Gabrielle Lord, Contributing Photographer

The Board of Alders Education Committee heard an update workshop on Wednesday, which confirmed local language education infrastructure is improving, but still leaves more to be desired.

Literacy rates in New Haven Public Schools — NHPS — increased in 2024, according to a panel of language curriculum leaders that spoke at Wednesday’s meeting. The growth follows 2023’s large overhaul of public schools’ language instruction and assessment infrastructure.

“We’re really, really happy with the scores we see as far as growth,” Keisha Redd-Hannans, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment at NHPS, confirmed. “But I want to underscore — we’re not where we want to be.”

The National Assessment of Educational Progress reports for 2024 showed that reading scores across the nation have not yet recovered from the pandemic’s educational setbacks, and are lower than previous assessments in 2019 and 2022. Connecticut overall reported no significant growth in reading scores from 2022, ranking higher than the national average. 

New Haven County, however, shows lower literacy growth rates than the Connecticut average in the English Language Arts Smarter Balanced Assessment. In the 2023-24 school year, New Haven growth rates were 5.4 percent lower than the state average.

“There’s urgency because we know literacy — reading, it is an issue of social justice,” Superintendent Madeline Negrón said.  

Vanessa Diaz-Valencia, director of early childhood learning, reported the recent hiring of six early childhood coaches and three literacy coaches to assist in developing a “more coherent plan that focuses on curriculums, instruction, assessment, as well as family engagement and culturally responsive pedagogy.”

NHPS’ new curriculum focuses on frequent assessments for data collection and individualized support for students reading below their grade level, in order to improve specific language skills. The curriculum combines multiple programs, which required heavy professional development in fall 2024, but resulted in overall satisfaction from staff. 

Despite the focus on instructors reading and responding to data, Redd-Hannans maintains that “our kids are not just numbers. And so, it’s upon us to figure out: what’s the story?”

John C. Daniels — JCD — School of International Communication in the Hill provides an equal 90 minutes of language instruction in English and Spanish. Spanish language instructor Vilma Rivera, whose child also attends public school in New Haven, found that the new curriculum “offers all the tools a teacher needs to carry out instruction.” She does not have to seek out teaching materials and has more time to focus on student interaction. 

Ward 14 Alder Sarah Miller, a parent of a NHPS graduate, expressed concern that the 48-63 percent of K3 students with well below average reading scores are not able to receive the discussed individualized instruction due to staff shortages. 

“How do we give you all the meat on those bones so that we really are moving these kids?” she asked. 

JCD principal Yesenia Perez contested that the JCD staff has the protocols and culture to respond, but that citywide staff shortages prevent potential benefits of the new curriculum core. 

“I can honestly say that it’s a team effort and we always pitch in,” she said. 

According to Redd-Hannans, budget gaps will also prevent implementation of the Summer Bridge program — which helps eighth graders socially transition to the ninth grade — in many high schools this summer. Miller hopes growth can be pushed further once the panel and Education Committee calculate for budget and staffing needs. 

NHPS aims to achieve 70.1 percent average literacy growth by 2029.