School systems in virtually every part of the country are still recovering from Covid area learning loss.

Nowhere is this learning loss more pronounced than and literacy rates.

However, a new study from Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth identifies Kentucky as a top performer and reading and math recovery.

Our Clayton Dalton has an update on Kentucky's read to see Kentucky.

Ranks fifth in reading and eighth in math recovery among states.

And so it does put us as a top performer across the nation.

These gains aren't by chance.

In 2022, the state legislature passed the Read to Succeed Act, directing the Kentucky Department of Education to help school districts train teachers and a new phonics focused curriculum.

The two year training program is called Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling or Letters.

Over the last four cohorts of letters, we've had over 7000 Kentucky educators and administrators join in this professional learning.

Participants entered the course of letters with a Pre-assessment average of 65%, and they left that course in professional learning with a post test average of 95%.

So that is a substantial increase in learning and knowledge around the science of reading.

The data is clear.

Letters training is helping students read at or above their grade level, including students with disabilities who require additional support at school.

Grade five students taught by letters train teachers over consecutive years performed significantly higher than than their peers, than other students.

And then I think this is really powerful.

Students with an IEP in grades four and five who were exposed to two years of letters, trained teachers significantly outperformed their peers with less exposure to letters.

Train teaching.

Even with the improvement, Kentucky has more progress to make.

We ranked fifth in the improvement that's not in fifth.

And so in based on some of those other numbers, we still are not at the levels we were before Covid because we were at 67% reading proficiency, and we're still at 45, 50%.

Staff at the Kentucky Department of Education believe with time, the state will bounce back to pre-COVID reading proficiency levels.

The improvements that we are seeing, you know, statewide, is amazing.

It's going to take a little while to get to that student level data.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Clayton Dalton.

He says the next step is to expand the training to sixth through 12th grade educators.