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Stern Center urges teacher coaching as key to Vermont reading turnaround after federal funds paused
Summary
The Stern Center told the Senate Education Committee that Vermont faces a solvable reading crisis and urged investment in practitioner-led teacher coaching; the Center said federal funding for a Reed Vermont coaching rollout was paused after a 15‑month, roughly $900,000 contract was begun.
Lori Quinn, president of the Stern Center for Language and Learning, told the Senate Education Committee on April 3 that Vermont is in the midst of a reading crisis that is fixable if the state concentrates on teacher-focused coaching grounded in the science of reading.
Quinn said the Stern Center has spent decades supporting teachers and families and recommended a practitioner-led, small-group coaching model to change what happens behind classroom doors. "I do believe there's a reading crisis and I believe it is a solvable crisis," she said, adding that coaching is the "secret sauce" for turning research into daily classroom practice.
Quinn described how the Center approaches schools with a diagnostic conversation about data and readiness, and then partners with teacher teams for at least a half school year. She emphasized phonics and decoding as necessary components but said they must be integrated with broader language and comprehension instruction.
On funding, Quinn told lawmakers the Agency of Education selected the Stern Center in fall 2024 for the first phase of the Reed Vermont initiative under a roughly $900,000, 15‑month contract intended to serve up to 130 educators. She said the coaching portion was about $600,000 and that the program moved into coaching in February 2025. The Center received a pause notice in late March after roughly six weeks of in-class coaching, she said, when federal funds were pulled back.
Committee members pressed for more detail about program scale, costs, and the Agency of Education's current contracting for Reed Vermont. Quinn said the work was largely opt‑in, used mixed virtual and onsite delivery, and varied by school depending on substitute availability and local scheduling. She recommended that any state funding prioritize models that meet teachers where they are and give them control over how coaching is implemented so the changes stick.
The committee asked Agency of Education officials for follow-up information about contract status, who the agency has retained to continue Reed Vermont elements, and whether the state can reconstitute or replace the paused federal funding to resume coaching.
