We recently had the opportunity to meet with Munro Richardson, executive director of Read Charlotte and an active leader in the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. Richardson has taken on a new mission to understand why the U.S. has not made more progress in raising reading and math scores and closing achievement gaps that continue to grow through middle and high school. He started sharing the fruits of his exhaustive research last spring in a Substack newsletter called Unconstrained Kids.
Unconstrained Kids “unpacks, translates, and integrates academic research and data about constrained and unconstrained skills,” providing “powerful insight on what drives reading and math achievement.”
Richardson’s focus on the basics of math and reading may seem an odd focus in this column that tends to focus on innovative approaches to learning and development. But we are continually reminded that educators, parents and even young people sometimes wonder if students are learning what they really need to know when they are given more opportunities to set the pace and path of their learning journeys. The Test, a 4-minute video from XQ Institute, highlights students’ concerns about whether working on cool projects will help them pass end-of-term tests.
Concern about shifting to more innovative learning approaches heightens when considering learners who haven’t mastered basics. Shouldn’t we be doubling down on direct instruction for these kids? This is where Richardson’s tireless digging into the academic research on dynamic skill development provides an alternative to the simple either/or dichotomies that keep us tethered to traditional instructional models.
Richardson provides a comprehensive literature and data review, introducing new analyses of NAEP data on constrained and unconstrained skill development in reading and math. He outlines this review in “What are constrained and unconstrained skills?”
- Constrained skills involve a relatively limited amount of information (e.g., letter and word recognition, basic math operations). They are relatively straightforward to teach and assess. Mastery is clearly defined and can usually be attained in a standard amount of time through direct instruction.
- Unconstrained skills involve much broader amounts of information. There is no universal finish line for mastery of these skills (e.g., vocabulary, comprehension, relational thinking, mathematical reasoning, word problem solving and more universal executive function skills like attention control, attention shifting, inhibition control). Unconstrained skills build on constrained skills. But they take more time and effort to build. They are influenced by available knowledge and specific context and are not as straightforward to assess.
- At age 9, racial and ethnic differences in reading and math skills are almost entirely attributable to differences in unconstrained skills. Differences in constrained skills can be closed quickly by the end of third grade with explicit instruction. Differences in unconstrained skills between groups persist longer and grow over time. Different strategies are needed.
Why is this distinction important? The opening of Richardson’s wonky post, “A working list of constrained and unconstrained skills that support reading and math achievement” makes the point well:
“Constrained and unconstrained is not just another way to say ‘basic’ and ‘complex” (or ‘easier’ and ‘harder’). This is most evident when we consider that executive skills — working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibition control — and world knowledge are unconstrained skills.”
[Related: Trust, time and training: Unlocking the potential of learning ECOsystems]
Unconstrained Kids is devoted to unpacking the research on reading and math skill proficiency, but Richardson also explains how the constrained/unconstrained distinction applies more generally. Skills are automated actions that allow our brains to act with minimal effort so that we can achieve set goals.
- Context matters. Riding a bike on a smooth sidewalk makes you only somewhat prepared to ride in a busy street, on a dirt path or in a race. Each context requires different specific abilities to be successful.
- Knowledge matters. The ability to access relevant ideas, facts and principles is essential to advanced skill development.
- Practice matters. Skill development requires attention and effort. It is accelerated when learners have an opportunity to receive prompts, watch others and actually practice with a more skilled coach.
Most importantly, unconstrained and constrained skills need to be developed together.
Understanding the distinct developmental pathways of constrained and unconstrained skills through the lens of reading and math has helped us deepen our thinking about the importance of learning ecosystems.
Reading and math skills are fundamental. The good news, from Richardson’s research, is that we really can eliminate racial and socioeconomic status gaps in constrained reading and math skills by third grade. The bad news is that the knowledge gaps and gaps in unconstrained skills appear early and don’t close easily. Fortunately, unconstrained skills can be sparked and practiced outside of the classroom.
Initiatives to provide STEM education in afterschool and family supports for early reading in everyday places and spaces send strong signals that “hard skills” can be developed in “soft places.” Richardson’s research helps us understand why. These softer places are better suited for the development of unconstrained skills, in part because they encourage children to follow their interests and explore knowledge in more flexible and varied ways. From extracurriculars to afterschool programs to libraries, zoos and museums, the flexibility and variation of people, places and possibilities matters. (For top notes on his review of empirical studies, see How informal learning can help to improve reading and math achievement.)
The more we delved into Unconstrained Kids, the more we wondered whether the terms constrained and unconstrained could be applied more broadly. Is the problem that the public education system is a constrained system locked into an operating model that produces constrained learners because, in pursuit of the development of constrained skills, it unnecessarily limits unconstrained skill building with curricula that over-emphasize the mastery of constrained knowledge?
[Related: In learning ECOsystems OST must be a champion of positive youth development]
If communities want unconstrained kids, as Richardson clearly does, leaders can’t just focus on closing the gaps in constrained reading and math skills. They need to fearlessly support efforts to integrate more unconstrained learning activities into the classrooms to reduce the emphasis on learning constrained knowledge (e.g., periodic tables, state and country capitals, historic dates and figures). They need to invite non-classroom personnel to name and improve the opportunities for learning in unconstrained places and spaces they manage (e.g., playgrounds, ball fields, libraries, cafeterias, art rooms). They need to elevate the role of the unconstrained learning organizations (afterschool providers, libraries, arts and culture organizations, summer employment programs) that exist in every community, enriching learning year-round beyond the school building and school day.
And most importantly, they need to better understand the need for unconstrained intermediaries whose purpose is to steward the learning ecosystem that schools are a part of. School systems, by design, are closed systems. The development of diverse, unconstrained, year-round learning experiences in school and throughout the community must be shared with entrepreneurial ecosystem intermediaries that are trusted by families, schools, businesses and the array of learning organizations and institutions in communities. Their role is not to directly run programs but to catalyze adaptation, collaboration, innovation and trust with ecosystem partners in ways that lift up more opportunities for unconstrained skill development across all the places and spaces young people are learning and developing.
Unconstrained kids — and the adults that work with them — need unconstrained ecosystems to thrive.
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In her columns, Karen Pittman is exploring the research behind the statement, “When Youth Thrive, We All Thrive.”
Merita Irby, co-founder of the Forum for Youth Investment, is a partner at Knowledge to Power Catalysts.
