Why Teaching Reading Is Still In Whole-Land

Update: Please read the essay by Lisa Fischler, which addresses from a classroom teacher's perspective the barriers to change

From a speech by Michael J. Petrilli on February 10, 2005

In thousands of communities across this   country, school systems continue to resist putting in place scientifically-based   reading programs....The reasons usually boil down to two factors: ideology, and resistance from   teachers"

Let me give you another example: reading. We have thirty years of rigorous   research about how most kids learn to read. We know that reading must be taught   explicitly and directly. We know kids need to be taught phonemic awareness,   phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Sure, there's plenty we still   don't know, especially about how to help older kids who haven't learned to read,   but there's a lot we do know. And yet in thousands of communities across this   country, school systems continue to resist putting in place scientifically-based   reading programs.

The reasons usually boil down to two factors: ideology, and resistance from   teachers. As for ideology, the idea that children can learn to read "naturally,"   like they learn to speak, is a deeply ingrained religion for many educators.   Yet it is founded in absolutely no science whatsoever—it simply isn't true.   As for resistance from teachers, that's tougher. Many of the scientifically-based   programs are fairly structured, even scripted. Great teachers, drawn to the   profession in part because they want to express their creativity in the classroom,   resist being turned into "reading robots," and rightfully so. But   once teachers give these programs a try, and see how well they work, and see   their own kids doing great, the resistance melts away. Every teacher wants success   for his or her students above all else. But because of initial resistance to   these programs, many schools never even reach that point.

I wish that every resistant teacher could be made to face the consequences for his or her students of "whole language".  There's a word for illnesses caused by doctors -- iatrogenic.   "Whole language" -tainted teaching, especially in K-3 classrooms, is a cause of pedagogenic learning disabilities.
 

Comments

[Lisa]

I started typing a long response to this, but it's probably going to overload the comment window. So it'll be on my site instead!