Rewriting the future: UB, AI and the next chapter in literacy

As of today, almost one in five adults in America needs better comprehension skills to participate fully in society—to complete job applications, understand medical prescriptions and fill out voting ballots. Meanwhile, children’s literacy skills are declining. Data from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which measures fourth and eighth graders’ reading comprehension skills nationwide, shows that only about 30% of fourth graders are reading at a level considered proficient. For both fourth and eighth graders, reading scores in 2024 declined from 2022 and were down five points from 2019, with neither cohort showing significant progress since the first reading assessment was administered in 1992. Disproportionately affecting people of color, immigrants and low-income communities, low literacy rates are a nationwide threat to justice, economic growth and public health, with consequences spanning individuals, communities and generations.

Through a generous endowment, UB will establish the Mark J. and Elizabeth A. Czarnecki Professorship and the Czarnecki Resource Fund in Literacy, both housed within UB’s Graduate School of Education. Made possible by a gift from UB alumna Elizabeth (Liz) A. Czarnecki, EdM ’94, BA ’76, this endowment will support the Center for Literacy and Reading Instruction (CLaRI), an on-campus research and tutoring clinic that has supported children, their parents and their teachers in implementing scientifically proven practices for more than 60 years.

“As educators, it is our job to provide systematic, evidence-based instruction to students to make their literacy journeys as effective as possible,” said Suzanne Rosenblith, dean of GSE. “In securing a new professorship and sustaining CLaRI’s operations, we can expand the availability of our research-based programming, continue conducting experimental research on literacy instruction and further our mission to provide local-to-global impact in communities that need it most.”

The center also began offering a half-day summer “camp,” where teachers in the UB literacy specialist program provide small-group literacy instruction to children in second to fifth grade who are working below grade-level expectations in reading and writing. This program is offered at no cost to parents and is a great resource for families seeking literacy activities over the summer.

“There’s a real need in the community that we fill,” Campbell said.

Low literacy rates are estimated to cost the U.S. $2.24 trillion annually in lost productivity and income potential, increased expenditures on social services and rising health care costs associated with less informed decision making. To effectively address this systemic threat, CLaRI has taken a multipronged approach:

• Certified literacy instructors provide tutoring, assessment and instruction for K-12 students, their parents and teachers
• Graduate student teachers-in-training learn evidence-based practices to provide effective reading and writing instruction in the classroom
• Faculty researchers develop, implement and evaluate science-backed methods to improve literacy instruction, contributing much-needed scholarship to the field

Despite advances in technology and increased access to digital tools, reading scores for school-age children have been declining for the last decade. Compounded by the pandemic, 2024 saw record lows, with less than one third of students reading proficiently for their grade level. It was on the tail end of the pandemic that the Charter School for Applied Technologies in Buffalo reached out to John Z. Strong, associate professor of literacy education and associate director of research for CLaRI, for support.

“They wanted to discuss a partnership that would assess the impact of remote instruction on student literacy and how to form a research-practice collaboration that could close the gap,” said Strong.

A previous classroom teacher himself, Strong found an opportunity to further his passion as a researcher: to improve reading and writing instruction in schools through the design, implementation and evaluation of research-aligned instructional practices, materials and assessments. He partnered with GSE colleague Blythe Anderson to develop a summer program that would truly reflect Buffalo students’ needs in the wake of remote learning. With generous support from private donors, Strong and Anderson drew on evidence-based methods to develop an initiative for the summer of 2021, after schools returned to in-person learning.

“We were able to hire a group of about a dozen undergraduate and graduate tutors from UB, and the program provided small-group differentiated instruction through interactive read-alouds and targeted book instruction,” Strong said. “The first summer we served about 180 K-5 students and within one month, had documented enough positive outcomes to publish our findings in Reading & Writing Quarterly.”

The proven success of the first cohort led to program replication and refinement for the next three summers, serving about 100 students at each session with continued improvements. During this time Strong was introduced to another former school teacher, Liz Czarnecki, a GSE alumna and philanthropist with decades of history supporting local schools.

Czarnecki, who completed her EdM in reading education, worked at Williamsville North High School with English as a New Language students and special education students. For decades, she assisted with their reading and writing comprehension skills across classes and subject matters, stepping in whenever support was needed, since there were no formal programs in place to assist those student populations at that time.

Last summer, Strong’s team worked with Sweet Home Central School District and implemented the same model with about 60 students, again achieving positive effects that will be presented at the Literacy Research Association Annual Conference this fall. These findings corroborate the efficacy of the center’s literacy instruction and lend credibility to its practices.

While the impact of ClaRI’s resources on the schools it works with can’t be underestimated—books, tutors, online learning games, digital supports for parents, professional development opportunities for teachers and more—Strong emphasized that the center’s goal is to build each school’s capacity for self-sufficiency.

“A significant part of our outreach is scaffolding this programming so that schools can achieve these literacy outcomes independent of UB,” Strong said. “We get them started, but it’s about creating sustainable institutional change that is independent of any one researcher or center, so that schools, teachers and administrators are equipped with evidence-based practices to carry out on their own.”

Further, in disseminating proven methods of teaching reading and writing through published research, CLaRI is developing and implementing evidence-based practices to become a resource to all in the literacy field. In fact, Strong’s research is currently being implemented in schools in Michigan with Strong’s research colleague Laura Tortorelli of Michigan State University, who is a co-principal investigator along with Strong in the Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI, which is also fueling their collaborative research into the impact of digital literacy on early readers.

