Reading Pedagogy at DCPS Elementary?
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Anonymous
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I have been very happy with our PK3 charter, but concerned about the reading pedagogy. It seems like they are using approaches similar to the “three-cueing” system that teaches kids to rely on context clues, memorization, and skipping unfamiliar words all together to use more familiar words to make a guess. Cognitive scientists and applied linguistics researchers have proven this to be a horrible method to teach children to read and it actually does more harm than good. Found this article in a quick google search for reference: https://www.apmreports.org/amp/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading
Contrary to popular belief, learning letters isn’t even the best place to start. Foundational skills in pre-k should focus on things like sound recognition and making sounds with your mouth. I would be surprised if I encountered a school that was onto this though. For some reason these things don’t seem to successfully bridge academia to the classroom. Would definitely like to know though if anyone has encountered anything like this in ECE. I was reading on another thread that DCPS has an academic and rigorous approach to teaching kids to read in K, which is good to hear. This year we applied mainly to ward 3 DCPS schools for PK4 and we have a number of low waitlist numbers. Can anyone tell me about how these schools teach kids to read? Is the phonics instruction strong? |
Anonymous
| Totally depends on the school even with DCPS. SWS is all Lucy Calkins. 3 blocks away, LT is all phonics. I think, like the rest of the country, DCPS has started to turn back towards phonics and pushes, e.g., fundations curriculum in that vein. But it 100% varies. |
Anonymous
| Lord, every parent listened to that podcast and now deems themself a reading specialist. |
Anonymous
| Doesn't DCPS have a uniform curriculum? Why would it be different from one school to the next? |
Anonymous
No, it doesn’t. There are multiple permitted curriculum for various things. |
Anonymous
$%/# your kid is three. Choose other things to disrupt |
Anonymous
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OP, there are pre-schools that emphasize pre-reading skills (https://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/ECRR/workshopsab/trainingmaterials/parentguidebrochuresa/T23bro.pdf), not reading. The good private schools and pre-schools do this (eg, NCRC).
I don't know if you can find that in DCPS/DCPCS or not. If so, it is likely to be the schools with more affluent parents, who, ironically, are less anxious about their kids showing reading progress, and with teachers and a principal who have been around for long enough to be able to focus on long-term, rather than short-term, results. The more play-based their philosophy, the more likely they emphasize pre-reading over reading. The good news is that you can do at lot at home just by reading to and talking with your children. Beyond that, what's important is a school that does differentiation. A kid that has solid pre-reading skills may "suddenly" become a very proficient reader around K when the skills all come together. Then they are bored to tears slogging through things the hard way. My children went to different NW DCPSs for K, and one school did great differentiation, and one school (at least that particular teacher) had the kids parsing sentences like "The apple is red." in unison. |
Anonymous
Agree! It’s comical. They’ve “done their own research” and now are experts. |
Anonymous
Sadly the parents who’ve listened to the Sold a Story podcast are more educated than most curriculum decision makers. -OG tutor who does know the research and cleans up damage from poorly-informed schools |
Anonymous
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DCPS only uses science of reading-aligned curricula.
To all the parents saying the OP is wrong simply because they listened to a podcast, you are actually the ones who are wrong . |
Anonymous
SWS teaches phonics (Heggerty, Fundations). |
Anonymous
As a teacher the problem is when the parent won’t listen to reason. They insist on a certain program no matter what even if we are using Wilson they insist we use Sonday. That’s the issue - at least at my school. |
Anonymous
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OP, are you concerned that there will not be instruction in decoding skills?
Foundational decoding/phonics skills are baked into the standards. |
Anonymous
| Our DCPS had lots of phonics instruction - I think it was Fundations. |
Anonymous
| I would worry less about DCSP and more about charters. I know many use a readers workshop model with very little focus on phonics and other important early literacy skills. My children attend a charter that is well liked here and they do a terrible job teaching reading. I am a reading interventionist and OG certified and I had to teach mine to read because they weren’t getting it in school. |