The image above relates to "Reading First" which I'll tackle later in the post. I've been stewing on No Child Left Behind, one component being Reading First. This perhaps is from coverage (MSNBC and USA Today), back in September when I was campaign mode. I'm less hostile to Reading First than much of the NCLB legislation yet even if less flawed in inception Bu$hCo's execution dooms the effort.
Yesterday's find of Diana Jean Schemo via The Gray Lady reporting "Oversight Is Set for Beleaguered U.S. Reading Program" has me even more stirred up perhaps? Dr. Robert Slavin pointing out the absurdity of Secretary Spellings' assurances to now be on top of things via the analogy of a team using corked bats and running up a 23-0 score in the 8th and then playing fair is priceless!
A Letter to the Editor might be coming soon, even if various family members might weep and gnash teeth, plus I'll try to at least send a note to Senator Shelby and Representative Rogers. I might even send one to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, although I'll likely tweak the letter to use really simple sentences.
Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. Paley of the WaPo show up last night at MSNBC with Dozens in GOP turn against ‘No Child’ act : States could opt out of testing mandates under proposed changes. While I'm encouraged to see anyone in DC prepared to resist this foundationally flawed legislation, I still fear much damage has been done. I'm nervous as well since "experts with agendas" like Chester E. Finn Jr. & Michael J. Petrilli, the latter being a Bu$hCo insider that was a big part of the mess that became Reading First, are ready to call for more of the Right Wing's goals as this is an opportunity they'll not want to miss. And it is not simply NCLB as this "accountability" movement has been with us since at least the early eighties. Certainly NCLB made things scary for our kids/teachers/future but to have Bu$hCo involved made it exponentially so.
To get us started ... Echidne posts at Duncan Black's Atrios/Eschaton, sharing some of what Kevin Drum and Matthew Yglesias have recently served up, and rightly calls the whole program "political mouthwash".
What may have stirred me up most was reporting just yesterday by my local paper of the "good news" reported to the City Board. Penny Pool writing "brimming over with good news" immediately caught my attention. The man running the system Baby Plaid attends reported high rankings of the elementary school under Alabama's Reading First Initiative.
A Letter to the Editor might be coming soon, even if various family members might weep and gnash teeth, plus I'll try to at least send a note to Senator Shelby and Representative Rogers. I might even send one to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, although I'll likely tweak the letter to use really simple sentences.
Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. Paley of the WaPo show up last night at MSNBC with Dozens in GOP turn against ‘No Child’ act : States could opt out of testing mandates under proposed changes. While I'm encouraged to see anyone in DC prepared to resist this foundationally flawed legislation, I still fear much damage has been done. I'm nervous as well since "experts with agendas" like Chester E. Finn Jr. & Michael J. Petrilli, the latter being a Bu$hCo insider that was a big part of the mess that became Reading First, are ready to call for more of the Right Wing's goals as this is an opportunity they'll not want to miss. And it is not simply NCLB as this "accountability" movement has been with us since at least the early eighties. Certainly NCLB made things scary for our kids/teachers/future but to have Bu$hCo involved made it exponentially so.
To get us started ... Echidne posts at Duncan Black's Atrios/Eschaton, sharing some of what Kevin Drum and Matthew Yglesias have recently served up, and rightly calls the whole program "political mouthwash".
What may have stirred me up most was reporting just yesterday by my local paper of the "good news" reported to the City Board. Penny Pool writing "brimming over with good news" immediately caught my attention. The man running the system Baby Plaid attends reported high rankings of the elementary school under Alabama's Reading First Initiative.
Superintendent Chuck Marcum's recent report to the Roanoke Board of Education was brimming over with good news.
Knight-Enloe Elementary School is the number 5 school out of 75 schools statewide in reading comprehension, according to information given by Dr. Carol Belcher, a reading specialist with the Alabama Reading First Initiative at the state Department of Education.
The most important aspect of reading is remembering what you read, and the data shows students are learning to read at KES, Marcum said.
"Once again I am glad that the staff at KES is getting recognized at the state level for its hard work," he said. Parents and staff are helping with something that will stay with these students the rest of their lives - the ability to read, he said.
Careful here ... What reading consists of is much more than remembering! And while throwing the obligatory "data" into any conversation is seemingly required of anyone that advances to a position of leadership, I wanted to reach for some mouthwash reading the above. How reading is learned and taught is certainly complex and since I've always taught 7th through 12th graders I can't claim a solid understanding of the early years. I do understand content reading concerns however and know enough to point out that reading, even at these K-3 levels, involves much more than recalling something that can then be easily tested!
The influences of and outcomes (there's some edu-speak word for ya!) of "reading" include comprehension, spelling, writing, listening, vocabulary, discussion, fluency, meaning making, dreaming, connecting, emotions, attitude, behaviors, ... All of this is important (for just regular kids so imagine those that are immigrants or suffering from learning disabilities or ...) so to carve out a "most important" aspect concerns me. This worry comes with a caveat of course in that I might very well find Mr. Marcum to think much more broadly than how he relayed things to the Board and public. Good news is always easy to deliver and getting complex will at times cause the average citizen, and this certainly includes the average Board member ... especially around my neck of the woods, to get that glazed over look in their eyes.
My understanding is that Reading First has a decent following here in Alabama but I'd like input from others. Asking around locally can be attempted yet many that have remained here have long ago learned keeping your head down and not making waves seems to be best in a small town. I have the impression that legitimate experts might come down on both (or probably more like various) sides of the issue (or should it be "issues'?) in play here. Let's step back ten years to look at the great divide of Direct Instruction vs. Whole Language for the sake of simplicity. There's a continuum of course with lots of variety and in fact a blended approach seems to be a given. However, Reading First seems to lean toward "Direct".