“Recent findings show that when elementary kids interact with texts on a screen—whether a digital library, activities or games meant to support reading—the number one feature they use is having the text read aloud to them. That auditory component is undoubtedly important to build listening comprehension and vocabulary skills, but it doesn’t necessarily build phonetics or fluency unless the child is actually doing the reading aloud themselves,” Strong said. “If we only give K-2 students that experience of hearing AI, without also experiencing the struggle of sounding out words, looking up unknown words, and undergoing a more iterative process with a teacher who gives feedback, it is a disservice that shortchanges their foundational skill development.”

Indeed, the negative consequences of remote instruction can’t be underestimated, but there are also upsides of being forced online. An unforeseen outcome of the pandemic was that CLaRI’s offerings were made digital, allowing their tools to be used by students, parents and educators nationwide. AI, used responsibly, could offer similar opportunities, especially for educators experiencing high rates of burnout.

“Teachers are constrained by limited materials and time and they’re rarely able to take every nuance into account when planning lessons,” Strong said. “Responsible, intentional use of AI could possibly alleviate their workload by allowing for tailored instruction, enabling true differentiation and individualization that can apply not only to varying developmental reading levels, but also to students’ varied interests, dialects and cultural backgrounds. More personalized practices and materials could genuinely enhance children’s literacy skills, especially if doing so fosters the child’s interest in reading and motivates them to continue, while lowering a barrier for educators.”

To address the nationwide literacy crisis, contributing researched-backed instruction and assessment practices through collaborative research among academics and community partners is not only needed, but is crucial for making systemic changes to curriculum and educational policies that will best prepare teachers to enter the classroom. To improve reading scores at scale, teachers need literacy tools that actually work.

A recent exposé showed that some educational publishing companies have made millions of dollars selling products that claim to teach kids to read, but using programs without a strong evidence base, underlining the importance of research such as Strong’s and Anderson’s to establish and disseminate evidence-based practices across the field of literacy instruction.

New York State is also emphasizing scientifically sound practices and taking measures to improve reading outcomes with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Back to Basics Plan. The initiative allocated $10 million to address the teacher shortage, enhance teacher preparedness and require the implementation of science-backed reading practices throughout New York public schools—all of which CLaRI’s work contributes to. One goal of the program is to have 20,000 new teachers specifically trained in the Science of Reading this fall.

To align with this initiative, Strong recently created the Science of Reading microcredential, furthering the state’s push to better prepare teachers-in-training to enter the classroom. And the need for such support is immense.

“When you start at a school you’re just thrown in, like, here’s the subject, go teach it. You’re limited by the administration’s goals, the available materials, the established curriculum, and even the culture of the community and beliefs about reading and writing,” said Madison Stercula, a current GSE student who experienced stress and discouragement in her first few years teaching elementary students as a first-year teacher, fresh out of undergrad.

“I was really doubting my choice to become a teacher, but after my experience with CLaRI, I feel I actually have support to do what I’m passionate about, the reason I entered the classroom in the first place,” she said.

CLaRI positions graduate students for the workforce by providing them with both the evidence-based tools and the experience of using those science-based practices with the support of fellow graduate students, researchers and educators. When teachers-in-training graduate from UB they don’t only have a theoretical understanding of how to effectively teach reading and writing, but are also prepared to face the realities of implementation.

“I had no idea there’d be such a discrepancy in the reading levels in just one class,” Stercula said of her first year teaching second grade.

They also have a network of fellow teachers-in-training to learn from, important support with the rise of digital tools and unknowns surrounding AI.

“One student had a limited vocabulary and would become really overwhelmed when there was a lot of text on the page. I used AI to take the same scene the class was reading, but instructed it to simplify word choice and reduce the sentences,” Stercula said. “Oftentimes students with the lowest reading levels are separated from the group, pulled from the class or activity or given different materials, but he was able to engage without being singled out or isolated.”

How kids feel about reading can’t be underestimated when it comes to learning how to read. CLaRI emphasizes the importance of meeting each student where they’re at, providing texts that reflect diverse children’s needs, and leaning into strengths over areas needing improvement. Cultivating a love for reading is important, too, which is why when kids come to the center for individual tutoring or assessment, they pick their own books and are celebrated for small milestones.

“Even if students choose something that’s beyond their reading level, we don’t tell them ‘no.’ We sit down and find ways to engage them in the experience, like pointing out words and asking them to identify the letters,” Campbell said. “Right now, graphic novels are exploding with many classic books being remade into graphic novels. Kids are gravitating to them, so we are adding these books to the CLaRI library. We want kids to enjoy reading and learn to love reading.”

In a changing digital landscape, the Czarnecki Resource Fund in Literacy and the Mark J. and Elizabeth A. Czarnecki Professorship will allow CLaRI to adapt and expand its support for graduate students, who often go on to become not only trained literacy specialists and classroom teachers, but also upper-level administrators who have influence over their school’s practices through the programming and curriculum. Others might become faculty researchers with the potential to conduct groundbreaking work that influences local, state and even national educational policy, making the Czarneckis’ generous gift a win for the whole field and a much needed one, as addressing the literacy crisis will take a village.

“We’re not just teaching kids to read so they can read,” Stercula said. “We’re building confidence, helping them develop skills to understand the world around them, become critical thinkers who question their circumstances and develop into thoughtful citizens.”