GUEST POST: Kirstin Leiby --- Let's Work Together to Bring Structured Literacy Intervention to ALL Chicago Public Schools

Stomachaches, insomnia, anxiety, confusion: Sometimes, these very personal and body-based experiences are symptoms of something much larger. Children and parents who are struggling with the K-12 education system are intimately familiar with this relationship between structural breakdown and personal pain. 

 I am the parent of an 11-year-old daughter who is a second-year student at Redwood Day School. She is vibrant, compassionate, intellectually curious, and highly creative. She also has dyslexia. I'd like to share a bit about our journey to Redwood Literacy and tell you why I am particularly passionate about its outreach arm, Redwood Grow. 

 Our family believes that education for all children is a right and not a privilege, and we support a strong public school system for all children. Our daughter started kindergarten at a relatively well-resourced public school in Chicago. This wasn’t our neighborhood school but we gained entry through Chicago's school lottery process and were thrilled because of its reputation and its history of publicly supporting the LGBTQ community. With the information we had at the time, this was our dream school. 

 While there, we encountered many talented, passionate, and kind educators. We also encountered a lack of awareness around dyslexia and how to respond to students with dyslexia. By first grade, our daughter was struggling to keep up with the curriculum in all areas (particularly reading), so it became clear that she needed an IEP and placement in the school’s Diverse Learners program. We spent a few years navigating that system, but our daughter kept falling farther and farther behind. 

 When she was in third grade, we paid for a full outside evaluation and she was formally diagnosed with dyslexia. In our naiveté, we were optimistic that this diagnosis would unlock new resources and that the school would know what to do. Unfortunately, they either didn’t know what to do or didn’t have the freedom or resources to offer it. 

 While our daughter saw progress in her private tutoring sessions, our school was not adjusting her IEP to reflect the approaches that would work best for her. IEP meetings were becoming more strained. The school would not explicitly document what we knew to be true: that our daughter had been diagnosed with dyslexia and that such diagnosis means that she needs a specific style of intervention.

 During the first month of our daughter’s fourth-grade year, it become clear that that if we wanted to make any progress at the school, we would need to initiate a lengthy and expensive legal process. Anecdotally, we knew that some other parents had gone this route with mixed success and with much cost to their families in terms of money, morale, and wasted instructional time. In the meantime, our daughter's self-esteem was taking a nosedive and her anxiety was increasing. She frequently told us she needed a sick day and looked at us apprehensively when we dropped her off. 

 We felt we had reached a crisis point and needed to make a drastic change, so we withdrew her from the school she had attended since kindergarten. While the decision was crystal clear in our minds, it was nothing short of heartbreaking. There were still many things we loved about that school and there were staff members who have earned a permanent place in our hearts. I will never forget the lump in my throat when I dropped our daughter off for her last day and the strength it took to stifle my sobs until I stepped out of the building. 

 As often happens in life, grief can sit right alongside hope and joy. Since we had a great experience with Redwood’s tutoring program and loved the teachers there, we took a leap of faith and enrolled our daughter in the new day school in October of that year. While a midyear transition is not ideal, Redwood Day was ready with open arms and immediate helpful reading interventions that worked. 

 It is difficult to describe the feeling of relief we have experienced at Redwood. The educators at Redwood understand our child — our curious, incredibly creative, and unconventional child. The school has met our two most important needs: First, it is a safe and supportive environment for our daughter. We have positive and transparent communications with the teachers about our daughter's progress and challenges. It is honest, real, and kind. They care about our daughter and respect her. Second, our daughter has been making progress in all areas, especially reading. She is finally able to decode written language in the world around her, which opens up her whole world. 

 I asked our daughter what she would want me to share with others about her experience. She used to dread school. Now, in her words: "This school helps me a lot. It is one of the only schools that teach in the way kids with dyslexia really need. I don’t know what all of us would do without Redwood."

 It is not lost on us that our family is incredibly privileged to have been able to make a move from the public school to a specialized tuition-based program. Even tutoring interventions can be outside the financial reach of many families. Our family's story feels intense and personal to us but we are a small piece of a much bigger picture of the way K-12 education is funded in the city of Chicago, in Illinois, and in the country. We are part of a bigger picture about the history and culture of literacy training among teachers. We are part of a bigger picture about so-called "achievement gaps" and disparities across racial and socioeconomic lines. 

 While I am frustrated that our previous school wasn’t able to work with us the way our daughter needed, I know that there are wonderful educators at that school and at all schools. If given the right training and resources, educators at all schools could help eliminate some of the disparities we have seen in literacy education. Teachers should not be shouldered with the full responsibility for helping struggling kids, because they too are working within a larger system of economic inequality. Within this bigger picture, though, teacher training and resources are an important piece of the puzzle. We know that structured literacy approaches work for dyslexic students. In fact, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that they work for all readers. Why isn't every school in Chicago or in the country offering this model? The pain that our child went through is entirely preventable. This fact makes me both angry and hopeful. 

 What will become of the other struggling readers at our daughter’s previous school? We were able to pool together enough family resources to move our daughter to a specialized private school. What happens to the vast majority of families who don’t have this option? Redwood Day offered hope to our relatively privileged family. Redwood Grow offers hope to other families. Redwood Grow supports scholarships for kids to attend Redwood Day and seek Redwood's tutoring services. Redwood Grow also supports the outreach to, and training of, talented educators at public and charter schools across the city. 

 As I said, our family believes in Redwood. We also believe in a strong public school system. Education is a human right. While we celebrate the successes our child has finally experienced, let's keep working on this bigger picture together. Public schools should be resourced enough to be able to provide structured literacy programs to all students with dyslexia. 

 Let's spread the word about structured literacy and about programs like Redwood. Let’s spread the word about inequality in our educational system. Let’s donate our time and money to organizations that strive to help all students and not just our own. Let’s elevate elected officials who support strong, equitable public schools. Let’s keep our hearts and minds open in this outreach to families and educators across the Chicago area.