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Brief | Limits of parent advocacy for science of reading aligned instruction in creating school-wide change

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Editor’s Note: The seventh of an eight-part series on classroom experiences while transforming reading instruction is embedded below. EdNC is publishing a brief from that series each day.


In North Carolina, the Excellent Public Schools Act requires all pre-K to fifth-grade teachers in traditional public schools to complete Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training, a comprehensive professional development program grounded in the Science of Reading (SoR).

Charter schools, however, are not held to the same standard; while encouraged to complete LETRS training and develop individualized Literacy Intervention Plans for struggling readers, they are not mandated to do so. Despite receiving per-pupil funding from the state, charter schools can choose whether or not to align their instruction with state initiatives based on the strategies shown to give students the best chance of learning to read.

In the 2023–24 academic year, a structured literacy dyslexia specialist and former NC public school teacher working independently with families noticed troubling gaps in literacy instruction at a local charter school. Through her visits, conversations with teachers, and observations of classroom instruction, it became evident that the school’s leadership did not prioritize adopting research-based literacy practices.

This disconnect between the state’s mandates for traditional public schools and practices at some charter schools raised critical questions regarding whether parent advocacy and district encouragement are enough to motivate charter schools to improve their literacy instruction.