Literacy Blogs

Recently, the American Educator republished a chapter of Marilyn Adams. I have featured Marilyn’s input here before (thank you, thank you), but this recent pub is a must read as far as I’m concerned (and so I have included a link to it at the end of this blog).   The good Dr. Adams documents how American textbooks have grown simpler over time. I’ve long believed that the measurement of text difficulty was a great scientific advance, but as useful as that tool can be, it has been a weapon of mass destruction when it comes to supporting students’ reading achievement. You ...

Blast from the Past:  Originally published Feb 4, 2011; re-posted Oct 12, 2017. This week I read a paper by my friend Sam Wineburg and his colleague Sarah McGrew http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/column-students-cant-google-way-truth/. They are trying to figure out what the best way to make sense of the reliability and veracity of websites so that we can teach readers to be appropriately critical. Past reading studies--like the one discussed here--have promoted strategies that don't help very much. The Wineburg & McGrew approach is more promising. Are American kids such poor readers that they'll believe anything they read? I don't think so, but a recent news ...

Just before the holidays, I wrote about the misuse of international comparisons. I decried the notion that we should emulate Finland’s educational approach, though I covet their educational outcomes. My point was that the Finnish context differs too much from that of the U.S. for us to successfully follow such advice, and that, frankly, people are cherry-picking the features of other countries that they like best. So, if you don’t like accountability testing, find a country that is doing better than us but that isn’t testing much. While that may be rhetorically powerful it isn’t very helpful for reforming schools.   Since ...

Like many who are interested in U.S. educational reform, I rely upon the international comparison data provided by PISA. But, as much as such statistics concern me, I’m always circumspect in their use, since there are real problems with such comparisons. For example, I trust the data on kids up to about 13-14 years of age, but not so much the secondary school data (since kids often get shifted around at those older age levels and they don’t all make it into the comparisons).   Many anti-accountability types, like the teachers’ unions, for instance, have been touting Finland as a model of ...

When you listen to the political class nattering over earmarks, they rarely provide examples of the earmarks they are against. Oh, there was the “bridge to nowhere,” of course, and most everybody is against that kind of boondoggle.   But are earmarks good or not? I admit the earmark idea bothers me as it seems to run against fiscal discipline (I bear Scottish blood on my mother’s side). I wonder why all programs don’t run through the same budget process, and, yet, yesterday when Congress could have turned off the earmark spigot, I found myself rooting for the defense. (The country has ...

In the morning, I turn on the television to catch the early news while I get ready for work. Often there is an infomercial on about, the Teach Your Baby to Read program. I’m a big believer in teaching young children to read and have done a certain amount of research and development on family involvement and parent teaching, so I’m interested, especially in a program that promotes itself as being produced by a “scholar” in the field.   As much as I want parents to guide their children’s early reading, this is a program I would not recommend; in fact, I ...

One of the most difficult challenges facing teacher is the issue of differentiation. Matching the reading difficulty of texts and curriculum coverage with student proficiency and knowledge is complicated and its benefits can be subtle (that is, it can be difficult to attribute learning gains to such adjustments). When I look at studies of differentiation and grouping, it is evident that such arrangements can facilitate greater interaction and can allow instruction to proceed more efficiently (since students tend to make faster gains when they are working at levels that don’t differ by too much from their own proficiency levels). But ...

How can parents and teachers increase their young children's knowledge of the world, as such knowledge propels reading comprehension? Certainly, it is a good idea to talk to your child a lot, pointing things out, defining them, and explaining them.   It is a terrific idea to read to your children, too. That is a great way to get them beyond their experience and to help them develop language for what they are learning. Similarly, watching (some) television shows together and talking about it as you would personal experience can increase what children know.   Now there is a new resource that my friends ...