Is teaching reading no longer school’s responsibility?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do know that in many districts teachers are told exactly what and how to teach and have zero autonomy to make these kinds of decisions on their own, right?

Teacher here - thank you for adding this. There is also administration telling you to prioritize math and reading; and since cursive is so time-consuming, it falls through the cracks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused, both my kids in mcps and I believe they taught reading, writing, phonics etc
I remember showing them leapfrog videos before k and they learnt quickly ( how’s kids in high school still struggling???) and I think they teach similar way at school ie letter sound
My kid even learned cursive in 3rd grade, she is 14 now..
What school are your kids in??

MCPS has changed dramatically over the last 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A dyslexic child is just a child who has trouble reading. Depending on severity a dyslexic child may not have 100 percent of her needs met by a public school reading curriculum. That’s why there is special ed, pullouts, special schools, and tutors.

Dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in reading in children of average or above average intelligence. I agree that the general education curriculum may not be sufficient for effective instruction. But I do think that special education instruction needs to be sufficient to teach dyslexic children to read. Private tutoring and schools are very expensive and out of reach for many families.

I think it’s often denial when those expensive programs are used. A parent clings to a diagnosis like dyslexia and the idea that it can be fixed and the child will all of a sudden be a strong student. But there are kids diagnosed with dyslexia that are going to always be in the first few percentiles of academic achievement even when they are in appropriate special ed classes. That is when, if the parents are rich, the parents pull out all the stops and pay for extensive and expensive tutoring. It’s not fair but that is reality. And then it’s those same parents arguing their kids need intensive supports throughout college and even graduate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A dyslexic child is just a child who has trouble reading. Depending on severity a dyslexic child may not have 100 percent of her needs met by a public school reading curriculum. That’s why there is special ed, pullouts, special schools, and tutors.

Dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in reading in children of average or above average intelligence. I agree that the general education curriculum may not be sufficient for effective instruction. But I do think that special education instruction needs to be sufficient to teach dyslexic children to read. Private tutoring and schools are very expensive and out of reach for many families.

I think it’s often denial when those expensive programs are used. A parent clings to a diagnosis like dyslexia and the idea that it can be fixed and the child will all of a sudden be a strong student. But there are kids diagnosed with dyslexia that are going to always be in the first few percentiles of academic achievement even when they are in appropriate special ed classes. That is when, if the parents are rich, the parents pull out all the stops and pay for extensive and expensive tutoring. It’s not fair but that is reality. And then it’s those same parents arguing their kids need intensive supports throughout college and even graduate school.

Yes. This. I have a cousin, who has an IQ in the 150's and in many ways is just stunningly gifted, who also has severe dyslexia. They've worked with her a lot and she can read some, but this is a kid who will never be able to drive (because of the reading of signs, etc), who will always need someone to read her the text and the questions, who will need to dictate her essays to a writer. She's approaching college age and the reality is, she isn't going to find success in the traditional way. I'm hopeful that something will open up for her, where her gifts can really shine. But realistically, she'll probably live at home the rest of her life and work low level jobs. No amount of Orton Gillingham or systematic phonics instruction was going to fix her issues. Maybe some kids can move beyond it, but not all can.

[Anonymous]

Live at home for the rest of her life? Why? This is what accommodations in school are for? Technology allows students to dictate their papers and assignments instead of having to write them. Many books are able to have the audio read aloud. This kid can go to college and get a job with accommodations. They aren’t doomed to live at home jobless due to this disability.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you blaming teachers or the school system. I don't know how to answer your question. If it's the former, I won't be diplomatic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you blaming teachers or the school system. I don't know how to answer your question. If it's the former, I won't be diplomatic.

meant to use ? and not the period - before I'm slapped down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do know that in many districts teachers are told exactly what and how to teach and have zero autonomy to make these kinds of decisions on their own, right?

Teacher here - thank you for adding this. There is also administration telling you to prioritize math and reading; and since cursive is so time-consuming, it falls through the cracks.

PS teacher here (high school)

My daughter was in a Catholic ES for a few years where she learned cursive. Her handwriting is beautiful. My son, who began in and continued with public, was taught cursive by his OT. He had fine motor issues, and cursive was a lifesaver. He used to cry each time he was asked to write. no longer the case!

