The first letter of the LEARNS Act, Arkansas' new education overhaul officially implemented in August, stands for "literacy" and several new policies are focused on improving the state's literacy rates - according to data from the state department of education only 35 percent of students are reading at grade level. Malachi Nicholsis the director of data and strategy with Forward Arkansas, a non-profit focused on education policy. He spoke Ozarks at Large's Daniel Caruth about the literacy crisis the state is facing and how this new education package seeks to address that.
The following is an edited transcript of that conversation.
Daniel Caruth: When it comes to literacy, specifically, you know what, what is causing the rates to be so much lower?
Malachi Nichols: It's such a complex thing, you know, I am, and we are, we were always quick to not say that the problem is always the schools. Right. So I think that's that's one thing that I would say it doesn't all rest on the schools, I think it rests on community, I think it rest on parents and families, I think it's, it's Additionally, you know, COVID, even though our literacy scores were were low, pre COVID, I think COVID has done a lot to students. So I think it's a multitude of factors.
DC: And from your perspective, you know, what have you seen in other places where they've been able to maybe like, raise those literacy rates? What kind of policies or, or practices are other states able to implement, that we know or have seen have worked?
MN: Yeah, I think the one that I've seen, particularly in Mississippi, is the third grade retention policy. And I would say that, on the front end, I was very hesitant and resistant to any sort of retention policy. And what a retention policy is, it's just a simple policy is that any third grader does not reach a previously stated benchmark, that that student is held back for one additional year of, of learning. And the reason is, because if a student is not proficient in reading by third grade, you know, their their potential outcomes moving forward, go down significantly. And so, at first glance, you consider like the all the things that could negatively come from that, but in Mississippi, they implemented that policy, and they really did a good job to provide, you know, education around what exactly the retention policy is, they also provided a lot of good cause exemptions that allowed students even if they didn't make a reach that certain threshold, they were able to be promoted, and still get some of the fine grained tutoring and support that they really need. That in Mississippi is something that I am something that that I saw and something that we now have, because of the Learns act that I think could be really beneficial.
DC: And so I know, it's a bit early on the Learn section, it was just implemented this past year, in August. And so from your perspective, what are these policies that are in place for maybe somebody who is a parent who has a kid who's maybe struggling in reading or people who have not fully read through that they don't know what this is going to mean for their child? What are the policies that are in there? And what does that look like for a student in Arkansas today?
MN: Yeah, so I would say overall, the state has three main mechanisms to address literacy, one that existed before learned, which is the the Arkansas tutoring core, that is a program that trains and equips tutors, from college students all the way up to retired teachers that go in and serve students. So I think that's one program. And the two programs from learns include the Arkansas literacy tutoring grant program, which allows eligible students to receive $500 to use towards literacy tutoring services. And then there is the Arkansas high impact tutoring pilot program, which is like a competitive grant that has just been awarded to I believe it's just north of 50 schools to implement and try high impact tutoring inside of their schools as and then with the goal of it being proof points, that can then be expanded into wider instruction and be expanded and it and just different areas around the state. So those are the three main kind of mechanisms that the state has is moving forward with to address the literacy issue in the state.
DC: And how do you guys see that shaking out? I mean, what are maybe some of the barriers that may exist within this act?
MN: Implementation will be key in these things, I think within schools, implementing you know high impact tutoring, there's a lot of mechanisms that are required to for it to be high impact tutoring. So that means a consistent tutor. That means having the instruction during you know, general class time, that means not being pulled out for me in instruction for your tutoring. So I think regarding just like the implementation, I think it'd be key to just track how well schools are accepting how, how useful you know, with the grants how how useful they are to those students? How far did the $500 Go? Did that allow for three sessions that allow for 10 sessions? Like how far did the money stretch it rest on implementation. But I think another thing that that we're also excited about is that the state has done a good job of saying upfront data is going to be collected, we're able to then go back and look and say, Okay, how successful was this? Where are some of the proof points? Are there some common trends? And the data that shows like, okay, these particular schools, or these particular students struggled, or this particular region, didn't utilize it in in the most efficient manner? So I say, I would say, being able to look back at the data and make adjustments moving forward, I think is a benefit of how it's been rolled out.
DC: Yeah. And you're a big data person. So what would be like a good benchmark or a measure when you're collecting this data? Or when the state is collecting this data to say, Okay, here's some headway that we've made, what would those numbers look like? Like, what would be a good set point?
MN: You wouldn't look at, you know, statewide test scores. I think you could look at the student groups that you're you're trying to address. So I think that's one data point, I think another data point would really look at the the fidelity of implementation. And again, they're they're doing a lot, whether it be the high impact tutoring pilot, whether it be the literacy tutoring grant program, they're doing a lot to collect the data to see our students using it. When are they using it? Are there any changes to test score? So there, there are some mechanisms on the student level that we can see, you know, pre and post the intervention? Did it work, even though it's not as black and white as like test scores to say we went up six percentage points or nine percentage points, but I do think that the nuanced or how would describe the color in the black and white of the data is also very important, important to see if this was successful, in moving us in the right direction.
DC: And I know that it's it's a weird time, maybe, to be working in education policy in the US. Because it's become, especially this act, it was really contentious, it's still pretty contentious. So, if you're a parent, or someone just invested in students having good literacy rates, how do we make this work? How do we find ways to improve education outcomes for kids in Arkansas?
MN: I'm a parent myself, I have two young boys. I think, number one, you can always do your part as a parent, especially around reading by reading to your kids. I think number two, you said it, you said it best, it is a contentious time inside of Arkansas policy. But I think if you if you look at some of the main pieces in learned, they are research backed and they they've been implemented in other states. And so I think, knowing that, but also just continuing to be involved and to ask questions with it, whether it be your students, teachers, or whether it be to the counselor or to the principal, just continuing to stay involved because the policy Yes, is written but but now it's where the rules are being made. Now the programs are rolling out. And so it just takes time for the policy to find this legs and kind of work its way into the schools. And so I would always just add that continuing to be involved just at home with your students, and just continuing to be involved in the classroom is one way that you can really understand what was in the act, and how that's gonna look in your individual school.
DC: And then in Arkansas, are there any specific I guess, learning outcomes that that we really need to focus on, or that you're hoping school districts and policymakers will focus on within the next year or so
MN: It's not only the students, but it's also a workforce, the educated workforce. LEARNS is new. There's a lot in LEARNS and there's a lot of new changes on our teachers and counselors. And I think it's important to make sure that we equip them, we it's important that we make sure they feel supported, and then also just our leaders, our principals and our superintendents, continuing to just keep them at the forefront, continuing to make sure we're training them and they're prepared to be strong leaders and good business managers and all the things that that are you usually never captured in what it takes to be a principal or what it takes to be a superintendent but are very important to again successful implementation of policy and then the desired outcomes that we want to see from our students
