The Reading League, which promotes the Science of Reading and evidence-based instruction, recently had a conference sponsored by companies (listed below) selling reading programs and materials, including online instruction. Where’s evidence these companies provide authentic research indicating they work? Some states and school districts now mandate the Science of Reading (Schwartz, 2022). They have ruled out […]
How PICTURE Books Help TEACH Comprehension and Phonics!
When he looks at the pictures, he’ll get so excited he’ll want to draw one of his own. He’ll ask for paper and crayons. ~Laura Joffe Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond. If You Give A Mouse a Cookie Regarding how teachers teach reading, it’s alarming that pictures get a bad rap. One of the best […]
Raising the Bar on Kindergartners: A Nation at Risk Lives On
History is not kind to idlers. ~The Reagan administration’s A Nation at Risk (1983, p.7) In What Happened to Recess and Why are our Children Struggling in Kindergarten, Susan Ohanian writes about a kindergartner in a New York Times article who tells the reporter they would like to sit on the grass and look for […]
10 Years Later: The Continuing Intentional Unraveling of America’s Public Schools
School reform continues to privatize and destroy public schools. August marks ten years since I began blogging. Within that time I have written two books and co-authored a third with Diane Ravitch. I’m proud of all this writing but Losing America’s Schools: The Fight to Reclaim Public Education is the book title that especially stands […]
When One School District Falls: HISD is a Preview for All Schools
I think there is a likelihood that we will be seeing more state takeover of districts. ~Kenneth Wong, education policy researcher and former advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, March 28, 2023 Houston faces harsh public school reforms, a sad example of the continuing efforts in America to destroy all public education and […]
Little-Discussed Reasons Why Students Might Not Like to Read
Students don’t like to read. These rarely discussed reasons may explain why. Kindergarten is no longer a garden. Kindergartners are pressured to read. Before NCLB, over twenty years ago, this was unheard of and still makes no sense. Formal reading instruction once began in first grade. Children in the not-too-distant past were given time to […]
3 Ways to Lose Democratic Public Schools: The Crisis on This 4th of July
When hanging the flag, please stop and think about public education, freedom, and what schools could be like. So much has been done to privatize schools that they may be a shell of their potential. Corporate reformers have changed how America’s students are educated, and politicians from both parties have, for years, evaded, ignored, or facilitated […]
Is Mississippi Shifting to Online Teacher Education with Reading Universe?
Switching from face-to-face, in-person public education to computer screens is concerning. It’s happening in K12 and appears to be driving privatization with teacher education at the university level. The Science of Reading lends itself to this, but there’s little proof online instruction makes better students or teachers. So far, research supporting this is hard to […]
Problem-Solving through Play: What Children Miss with Age-Inappropriate Expectations
Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. ~Fred Rogers Lately, when do children get chances to solve problems through unstructured play? How much time do they spend in school thinking, discovering, and figuring things […]
Can a State Reading Program Be a Success if Students are Segregated and Hungry?
Nicholas Kristof’s recent New York Times opinion piece, Mississippi Is Offering Lessons for America on Education, showcases a troubling disregard for segregated schooling and the poverty in which children find themselves. Mississippi’s Segregated Public Schools His article also begs questioning due to its focus on the agenda of ExcelinEd, former governor Jeb Bush’s education lobbying group, […]