Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t we recently have a post about a specific method of reading (sorry, I can’t remember the name) that didn’t include sounding out letters (phonics)? The school administrators, who make curriculum decisions, should be held accountable.

"Blended Literacy." The curricula associated with it these days are Lucy Calkins and Fountas and Pinnell.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s the exact same style of teaching was called "whole word." Even then it was already proven phonics was superior. People higher than school administrators should be held accountable. Professors at teachers colleges. State DOE folks. That sort of thing. The people who taught the teachers and administrators to ignore neuroscience in favor of their pet fads.

Virginia passed a law a couple of years ago requiring public schools to use a Phonics-centered "Science of Reading" curriculum. Mississippi actually led the nation in fixing the reading curriculum.

Virginia passed it because groups like local NAACP chapters and dyslexia parent support organizations pushed the politicians to do it, not because our DOE was so great. Should we have to wait until it's glaringly obvious to politicians that a certain teaching style is superior for our kids to get decent curriculum?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t we recently have a post about a specific method of reading (sorry, I can’t remember the name) that didn’t include sounding out letters (phonics)? The school administrators, who make curriculum decisions, should be held accountable.

"Blended Literacy." The curricula associated with it these days are Lucy Calkins and Fountas and Pinnell.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s the exact same style of teaching was called "whole word." Even then it was already proven phonics was superior. People higher than school administrators should be held accountable. Professors at teachers colleges. State DOE folks. That sort of thing. The people who taught the teachers and administrators to ignore neuroscience in favor of their pet fads.

Virginia passed a law a couple of years ago requiring public schools to use a Phonics-centered "Science of Reading" curriculum. Mississippi actually led the nation in fixing the reading curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t we recently have a post about a specific method of reading (sorry, I can’t remember the name) that didn’t include sounding out letters (phonics)? The school administrators, who make curriculum decisions, should be held accountable.

In many districts those decisions are made much higher up than administrators at schools. Many people who work in district headquarters have very little teaching experience in a classroom. They aren’t experts at all. It trickles down and by the time teachers get the new curriculum, they are in shock that it’s total crap. All of those years of balanced literacy was flat out educational fraud that started because people with very little knowledge were sold a fancy sounding curriculum that included little or no phonics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t we recently have a post about a specific method of reading (sorry, I can’t remember the name) that didn’t include sounding out letters (phonics)? The school administrators, who make curriculum decisions, should be held accountable.

"Blended Literacy." The curricula associated with it these days are Lucy Calkins and Fountas and Pinnell.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s the exact same style of teaching was called "whole word." Even then it was already proven phonics was superior. People higher than school administrators should be held accountable. Professors at teachers colleges. State DOE folks. That sort of thing. The people who taught the teachers and administrators to ignore neuroscience in favor of their pet fads.

+1 I'm so disgusted by the K-12 education sector

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t we recently have a post about a specific method of reading (sorry, I can’t remember the name) that didn’t include sounding out letters (phonics)? The school administrators, who make curriculum decisions, should be held accountable.

"Blended Literacy." The curricula associated with it these days are Lucy Calkins and Fountas and Pinnell.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s the exact same style of teaching was called "whole word." Even then it was already proven phonics was superior. People higher than school administrators should be held accountable. Professors at teachers colleges. State DOE folks. That sort of thing. The people who taught the teachers and administrators to ignore neuroscience in favor of their pet fads.

Didn’t we recently have a post about a specific method of reading (sorry, I can’t remember the name) that didn’t include sounding out letters (phonics)? The school administrators, who make curriculum decisions, should be held accountable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Aleysha says her teachers mostly just passed her from one grade to the next in elementary and middle school.”

I can guarantee you that admin told the teachers to keep passing her. It happens every year in my district against the teachers’ objections.

There needs to be a mandatory achievement test 2/3 through the school year.

The parents need to be given a packet from day 1 with several practice tests. Expectations need to be clear

Despite what some education admin seem to think, most people will respond to clear incentives and they do not want to see their kid struggling and repeating the same grade

There needs to be 1 or 2 "lab" periods every school day with 4 students:1 teacher so the kids can get a jump on their homework. In such a lab this girl would have been identified in 1st grade

The average kid gets $10k a year funding, $300,000 a year per classroom. The money is already there. Audit the system to see where the money is going

The school systems already do this. FCPS, for example, gives iReady in winter for kids who didn't do well in fall (and again in spring for everyone). And then they ignore it. Virginia requires mid-year testing for older kids as well. And then they ignore it and the scores aren't reported to parents until a ridiculous amount of time later so you can't even contact the same teacher with concerns.

