At the Albany School of Humanities, first-grade students had a special guest during their small-group phonics instruction – Governor Kathy Hochul. The governor visited the school to observe the City School District of Albany’s literacy instruction program in action and express her support for explicit phonics instruction and the science of reading. Since 2016, the district has been a leader in this area, with student results on ELA and reading benchmarks showing the effectiveness of this approach.
After the classroom visit, ASH fifth-grader Raylena Terrell and Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter joined Gov. Hochul for a news conference in the school’s library. Raylena shared her passion for reading and her dream of becoming a marine biologist, thanking the governor for her support of the science of reading for all students statewide. New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person also participated in the news conference, further supporting this initiative.
During the conference, Superintendent Hochreiter expressed gratitude to Gov. Hochul for highlighting the importance of literacy initiatives for the entire state at the Albany School of Humanities, a National NSEA Distinguished School. He emphasized the success of the science of reading in the district and thanked the governor for her leadership on this critical educational initiative for all of New York’s students.
For more information on the district’s literacy instruction approach, readers can look into the cover story from the fall edition of “Capital Education.”