July 14 was no ordinary school-free summer Thursday for early-grades elementary teachers in Austin. On that day, educators working with students in kindergarten through third grade needed to turn in literacy training modules for the Reading Academies – the unpaid 60-hour course for teachers, mandated by the Texas Legislature to improve reading achievement across the state. Teachers anticipated the deadline that week, and even potential last-minute course work. But what they didn’t expect was that all of their cohort leaders, who advise them and grade their materials, would quit.
The stakes for teachers are high – those who don’t pass the course won’t be allowed to teach those grades in Texas. This is the first year that Austin ISD teachers endured the academies; the Legislature first required educators to complete the program during the 2021-22 school year, but in 2021 that was extended by one year to give districts more flexibility to structure their timelines. Now, public and charter school K-3 general and special education teachers, and their principals, must complete the course by the end of the 2022-23 school year.
An Odom Elementary School teacher, who wished to remain anonymous in fear of repercussions from the school district, was a member of the first cohort of educators to go through the Reading Academies. She received a resignation message (“the Reading Academy Team is experiencing staffing changes”) on July 13, and shortly after read a message from her cohort leader confirming not only her resignation from the district, but that of all of her fellow cohort leaders.
“It was kind of a shock and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, how could they just all resign?’ But I wasn’t surprised,” she said. “This happened when everything was due and I know a lot of teachers were finishing that last week who were on edge. … There’s frustration but they have to put up with just as much pressure as we have to, maybe even more,” she added.
The Odom teacher started the Reading Academies in the beginning of the 2021 school year and spent her winter break working on the course in order to finish in February before her spring break and summer plans. She has yet to receive results or feedback for her work, and remains unsure if she has to redo the course.
The district had split its K-3 teachers who are required to complete the Reading Academies into four cohorts, two of which had their course materials due July 14. (The rest are scheduled to complete their materials next summer, and those who don’t pass the course this year are allowed to retake it with the second-round cohorts.)
Prior to their resignation, each cohort leader worked with up to 300 teachers. They guided teachers throughout the course with discussions about their coursework, gave feedback, and hosted office hours for teachers who had questions. Leaders also coached teachers one-on-one through Zoom or phone calls and held the important responsibility of grading their work and providing teachers with their all-important Reading Academies scores. But all four (unnamed) cohort leaders employed by the district resigned, according to AISD official Nayeli Santoyo Flores. In light of these resignations, AISD officials said, cohort leaders from outside the district will now score teachers’ coursework.
As of this March, more than 86,000 educators had either completed or started their Reading Academies, according to a March update from the Texas Education Agency. The agency also announced that it will no longer require cohort leaders to grade materials submitted by teachers. Instead, TEA plans to work with Education Elements – an education consulting company – which will provide consultants to grade course materials. The agency is still encouraging experienced educators to submit applications to become cohort leaders, who must first pass a panel screening of statewide and national experts in the Science of Teaching Reading standards.
The news of the Reading Academies resignations comes on top of an already stressful year for educators. Teachers across the district are resigning in record numbers as pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic, unmet salary demands, and workloads become too much to handle. At the end of June 2022, more than 2,000 staff members had resigned or retired from AISD since July of last year, according to the district’s Office of Human Capital.
This article appears in July 29 • 2022.