Over the past two years, North Carolina has made critical investments in the future of our state.
No, I’m not talking about highway projects, or university R&D, or the private investment in new companies, locations and workers facilitated by the legislature’s pro-growth tax and regulatory reforms. These are, in fact, valuable examples of capital formation – of physical, intellectual and human capital – but today I am referring to a different piece of legislation.
In April 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the Excellent Public Schools Act. Governor Roy Cooper signed it. Among other things, the bill requires that literacy instruction in the state’s public schools be based on the science of reading, a term of art that describes a research-based consensus in favor of “phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling, fluency , vocabulary, oral language and comprehension.
After decades of “reading wars” between competing camps of educators, researchers and policymakers, those who defended phonics as an indispensable tool for decoding words prevailed in both academic debate and practical results. When Mississippi State rewrote its instructional approach to emphasize the science of reading, for example, its performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress improved dramatically – and not just in reading.
According to the Urban Institute’s most recent analysis of NAEP scores, Mississippi fourth graders ranked behind only Florida in average reading scores adjusted for students’ background (which is the proper way to assess the value added by education). The year Mississippi passed its science of reading bill, it ranked 40th on the subject. During this same period, Mississippi also skyrocketed to third place in mathematics scores, behind Florida and Texas. After all, learning to read proficiently opens the door to learning other subjects.
Reading instruction in North Carolina has never been as bad as Mississippi. In fact, as I have noted many times, our public schools have ranked high in value-added performance for many years (our fourth graders rank sixth in reading and seventh in math, according to the Urban Institute analysis).
However, our students have a lot to gain from the 2021 reforms. So far, we appear to be implementing them effectively. EdNC’s Hannah Vinueza McClellan reported last week that about 44,000 elementary school teachers have been trained in North Carolina’s LETRS program (which stands for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling).
“We know how critical literacy is to student success,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt, “and I am grateful for the passion and commitment of North Carolina educators to help our students achieve their goals.”
Early evidence suggests the new approach may be bearing fruit. From 2022 to 2024, there was a sharp decline in the number of students scoring below the state benchmark in reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. Minority students made especially strong gains.
It is, of course, too early to declare victory, but it is worth pausing for a moment to consider how this promising shift in policy came about.
Nationally and in our state, education researchers and policy analysts across the spectrum were willing to follow the evidence about reading instruction wherever it led, even if it challenged their preconceived notions. Republican and Democratic lawmakers did the same – the Excellent Public Schools Act passed unanimously in the Senate and by a 113-5 margin in the House – and allocated $114 million to train teachers, instructional coaches and administrators in the LETRS program.
North Carolina’s turn to the science of reading occurred within a national context. We were willing to learn from the practical experience of Mississippi and other jurisdictions. Our legislation has, in turn, become a model for other legislatures to follow. This is how public policies should happen.
And just to finish: no matter how promising our initial experience seems, there are no guarantees. We may find that initial improvements in reading performance do not persist into later grades. We may discover flaws in LETRS training that require administrative or legislative adjustments.
Public policy is, in itself, a learning process. Let’s all strive for fluency and understanding.
John Hood is a board member of the John Locke Foundation. His latest books, Mountain people It is Forest People, combine epic fantasy with early American history.
