When reading is not offered as a subject, skilled reading teachers are not available.  Without skilled reading teachers, who will engage students with books, promote school wide reading activities, connect with school and public libraries, encourage family reading activities, and provide appropriate support for all middle grades students at their various reading levels?

            An example of the loss of reading classes and reading teachers can be found in Indiana.  The Indiana Department of Education receives reports from school districts that list the number of students enrolled in various middle grades subjects.  Licensed reading teachers must teach the courses for middle level reading.  (A description of these courses can be found at http://mgrn.evansville.edu).  A total of 53,268 students are enrolled in these reading courses.  They are also enrolled in language arts courses where the emphasis is on writing, spelling, grammar, listening, and speaking.  The rest of the 176,920 students are enrolled only in language arts classes, usually taught by secondary trained English teachers, who are responsible for writing, spelling, grammar, listening, speaking, and reading.

            Indiana has 230,188 students enrolled in Grades 6, 7, and 8.  This means only 23 percent of Indiana’s middle grades students are enrolled in reading classes with licensed reading teachers.  Because the teachers must be licensed, many schools cannot find licensed reading teachers and therefore cannot offer the classes.  Since Indiana is a normal state, and since no similar data are available for the other 49 states and the District of Columbia, the 23 percent figure was applied to the nation.  Instead of 80,000 reading teachers, about 18,400 reading teachers work in these grades.

            Reading scores are flat for middle grades students, and reading testing for Grades 3-8 required by new Federal legislation will highlight the need for reading classes and trained reading teachers.  Using the same 23 percent for the nation, it is possible that over 9 million middle grades students are not enrolled in reading classes.

            In most states, the path to reading certification is difficult.  The normal pattern for middle grades teacher candidates would be to choose from two of the following areas: language arts, mathematics, science, or social studies.  We need to change this pattern to enable teacher candidates to choose from two of the following areas: language arts, mathematics, reading, science, or social studies.

            The Indiana Professional Standards Board has recognized this need.  It has approved a new reading license for Early Adolescence (Middle/Junior High).  A committee is now working on standards for the new license, and the information will be provided to Indiana’s 39 colleges and universities that have teacher education programs so teacher candidates can enroll in classes starting next fall.

            Building strong reading skills is a complex task; particularly by the time young people reach the middle grades.  Many middle grades schools have chosen to eliminate reading classes and reading teachers.  They justify this by making reading a part of language arts plus encouraging all teachers to promote reading in their classes. 

Think what would have happened to mathematics if it, instead of reading being combined with language arts, had been combined with science.  Science teachers would be responsible for mathematics and science in approximately one half the time.  All other teachers would be encouraged to promote mathematics in their classes.  Mathematics training in higher education would be restricted to one general course as a part of the science curriculum.