Guest view: AB 1454 shows how to improve child literacy, efficiently and effectively

Liz DeVargas-Almeida, an early literacy coordinator in Pajaro Valley Unified School District in California, wrote an op-ed in support of AB 1454, a bill that would allocate funding for professional development in evidence-based literacy practices. DeVargas-Almeida cited her own school’s experience using Lexia® LETRS® to improve third and fourth grade proficiency scores in just one year. 

“When we know better, we do better,” she wrote. “The universal screeners forced leaders and educators in the district to address the fact that the current methods of teaching reading weren’t supporting children. While it was a difficult realization to process, it was exactly the motivation we needed to find a better solution.”