Yep. Montgomery County is constantly testing kids. My kid's testing shows she "needs support" but the schools don't actually offer support based on this. The expectation is that parents provide literacy instruction to kids that aren't learning. That's a ridiculous expectation especially given the demographics of MCPS families.

I have a child with an IEP. One of the reasons we left DCPS is because it became blatantly clear to me that they weren't trying to teach him the curriculum. They decided that because of his disabilities he just wasn't able to learn and they were fine just passing him from grade to grade. The thing is with almost minimal intervention, he IS very much capable and can learn. He is doing very well now in a different school district. He is an AP math class and has all As. It's almost like DCPS wants to shove certain kids in the corner and doesn't give a damn about them.

I do have a problem with the girls mom from the CNN article. Perhaps she also has a learning disability, and it's that the case I'll admit to being wrong. But it sounds like she has been here for close to 20 years and hasn't even learned conversational English. I think when your children are being raised in a society that communicates in English, you owe it to them to be able to communicate with teachers, doctors, police, whomever. I say this as an immigrant myself. I didn't even speak English when I came to the US at the age of 21. Yes, it was hard and I didn't have a crutch of living among a Hispanic community where I could get by without having to learn English.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Aleysha says her teachers mostly just passed her from one grade to the next in elementary and middle school.”

I can guarantee you that admin told the teachers to keep passing her. It happens every year in my district against the teachers’ objections.

There needs to be a mandatory achievement test 2/3 through the school year.

The parents need to be given a packet from day 1 with several practice tests. Expectations need to be clear

Despite what some education admin seem to think, most people will respond to clear incentives and they do not want to see their kid struggling and repeating the same grade

There needs to be 1 or 2 "lab" periods every school day with 4 students:1 teacher so the kids can get a jump on their homework. In such a lab this girl would have been identified in 1st grade

The average kid gets $10k a year funding, $300,000 a year per classroom. The money is already there. Audit the system to see where the money is going

The school systems already do this. FCPS, for example, gives iReady in winter for kids who didn't do well in fall (and again in spring for everyone). And then they ignore it. Virginia requires mid-year testing for older kids as well. And then they ignore it and the scores aren't reported to parents until a ridiculous amount of time later so you can't even contact the same teacher with concerns.

Anonymous wrote:https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/02/27/us/connecticut-aleysha-ortiz-illiterate-lawsuit-cec

When you over accommodate and advance every student regardless of abilities

Actually, this is a story about a failure to accommodate. Accommodations are mean to enable a person to learn and demonstrate their knowledge. Had she been properly accommodated, she would have learned to read and write.

Anonymous wrote:“Aleysha says her teachers mostly just passed her from one grade to the next in elementary and middle school.”

I can guarantee you that admin told the teachers to keep passing her. It happens every year in my district against the teachers’ objections.

There needs to be a mandatory achievement test 2/3 through the school year.

The parents need to be given a packet from day 1 with several practice tests. Expectations need to be clear

Despite what some education admin seem to think, most people will respond to clear incentives and they do not want to see their kid struggling and repeating the same grade

There needs to be 1 or 2 "lab" periods every school day with 4 students:1 teacher so the kids can get a jump on their homework. In such a lab this girl would have been identified in 1st grade

The average kid gets $10k a year funding, $300,000 a year per classroom. The money is already there. Audit the system to see where the money is going

“Aleysha says her teachers mostly just passed her from one grade to the next in elementary and middle school.”

I can guarantee you that admin told the teachers to keep passing her. It happens every year in my district against the teachers’ objections.

This has been an issue for decades. The average reading level for the average American is 6th grade and the average American has a high school diploma. For every college grad with 12th grade reading level there is an adult with 1st grade reading level. IMO based on my experience in college English alot of college graduates are reading comfortable at advanced middle school level

To get an average of 6th grade it is not just under funded schools producing kids who can't read

Good for her for suing!

Anonymous wrote:https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/02/27/us/connecticut-aleysha-ortiz-illiterate-lawsuit-cec

When you over accommodate and advance every student regardless of abilities

Note that the student herself is suing the school system that failed to teach her to read. She seems extremely hard working, but it is very hard to get by in today's world without being able to read. Unfortunately, many school systems have not been explicitly teaching kids to read for many years. Some have finally adopted curricula that actually teach reading, and some have actually gone backwards (I'm looking at you, Fairfax County). I think the point about how she acted out is important. We talk so much about student behavior issues and want police in schools and blame parents, but we don't talk enough about how poor literacy skills are directly tied to behavior issues.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/02/27/us/connecticut-aleysha-ortiz-illiterate-lawsuit-cec

When you over accommodate and advance every student regardless of abilities