Reading Opens the World: AFT’s Commitment to Literacy

No one should need a survey to tell us teaching is hard

Being a teacher is hard. Really hard. There is a lot to juggle, with more seemingly by the day. We certainly don’t need a survey to tell us that.

But every so often at the AFT, we conduct a scientifically valid, nationally representative survey to supplement our on-the-ground understanding of how our membership is dealing with a particular issue. It helps us support what we usually already know with cold, hard numbers we can use to help people understand what is really going on in our schools. And for our members who work in schools, it helps them understand that they, their school or their district is not an aberration—that many around the country are dealing with the same issues and concerns they are facing. 

The AFT’s literacy survey wasn’t surprising—but it wasn’t good either

So to accompany the launch of the AFT’s new initiative, Reading Opens the World, the AFT designed a survey to really understand what our educators are facing when it comes to ensuring all students become strong readers. We surveyed about 2,000 teachers. 

What we found wasn’t surprising. In fact, it only confirmed much of what we already knew. 

Here’s what we learned from the survey:

Teaching conditions in general are bad.

• Only 3 percent of teachers are “very satisfied” with the overall conditions facing them and other teachers today.
• 77 percent are “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied.”
• And only about 50 percent of teachers are satisfied with the “tools and instructional resources” they have in general to help them teach their curriculum.

Despite reading being foundational to learning, many students are behind.

• One-third of teachers say that in a typical year, more than half of their students start the year below grade level in reading. 
• Of non-reading teachers, 68 percent say that their students’ reading ability is a barrier to their subject-matter learning “all of the time” or “frequently.” It is “rarely” or “never” a barrier for only 6 percent of teachers.
• And among teachers who provide reading instruction, only 44 percent of teachers feel “fairly well prepared” or “very well prepared” to teach reading to struggling and below-grade-level readers in their classes.

And across multiple questions, it became clear that way too many teachers are required to use low leverage practices or programs they say don’t meet their needs. 

AFT’s long-standing commitment grows

As part of our long-standing support of the science of reading, the AFT has promoted the latest research and provided deep, evidence-based and practitioner-developed professional learning courses. 

The AFT has launched a new community filled with free resources and webinars for educators, parents and caregivers on Share My Lesson as part of its Reading Opens the World initiative. Each free, one-hour, for-credit session is grounded in the science of reading and focuses on an important aspect of reading instruction and improving student literacy. Topics include teaching English language learners; literacy in the content areas; a primer on the science of reading; strategies to improve the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of your students; and much more!

Go here to learn about and register for any (or all!) of the sessions we have coming up. And check back because we will be adding more. Each session will be available on demand, so sign up even if you aren’t available and you will be emailed a link to watch it when you can. 

This is just the start

The AFT’s Reading Opens the World initiative will be a multiyear, multimillion-dollar effort. Follow along as we share success stories and opportunities to join us. Together, we can all work to ensure every student becomes a strong reader and develops a love of reading.