Reading Reform: Lessons From Maine

By Brenda Power

Maine's state motto is "Dirigo"--Latin for "I lead." Though Mainers don't always fulfill the motto's call, we do lead the nation in reading achievement. In the latest battery of National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, Maine's 4th graders ranked No. 1 in reading proficiency. Yet virtually all the national press attention recently in reading reform has been focused on California. It's ironic to me that we give so much attention to reading legislation in a state that ranked dead last on the same national test.

Bills that mimic some of the current reforms in California, emphasizing direct phonics instruction, are making their way through state legislatures across the country. As other states are in the midst of hastily adopting a reformed model of reading instruction that is unproven in its home state, it makes sense to look at successful reading reform.

In the past 15 years, Maine schools have made steady and significant progress in changing their reading programs and raising their standardized-test scores in reading...