|
...students his charge. Morton's view shared by leaders in many other states, where thousands of Reading First elementary schools have reported unprecedented progress closing the "literacy gap" among the poor.
And yet a string of ironies plagues Reading First, threatening its future at the height of its promise. The program is the only component of No Child Left Behind to be rated "effective" by the white House Office of Management and Budget, yet the administration has done little to protect it. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings calls it "the most effective and successful reading initiative in the nation's history," yet she removed its two leaders from their jobs. It is the one part of the No Child Left Behind law educators say they like, yet it has been targeted for deep cuts in funding (see Figure 1). Its prescriptive approach would seem easy fodder for Republicans to attack, yet Democrats in Congress have led the assault against it.
A glance at education headlines suggests that Reading First has succumbed to the fallout from "scandal" (see sidebar, page 49). The true story, however, is that the program is a victim of its own high standards. It's a federal program that appears to be working to change the way states and schools teach reading--and change never comes without conflict.
A New Breed
The goal of Reading First is for all children to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade The law instructs the U.S. Department of Education to make sure that states and districts use funds for curricula and practices that are grounded in "scientifically-based reading research," as defined by the National Reading Panel report commissioned by Congress and published in 2000.
The report identified five interlocking elements essential to effective reading instruction. Reading programs funded by Reading First must include explicit, systematic instruction in these five elements: 1) the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds, known as phonemes, that make up words--referred to as "phonemic awareness" (the word "cat" has three phonemes); 2) phonics, the relationship of phonemes to the letters that represent them in written language;3) fluency, the ability to read text accurately and quickly; 4) vocabulary development; and 5) comprehension strategies.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
In addition, as a condition of funding, Reading First schools must administer timely classroom assessments and must adjust instruction as needed for every child based on the results.
The emphasis on early intervention to prevent failure in the nation's youngest and most at risk students marks a major break from the unsuccessful remediation models of the past three decades, which focused on helping older students after they had already fallen behind. Indeed, Reading First's commonsense demand--do what has been shown to work--amounts to a sea change for teachers, principals, curriculum coordinators, publishers, trainers, state education agencies, colleges of education, professional associations, teacher accreditation agencies--everybody in the field of reading education.
The initiative's detailed prescription also represents a sea change for federal education programs. Beyond prescribing a particular approach to reading instruction, it also demands scrutiny of all funded activities, every step of the way. The program is a hybrid: it gives formula grants to states, but to receive their share of funds (fixed amounts calculated by a formula tied to the states' levels of need)...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from Education Next
New York City Charter Schools: how well are they teaching their studen..., June 22, 2008
Scaling Up In Chile: networks of schools facilitate higher student in ..., June 22, 2008
Few states set world-class-standards: in fact, most render the notion ..., June 22, 2008
Peerless, Indeed: Educator's diagnosis on the mark, 65 years later.(Pe..., June 22, 2008
Lessons Learned: What International Assessments Tell Us about Math Ach..., June 22, 2008
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
%20%20&position=1)