Excellent piece. I recently spoke to a parent with children in public school on Long Island. She has been battling unsuccessfully with the school to change the curriculum from one based upon Balanced Literacy to one based upon the Science of Reading. There is still MUCH work to be done.
This quote is terrifying: It suggests that the institutions responsible for preparing teachers may be miseducating them at scale about the most foundational skill they are expected to teach.
I honestly have spoken to a number of teachers who saw districts move away from effective programs focused on the science of reading and then watched their students’ scores plummet. Going all in on systems that were later fully debunked was a huge failure by educators. My own experience has been that a lot of teachers have seen this and are now ready to shift back to proven strategies.
I highly recommend the video discussion, which reveals exactly why my state of California is so far behind. In addition, there’s an entire sector in the state—advocates (?) for second-language learners—who have decided that SOR does not apply to this group, which I posted about today: Second-Language Learners Need SOR+ (https://harriettjanetos.substack.com/p/second-language-learners-need-sor?r=5spuf). We know there are no easy answers, but some are refusing to even ask the questions.
Winning the argument is step one of about twelve. Teachers know the research. What they don't have is the time, the coaching, or the materials to actually change what happens on Monday morning. That gap between policy and practice is where every education reform goes to die.
Excellent piece. I recently spoke to a parent with children in public school on Long Island. She has been battling unsuccessfully with the school to change the curriculum from one based upon Balanced Literacy to one based upon the Science of Reading. There is still MUCH work to be done.
This quote is terrifying: It suggests that the institutions responsible for preparing teachers may be miseducating them at scale about the most foundational skill they are expected to teach.
I honestly have spoken to a number of teachers who saw districts move away from effective programs focused on the science of reading and then watched their students’ scores plummet. Going all in on systems that were later fully debunked was a huge failure by educators. My own experience has been that a lot of teachers have seen this and are now ready to shift back to proven strategies.
Thank you so much for this excellent article.
I highly recommend the video discussion, which reveals exactly why my state of California is so far behind. In addition, there’s an entire sector in the state—advocates (?) for second-language learners—who have decided that SOR does not apply to this group, which I posted about today: Second-Language Learners Need SOR+ (https://harriettjanetos.substack.com/p/second-language-learners-need-sor?r=5spuf). We know there are no easy answers, but some are refusing to even ask the questions.
Thank you for this great blog. Accountability is so central.
Winning the argument is step one of about twelve. Teachers know the research. What they don't have is the time, the coaching, or the materials to actually change what happens on Monday morning. That gap between policy and practice is where every education reform goes to die.