Surprise: School Kids Can’t Read

(I brilliantly had this set to autopost on the 27th, rather than today)

The NY Times is oh-so-close to getting what the problem is, who’s responsible, and the solutions (non-paywalled here)

‘Kids Can’t Read’: The Revolt That Is Taking on the Education Establishment

In suburban Houston, parents rose up against a top-rated school district, demanding an entirely new reading curriculum.

At an elementary school in Hutchinson, Minnesota, a veteran teacher is crusading for reform, haunted by the fear that, for 28 years, she failed children because she was not trained in the cognitive science behind reading.

And Ohio may become the latest state to overhaul reading instruction, under a plan by Gov. Mike DeWine.

“The evidence is clear,” DeWine said. “The verdict is in.”

A revolt over how children are taught to read, steadily building for years, is now sweeping school board meetings and statehouses around the country.

The movement, under the banner of “the science of reading,” is targeting the education establishment: school districts, literacy gurus, publishers and colleges of education, which critics say have failed to embrace the cognitive science of how children learn to read.

Research shows that most children need systematic, sound-it-out instruction — known as phonics — as well as other direct support, like building vocabulary and expanding students’ knowledge of the world.

I wonder why the kids are having such a tough time reading these days? Back in my day we spent time reading. In every damned subject. We further had to read fiction books, even during times like Christmas and Spring break. Also, we had summer reading to do for the next school year. Now, there are certainly those who did not continue reading for pleasure, but, I do not know many who are Gen X and Boomers who can’t read if they want to.

About 1 in 3 children in the United States cannot read at a basic level of comprehension, according to a key national exam. The outcomes are particularly troubling for Black and Native American children, nearly half of whom score “below basic” by eighth grade.

“The kids can’t read — nobody wants to just say that,” said Kareem Weaver, an activist with the NAACP in Oakland, California, who has framed literacy as a civil rights issue and stars in a new documentary, “The Right to Read.”

How much are we spending on schools?

In 2000, at the behest of Congress, a National Reading Panel recommended many strategies being argued for today. And the Bush administration prioritized phonics. Yet that effort faltered because of politics and bureaucratic snafus.

It’s a very, very long piece, and Times almost has. “Politics”. Which political party pretty much runs the schools, staffs, the schools, and are the teachers in the schools? Why political party runs the teacher’s unions? Which political party makes up most of the employees at the state and federal education departments? Who’s spending too much time on CRT, social justice, climate crisis (scam), transgender garbage, drag shows, and teaching sexuality to young kids who should be learning to read (and math, science, art, etc)? The solution is really to get back to basics. Teach the basics. Forget all that other stuff. Which is tough, because now you have two generations who have large amounts of people who cannot read at their age level.

Teach the kids early, rather than spending time on computers, parents should keep them off the games and phones. There should be basic lessons incorporating phonics, spelling and vocabulary should be done daily. Schools are places of education. Educate. No investing time on personal things of what they believe to be important.

The post Surprise: School Kids Can’t Read appeared first on Pirate’s Cove.