“When We Know Better, We Do Better” Structured Literacy & How It Impacts Pennsylvania Learners

Structured literacy is defined as “systematic, explicit instruction that provides a strong core of foundational skills in English.” Structured literacy integrates listening, speaking, reading, spelling, and writing, and emphasizes the structure of language across the speech sound system (phonology), the writing system (orthography), the structure of sentences (syntax), the meaningful parts of words (morphology), the relationships among words (semantics) and the organization of spoken and written discourse.

Act 135 of 2024 was signed into law in October 2024, which expanded access to structured literacy in Pennsylvania schools and aims to improve literacy outcomes for all students. Currently, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is working with vested partners to develop evidence-based reading instruction curriculum materials, framework guidelines, and other resources to help educators implement structured literacy in the classroom.

Acting Secretary of Education Dr. Carrie Rowe sat down with us to provide professional insight into how structured literacy works within the current education framework and how schools can continue to improve the literacy skills of all Pennsylvania learners.

In your own words, how would you describe structured literacy?

Structured literacy is a way of teaching reading that is clear and direct and grounded in how the brain learns language. We know this through the science of literacy – the science of reading – it teaches students to decode words by understanding the building blocks of language – sounds, letters, word parts, and sentence structure.

It’s not about guessing words from a picture, which is partly the way that we previously instructed students to decode (or understand) words that they couldn’t decode on a page in a book. Instead, structured literacy is about giving every student the tools they need to make meaning from what they see in print.

How does structured literacy help learners?

Structured literacy helps by giving all students – not just those with reading difficulties – a strong foundation in how language works. Structured literacy is especially effective for students with dyslexia or other learning differences because it’s explicit, sequential, and comprehensive. In truth, it benefits every learner by closing gaps before they grow. We know that literacy is the foundation of all learning. In education, we’re fond of saying, “First you learn to read, and then you read to learn.”

For example, in history class, if you don’t have those building blocks and you can’t decode the words you’re reading, how are you going to read about what has happened in the world? How do you read about ongoing events? How will you understand the great literature that’s already been written or how will you become the next great author? You cannot do those things if you don’t have those building blocks in place.

Structured literacy practices are currently geared toward younger learners. How can schools adapt structured literacy resources for older students who may struggle with reading?

Older students need the same foundation skills. However, the approach has to be age-appropriate. That means using content that respects their maturity while still addressing gaps in decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension. There are structured literacy programs designed specifically for adolescent leaners, and schools should pay special attention to better integrate these strategies into content areas like science and social studies to reinforce those language skills throughout the day.

Certainly, the tactics that we use when we’re teaching a student in kindergarten really should not be the same approaches that we use with young adult learners.

How do you see structured literacy evolving in the next 5-10 years?

I think we’ll see more integration of structured literacy into core teacher preparation programs and ongoing professional development. Currently, teachers coming out of educator prep programs are required to take courses on structured literacy. I think those are only going to get better and evolve over time. Something going from, perhaps, compliance-based to a better understanding of how structured literacy will actually assist their students in the future.

The same can be said about professional development opportunities. Currently, in Pennsylvania, teachers who have English language (ELA) on their certificates are required to take a training course in structured literacy. However, they are not necessarily required to take the course that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has on its website, and they’re not necessarily required to take the course that our training partner PaTTAN has on their website. Both are excellent training tools for educators, and it is possible that a principal or superintendent could look at the required coursework and offer it themselves.

If that administrator has a background in literacy, that may work for the needs of their school, however, we want to work at eliminating discrepancies, so we’re ensuring that everyone has the same base knowledge. This will only serve to help learners, regardless of their age or ability level, to read so that they can enjoy lifelong literacy in the future.

Where can schools find additional training or resources on structured literacy?

Schools can find a wealth of structured literacy resources on the PDE Standards Aligned System (SAS) website. It offers free and on-demand professional development, including Act 48 and Act 45-approved courses, which keep Pennsylvania teacher and administrative certificates active. SAS supports educators in building deep knowledge of evidence-based literacy practices.

In addition, educators can utilize the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN). They provide extensive support, which ranges from online modules to in-person training and coaching. All of these are aligned with the Science of Reading. These resources, and many more, are available through PDE’s website. We intend to increase the options that are available on PDE’s website, and we are actively working with the Reading Council to put together a list of resources that are designed to help educators translate research into effective classroom practice – no matter where they are in their literacy journey.

What else would you like readers to know about structured literacy?

At its core, structured literacy is based on the Science of Reading. There may be some schools that have not yet adopted structured literacy as the framework that they’re using to teach, because it simply isn’t the way that it’s been taught for the last several decades – things have been taught in a different way. This is a case when we know now that we really need to incorporate those building blocks, spelling, writing, vocabulary, the structure of sentences, the meaning of word-parts, the relationships amongst words, the organization of spoken and written discourse, and we cannot continue to do it in a way that is not as efficient and might leave some learners, including those with dyslexia, behind.

However, we owe it to our students to teach literacy using this structured literacy framework. When we know better, we do better in all things.