Midweek Mini: Back to School Is Coming. Here’s What to Ask Your Child’s Teacher About Reading

School is just around the corner. The backpacks are being bought, the supplies are being gathered, and most families are feeling some mix of excitement and low-grade anxiety about what the year ahead will hold.

If you have a child who is learning to read — or who is still working on it — this is a good moment to ask a few simple questions. Not to put teachers on the spot or signal distrust, but because the parents who stay informed tend to catch small things before they become bigger ones. And the earlier in the year you establish a line of communication, the easier it is to use it later when you need it.

Here are three questions worth asking before the school year gets fully underway.

1. What reading program does the school use?

This is a reasonable question and most teachers and administrators are happy to answer it. You’re not asking them to justify their choices — you’re gathering information so you can understand what your child is experiencing.

What you’re listening for: whether the program is described as systematic and explicit. Those two words are at the heart of what’s known as the science of reading — a body of research spanning decades that identifies how most children actually learn to read. A program aligned with the science of reading follows a deliberate sequence, building from simpler to more complex skills, and directly teaches each skill rather than waiting for students to discover it on their own.

You can also simply look up the program name. Organizations like your state’s Department of Education and EdReports maintain publicly available ratings of reading curricula based on research alignment. A quick search will tell you a lot.

2. How will I know if my child is on track?

This question does two things at once. It tells you what to expect in terms of communication, and it signals to the teacher that you want to work together to ensure your child’s success.

What you’re listening for: specific answers. When does formal reading assessment happen? What benchmarks is the school tracking? How will you be told the results, and how quickly? A teacher or school that has clear answers to these questions has thought carefully about how to keep families in the loop. A school that assesses regularly and communicates results early gives families far more opportunity to respond to concerns before they compound.

If your child is already working with a reading specialist or receiving additional support, ask specifically: what are the goals, how often will I hear about progress, and what would you want me to know if something shifts?

3. What can I do at home that will actually help?

This is often the question parents most want to ask and least often do — maybe because they’re worried the answer will feel like homework, or that they’ll discover they’ve been doing something wrong.

The research on home reading support is actually quite encouraging. You don’t have to be a reading specialist to help a child build a reading life. Reading aloud together, talking about what you’re reading, making books visible and accessible in your home, asking genuine questions about stories and ideas: these things matter, and most families are already doing more of them than they realize.

What you’re listening for is specificity. A teacher who says “read for twenty minutes every night” is giving you something concrete. A teacher who says “work on their sounds” is giving you something that requires more follow-up: which sounds, what does that look like at home, is there anything specific to practice? Don’t leave the conversation until you have at least one thing you can actually do.

One More Thing

You don’t have to ask all three of these at once, and you don’t have to have a formal meeting to ask them. Some of the most useful conversations happen in the first few minutes after drop-off, or in a quick email in the first week of school.

The goal isn’t to audit your child’s teacher. It’s to establish that you’re a partner in this — that you’re curious, that you care, and that you want to work together to ensure your child’s success.

Your Turn

Is there a question you always ask at the start of a school year that has served you well? Or something you wish you’d asked earlier — a question you only knew to ask after something came up?

And if you’re a teacher reading this: what’s the question you most wish more parents would ask you at the start of the year?

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