US Colleges Missing the Mark in Training Reading Teachers, New Report Says

Too many programs still teach debunked methods like cuing children to guess words they don’t know.

Forty percent of fourth graders in the United States are not reading at grade level, according to a nonprofit that advocates for the science of reading-based instruction. Mr Vito/Getty Images

About half of the teacher training programs need to change their ways if America is going to improve public school literacy rates, an organization of industry experts has reported.

The National Council on Teacher Quality in its June 9 research report said 47 percent of education programs at U.S. colleges and universities fail to provide thorough instruction on the science of reading, the body of research that indicates the best method of learning to read, which includes sounding out letters.