Forty states are mandating the Science of Reading (SoR), promoting what they call evidence-based learning. Sadly, for years, thought-provoking arguments by accomplished reading and educational experts, based on serious research, have described complications surrounding the SoR. They seem all but ignored. Problems with this paradigm seem unnoticed by policymakers in favor of a few neuroscientists, […]
Finland’s School Reforms are Troubling: 4 Reasons Why
Finland’s new curriculum means that schoolchildren will no longer need to sit down quietly in classrooms, since they will instead be able to choose where and how they study. In future there will not necessarily be any traditional enclosed classrooms. —“The Truth About Finnish Schools” This is Finland Finland’s schools have been admired for years. […]
The Little Engine That Derailed—How Aligning Books to Skills Kills the Joy of Reading
It is one thing for a child to read The Little Engine That Could for the pleasure of the story and quite another for her to comprehend the inner workings of a locomotive. ~Joanne Yatvin, former public school educator, a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English, and a former member of […]