 million in recurring funds to the New Mexico Public Education Department for structured literacy training and $5.1 million for science of reading professional development in secondary schools.
For adult education, the program includes $9.7 million in funding through the Higher Education Department supporting 26 state-funded literacy and English as a Second Language, or ESL, instruction. There will also be $750,000 for adult and family literacy programs funding through the Higher Education Department supporting 18 state-funded programs serving more than 1,300 adults and families in New Mexico.
This is in addition to the program PED introduced during the 2020-2021 school year.
The most recent data released on the program was in November in which there was a 4.3 percent increase in reading proficiency for third through eighth graders, according to an information sheet provided by Lujan Grisham’s office.
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