Hundreds of teachers zero in on reading during Salem trainings

When Jennifer Throndsen asked a group of local elementary school teachers how they were trained to teach reading, there was a common response: “Poorly.”

Throndsen is one of the trainers who spent three days in Salem schools last week to fix that. She works for CORE Learning, a training organization that focuses on helping teachers understand how students learn to read.

Salem-Keizer School District leaders took the unusual step of canceling school for most of…