Critics of Reading First suggest those that crafted the program (the National Reading Panel) assumed teaching "discrete skills" was the one, or at least primary, way of providing reading instruction. That they ignored or avoided integrated, comprehensive approaches makes sense to me in that single measure assessments drive education in today's world. Canned curriculums and measurement packages follow this of course and "there's gold in them thar hills" applies. Creativity suffers but never fear as there are "professional development" providers ready to step in an help our poor educators! Consulting, serving on textbook groups, authoring, grant writing, .... Lots of gold! Billions
Given typical Bu$hCo and GOP approaches to government, one is tempted to follow the money. Lisa Schiff did and I highly suggest her writing as a great place to begin. The big boys like McGraw-Hill and Pearson are there and you've also got entrepreneurs, especially the well-connected, ready to get their share. Even Neil Bu$h, at one point thought to be the weakest of the Bu$h boys before Dubyah showed his limitations, got a cut!
At this point I don't have time to connect the dots like I'd like but I'll go ahead share some of the dots that I've been able to run down rather quickly. Consider Reading Horizons. Need some research and academics to bolster your standing? Try The University of Oregon as they've surely benefited from Reading First. DIBELS is a school housed entity that is getting lots of attention. DMG is as well yet they are apparently a commercial enterprise. Dr. Reid Lyon, affiliated with a portion of the National Institutes of Health and one of the chief architects of the Reading First program is getting some coverage. My local Anniston Star opined "Something Rotten in Reading First" and appropriately mentioned Chris Doherty by name. The Carpetbagger Report affirms why his name was reduced to print and is highly recommended among these links.
Secretary of Education Rod Paige (of Texas Miracle infamy) has bolted for consulting contracts yet Margaret Spellings, another Bu$hCo loyalist from Texas, is up to her ears in alligators these days over mismanaging college loan providers, the DOE nailed for gaming Reading First funding, etc. This DOE has long danced with the ones what brung them. I doubt that "accountability" works for those at the top of the food chain however!
What a mess we have in this nation! With the undeniable reality of how education "leaders" have handled their responsibilities is it any wonder that good teachers, and I'll include myself in that mix, are fleeing the classroom. At least those remaining in the trenches can experience the joy of flowcharts such as what appeared at the top of this post. Peace .. or War!
The influences of and outcomes (there's some edu-speak word for ya!) of "reading" include comprehension, spelling, writing, listening, vocabulary, discussion, fluency, meaning making, dreaming, connecting, emotions, attitude, behaviors, ... All of this is important (for just regular kids so imagine those that are immigrants or suffering from learning disabilities or ...) so to carve out a "most important" aspect concerns me. This worry comes with a caveat of course in that I might very well find Mr. Marcum to think much more broadly than how he relayed things to the Board and public. Good news is always easy to deliver and getting complex will at times cause the average citizen, and this certainly includes the average Board member ... especially around my neck of the woods, to get that glazed over look in their eyes.
My understanding is that Reading First has a decent following here in Alabama but I'd like input from others. Asking around locally can be attempted yet many that have remained here have long ago learned keeping your head down and not making waves seems to be best in a small town. I have the impression that legitimate experts might come down on both (or probably more like various) sides of the issue (or should it be "issues'?) in play here. Let's step back ten years to look at the great divide of Direct Instruction vs. Whole Language for the sake of simplicity. There's a continuum of course with lots of variety and in fact a blended approach seems to be a given. However, Reading First seems to lean toward "Direct".
Critics of Reading First suggest those that crafted the program (the National Reading Panel) assumed teaching "discrete skills" was the one, or at least primary, way of providing reading instruction. That they ignored or avoided integrated, comprehensive approaches makes sense to me in that single measure assessments drive education in today's world. Canned curriculums and measurement packages follow this of course and "there's gold in them thar hills" applies. Creativity suffers but never fear as there are "professional development" providers ready to step in an help our poor educators! Consulting, serving on textbook groups, authoring, grant writing, .... Lots of gold! Billions
Given typical Bu$hCo and GOP approaches to government, one is tempted to follow the money. Lisa Schiff did and I highly suggest her writing as a great place to begin. The big boys like McGraw-Hill and Pearson are there and you've also got entrepreneurs, especially the well-connected, ready to get their share. Even Neil Bu$h, at one point thought to be the weakest of the Bu$h boys before Dubyah showed his limitations, got a cut!
At this point I don't have time to connect the dots like I'd like but I'll go ahead share some of the dots that I've been able to run down rather quickly. Consider Reading Horizons. Need some research and academics to bolster your standing? Try The University of Oregon as they've surely benefited from Reading First. DIBELS is a school housed entity that is getting lots of attention. DMG is as well yet they are apparently a commercial enterprise. Dr. Reid Lyon, affiliated with a portion of the National Institutes of Health and one of the chief architects of the Reading First program is getting some coverage. My local Anniston Star opined "Something Rotten in Reading First" and appropriately mentioned Chris Doherty by name. The Carpetbagger Report affirms why his name was reduced to print and is highly recommended among these links.
Secretary of Education Rod Paige (of Texas Miracle infamy) has bolted for consulting contracts yet Margaret Spellings, another Bu$hCo loyalist from Texas, is up to her ears in alligators these days over mismanaging college loan providers, the DOE nailed for gaming Reading First funding, etc. This DOE has long danced with the ones what brung them. I doubt that "accountability" works for those at the top of the food chain however!
What a mess we have in this nation! With the undeniable reality of how education "leaders" have handled their responsibilities is it any wonder that good teachers, and I'll include myself in that mix, are fleeing the classroom. At least those remaining in the trenches can experience the joy of flowcharts such as what appeared at the top of this post. Peace .. or War!
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