Greatest classroom catastrophe in 50 years

The Daily Telegraph reports on the collapse of the most accepted and widely used reading methodology in England and the United States:

The abandonment by teachers of the traditional method of teaching reading, known as phonics, precipitated the greatest educational catastrophe of the past 50 years.
Their steadfast refusal to re-introduce the method, in the face of overwhelming evidence of sharply falling reading standards, represents the greatest educational betrayal of the past 20 years, reducing the life chances of an estimated four million children.
Yesterday’s carefully worded but withering report by Jim Rose (176K PDF), a former chief inspector, accepted instantly and in its entirety by Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, should finally draw a line under this shocking example of the profession’s capacity for collective pig-headedness and self-delusion.


Jim Zellmer previously posted a BBC story on the report by Rose.

One thought on “Greatest classroom catastrophe in 50 years”

  1. Last school year, the School Board heard a presentation from District administration on the research underlying the administration’s approach to teaching reading using Balanced Literacy.
    I was at that meeting, and the following is what I remember from one of the public speakers. Professor Seidenberg, UW Madison Professor who studies how children learn how to read and who works with Education Ministries outside the United States, said research showed the curriculum approach that the District Administration was using is not supported as effective by research [data, results] and criticized the administration for turning down $2 million in federal grant money for reading support. If I remember correctly his comments included statements about the need for a stronger phonics curriculum than is in the district’s current curriculum.
    Mr. Seidenberg made his comments during public appearances. There was some discussion following his statements; however, the School Board has not asked for any further update nor data from schools using different curriculum to learn more about what is working/not working for our children.
    I do not expect School Board members to “design curriculum.” However, in the case of reading, which is a board priority, there are about 17% of children who read below grade level by the end of 3rd grade. Additionally, within the district and publicly, there has been considerable discussions about reading curriculum. Follow-up with data, presentations of approaches, public discussion, would seem to be a prudent step for a decisionmaking body to make, especially since reading has such a profound effect on children’s ability to learn in later years.
    I look forward to learning more about how the candidates for school board would approach this issue. I’m also interested in learning more about each candidate’s view of curriculum policy, state law and the board’s role.

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