A student’s ability to read is a key predictor of academic and lifelong success. In Nebraska, the COVID-19 pandemic hit students with reading difficulties especially hard, particularly students attending rural schools.
Since then, Nebraska WORDS project — Workshops on Reading Development Strategies — has been a valuable resource for teachers by promoting effective strategies to deliver high-quality reading instruction and assessment. The research-based professional development program supports Nebraska’s targeted efforts to boost early literacy among K-3 students across the state.
Led by WORDS principal investigator Michael Hebert, associate professor in the School of Education at the University of California Irvine, and University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers in partnership with the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE), WORDS launched just before the 2020 pandemic to help schools meet the 2018 Nebraska Reading Improvement Act requirements.
In response to the continued need for training, Pam Bazis, assistant professor of special education and communication disorders, and co-director of UNL’s Kit & Dick Schmoker Reading Center, is leading an extension of the project to enhance tools, resources and practical support for even more teachers.
The new program, WORDS Plus, extends the reach of WORDS to fifth grade. Along with professional development, it includes individualized literacy coaching; literacy leader and administrator training; and targeted after-school tutoring with web-based support.
“It’s been a great partnership with the state,” said Bazis, a CYFS research affiliate. “We’re going to be making quite an impact across Nebraska as we continue this important work.”
The overall UNL consortium, which includes WORDS Plus, is funded by a $2.2 million Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant from NDE. The five-year grant aims to advance literacy instruction across 43 Nebraska schools. This includes 22 schools for the UNL consortium, as well as supporting two additional consortiums and aligned initiatives through the Kit & Dick Schmoker Reading Center.
Altogether, WORDS partnerships serve more than 7,000 students, including many with disabilities, multilingual learners and children from low-income backgrounds.
This latest expansion of WORDS builds on its practice-based professional development program, which includes six modules covering the science of reading, phonological awareness, decoding, spelling, syllabication and multi-sensory approaches to reading instruction.
I’m passionate about reading literacy, so getting out to the schools and supporting teachers and their students has been very motivating.”
— Pam Bazis, assistant professor of special education and communication disorders
Bazis said that by increasing instructional capacity, strengthening literacy leadership and ensuring access to evidence-based practices and materials, the WORDS initiative will directly support Nebraska’s statewide literacy goal of achieving 75% proficiency in third-grade reading by 2030.
In addition to Bazis, the UNL research team includes Emily Fisher, assistant professor of practice in teaching, learning and teacher education, and co-director of the Kit and Dick Schmoker Reading Center; and Sarah Zuckerman, associate professor of educational administration.
For WORDS Plus, student outcomes will be measured, and teachers will complete a self-efficacy survey at the beginning and end of each semester. Data gathered will enable coaches to tailor professional development to teachers’ specific needs.
“I’m passionate about reading literacy, so getting out to the schools and supporting teachers and their students has been very motivating,” she said. “We’re also making so many connections with other area leaders in literacy all across the state. It’s great being able to build these connections so we can start to have one voice.”
Learn more about this project in the CYFS Research Network.