Governor Hochul Tours Albany City School District’s Classroom and Advocates for Science-Based Reading Instruction

At Albany School of the Humanities, Governor Cathy Hochul paid a visit to Dea Postiglione’s first-grade class to observe the Albany City School District’s literacy program in action. During her classroom visit, she expressed her support for explicit phonics and reading science instruction. The district has been leading in this area since 2016, with student scores on ELA and reading benchmarks demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach.

After her visit to the classroom, Governor Hochul joined ASH fifth-grader Raylena Terrell and Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter for a press conference in the school’s library. Raylena shared her passion for reading and her dream of becoming a marine biologist, thanking the governor for supporting the science of reading for all students across the state. New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person also participated in the press conference, showing further support for the initiative.

During her speech at the press conference, Superintendent Hochreiter expressed his gratitude to Governor Hochul for highlighting the importance of statewide literacy initiatives at Albany School of the Humanities, a national NSEA Distinguished School. He highlighted the district’s success in reading science and thanked the governor for her leadership in this critical educational initiative for all New York students.

For more information on Albany City School District’s approach to literacy, readers can view an article from Capital Education’s fall issue titled “The Importance of Reading Science Instruction.”