Misryoum reports that teacher turnover and leadership churn are derailing Science of Reading gains—showing why retention, continuity, and better adoption systems matter.
The Science of Reading has shifted how many schools think about literacy. Yet Misryoum is seeing a hard lesson emerge: without stable staffing and steady leadership, change struggles to stick.
A growing body of classroom reality points to an inflection point.. Educators and leaders can learn evidence-based practices, but they cannot sustain new literacy approaches if the workforce keeps moving.. Misryoum’s reading of the situation is straightforward—teacher churn and leadership churn add costs that are both financial and deeply personal. and those costs directly interrupt long-term instructional improvement.
The turnover problem doesn’t just create gaps on staff rosters; it breaks the continuity that literacy initiatives depend on.. Roughly 1 in 6 teachers won’t return to the same classroom next year. and nearly half of new teachers leave within their first five years. according to the figures cited in the original discussion.. Districts also face an estimated $20,000 per teacher to recruit, hire, and onboard.. Those numbers land as spreadsheets—but in practice. they translate into constantly changing teams. repeated training cycles. and interrupted coaching relationships.
Misryoum also flags a second layer: leadership “wobble.” When a new superintendent or principal arrives. priorities often shift quickly—sometimes even before a literacy initiative has time to demonstrate impact.. The concern isn’t only that leaders change; it’s that they may evaluate a program as “enough professional learning” without auditing results or understanding what the work actually needs to reach students consistently.. For Science of Reading efforts, the timeline matters.. Most initiatives require roughly 3–5 years to take hold. and a leadership reset mid-stream can pull momentum away from what teachers are trying to build.
There’s another continuity stress point: incoming teachers may not enter the profession with a solid Science of Reading foundation.. With only about one-quarter of teacher preparation programs teaching the approach referenced in the source. many new educators arrive needing foundational knowledge and language—often while being asked to implement tools immediately.. Misryoum views this as a practical mismatch between training cycles and classroom urgency: students need strong instruction now. but many systems keep pushing new expectations onto teachers who are still building the underlying understanding.
Turnover also fuels what educators describe as initiative fatigue.. Teachers can experience new curricula. new programs. and new professional learning as additional workload rather than meaningful support—especially when multiple resources are rolled out at once.. Misryoum has seen the pattern in other contexts too: when change arrives as “one more thing. ” it tends to produce skepticism. not buy-in.
To counter this. Misryoum favors the “pull weeds to plant flowers” mindset described in the piece: treat resource selection as an informed process rather than an ever-expanding toolkit.. The goal is to choose materials that are supported by high-quality research. aligned across tiers of instruction. flexible enough for student needs. and teacher-friendly with clear guidance.. Just as importantly, resources should be culturally relevant, reflecting the backgrounds students bring into the classroom.
But Misryoum would add a key operational point: adoption cannot be additive.. Teachers cannot realistically layer new interventions on top of old ones without creating confusion about what to do. when to do it. and how progress will be measured.. The practical answer is replacement—not accumulation—so schools move toward a unified. research-backed framework that gives educators clarity and a stable instructional path.
Stability, then, becomes the enabling condition for sustained Science of Reading progress.. Misryoum agrees with the core argument that leadership must stay invested in the long game.. That means using data to understand why teachers leave and acting on what the data reveals—whether the drivers are workload. school culture. mentorship quality. career pathways. or leadership support.
Strengthening mentorship is not a soft recommendation; it’s a retention strategy with instructional consequences.. Better onboarding and coaching help teachers close knowledge gaps faster. making it more likely that evidence-based practices are implemented with fidelity rather than guesswork.. Misryoum also stresses the role of school culture: when educators feel supported and recognized, they are more likely to remain.. When they stay, literacy improvements have time to deepen.
Misryoum is particularly interested in the systems-level framing offered in the original discussion: educators need more than pockets of success.. The argument against “islands of excellence” matters because it suggests that the real work is building capacity across the entire system—so that students benefit regardless of which teacher happens to be assigned to them next year.
That capacity requires teamwork, collaborative planning time, ongoing professional development, and in-classroom coaching.. Misryoum also sees leadership accountability as part of the solution—not as punishment, but as protection.. Leaders have to balance support with clear expectations so literacy work continues even when personnel changes.. In practical terms. that calls for detailed roadmaps. aligned budgets. and measurable accountability so implementation isn’t reduced to a short-term priority.
Long-term success for the Science of Reading movement will likely depend less on whether schools adopt the “right” materials and more on whether they can keep the workforce that makes implementation possible.. If districts treat staffing stability. coaching. and unified instructional frameworks as non-negotiables. Misryoum believes the movement can recover its momentum and translate training into lasting reading gains for students.