Yes, we paid - and quite a bit! But I can't put a price on my children's well-being.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are spot on, at least in MCPS. Seems teachers are so focused on behavioral issues they can’t/don’t/won’t give the skills we were taught as kids. For the dyslexic kids MCPS is a horror show and always has been...they write them off, pure and simple.

Broadly, I fault the teacher preparation colleges - especially for reading issues we’ve seen recently. (Phonics wins). Also the end of direct instruction. Many teachers call it ‘drill and kill’. Well drill and kill is the way to teach most things for the majority of folks of all backgrounds and socio-economic status.

You can tell the county’s talk of and action on equity is hollow when if they really wanted to close the achievement gap they would move to direct instruction model. Huge Federal study from 1970s still holds today.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1072120.pdf

Teacher here, and I blame the the philosophy found in teacher training to be at the bottom at most of the ills in education. It seems like they only promote the most complicated, round about ways of doing things. Direct instruction is like a dirty word. Yet, why is it that anywhere else when people have to learn something, like say at a school staff meeting, the speaker comes out and directly says it. We’re not all put into groups and expected to discover the material on our own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
[b]Many schools systems, public and private, have fallen into the “whole word” method, because it’s less work for overburdened teachers with large K and 1st grade classes.[b]

So this is essentially a resource problem, where school systems thought the kids would learn to read without explicit phoneme instruction and they could get away with inappropriate teacher:student ratios. It would be very difficult to implement phonetic instruction with one teacher and 25-30 kids in lower elementary classes!

It is not a coincidence that the number of students with reading difficulties has shot up, and that MCPS, among others, refuses to consider dyslexia as a learning disorder they need to accommodate, despite the fact they accommodate many other common learning disorders!

People should demand implementation of a more phonetic-based reading method, with much smaller classes in lower elementary.

My kids read early and never had these issues, but we come from a country that made the same mistake as the US. It had to return to phonetics when it saw entire generation of kids had reading challenges. School systems here should learn from other countries’ experiences.

Whole language has been a popular method for teaching reading for 60 plus years. It’s nothing new. In fact it’s less fashionable than what it was in the 60’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do know that in many districts teachers are told exactly what and how to teach and have zero autonomy to make these kinds of decisions on their own, right?

This is a pretty big myth. Teachers are told what to teach (standards) but how they do so is largely up to them. Yes, certain principals might want to see specific methods employed such as Daily 5 or Reading Workshop, but for the most part teachers come up with everything on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1st grade teacher here. We definitely teach reading! What frustrates me is when parents don’t support at home and assume that the learning done during the school day is enough. Some kids really do need extra practice at home. Also, we teach phonics and handwriting through FUNdations. I think 3rd grade teaches cursive with another program (handwriting without tears?) this is DCPS.

I was about to say -- our kid got plenty of reading instruction at school, both sight words and phonics. But, of course, real literacy will require some support at home -- if nothing else, you have to read to and with your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do know that in many districts teachers are told exactly what and how to teach and have zero autonomy to make these kinds of decisions on their own, right?

This is a pretty big myth. Teachers are told what to teach (standards) but how they do so is largely up to them. Yes, certain principals might want to see specific methods employed such as Daily 5 or Reading Workshop, but for the most part teachers come up with everything on their own.

This is most definitely true in many Title One schools especially. Our every minute is scheduled and we must teach our programs (Fundations, Wit & Wisdom, Eureka Math) to fidelity. Our schedules are the same across many grade levels and we have to be on the same lessons on the same days. We always have visitors coming around to "check."

[Anonymous]

Honestly, how do you expect one teacher to teach 28 children how to read?! I taught my kids before they started school. Learning to read is a tedious, time-consuming task that requires one-on-one repetition; the classroom is the worst environment to learn how to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, how do you expect one teacher to teach 28 children how to read?! I taught my kids before they started school. Learning to read is a tedious, time-consuming task that requires one-on-one repetition; the classroom is the worst environment to learn how to read.

Unfortunately, that’s all some kids will have because their families can’t do it.