How can we better prepare educators to teach reading?

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Louisa Moats: Our field, or educators in general, have just vastly underestimated what's required for building teacher knowledge and skill so that teachers are able to ensure that most kids learn to read. This job requires that the teacher know a lot about several things. One is basic psychology of reading — how students learn to read, what goes on in their minds as they learn to read. Secondly, they need to know the content that they're teaching, and that to me, primarily, is the structure of language and how students learn it. And now, more and more, how to think about language varieties or differences in language that kids bring to the classroom. And then, we need to expect that any teacher who gets out of even a good teacher-prep program is going to need continuing mentoring, coaching, collegial support, and continuing education. We have a long way to go to match our practices around professional learning, professional development, professional support with what the job really entails.