USA: 'Zuckerberg, Chan donate $30 million to literacy effort'

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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USA: 'Zuckerberg, Chan donate $30 million to literacy effort'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

In the Boston Globe:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/ ... nt=event25
Zuckerberg, Chan donate $30 million to literacy effort

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are giving $30 million to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to tackle one of the most perplexing problems in education — low literacy rates among elementary school students — officials announced Tuesday.

A cornerstone of the five-year initiative, Reach Every Reader, will be the development of a Web-based screening tool that aims to identify kindergartners at high risk for reading difficulty. The screening tool will attempt to determine why students are struggling and will offer interventions that teachers can tap in the classrooms and families can use at home to help children become stronger readers.

The initiative also hopes to shift the conversation about poor literacy away from meager third-grade reading scores toward a focus on younger students. Officials believe early intervention can have the most profound effect on turning students into voracious, proficient readers.
I can't help think this is wonderful on the one hand, but we already know how to teach young beginners to be 'proficient readers' so, on the other hand, what are the issues?

Prevention is the first step to address low levels of literacy and this new assessment project is for screening the children - and not for screening the teaching! From what I glean about the overall picture of reading instruction in the USA, it's still inclined towards 'whole language' - more likely to be labelled 'balanced literacy' so those in the US still need to take a close look at, and make an analysis of, the TEACHING. This is what needs the greatest investment of all!
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: US: 'Zuckerberg, Chan donate $30 million to literacy effort'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Professor Elliot comments on the situation in the US:

https://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=33905
US dyslexia policies ‘ignore scientific evidence’

Many of the current US Federal and State dyslexia laws should be scrapped as they ignore scientific evidence and privilege some poor readers at the expense of huge numbers of others, according to Durham University’s Professor Julian Elliott.

A leading expert in reading disability, Professor Elliott says valuable resources are put into expensive and time-consuming tests to diagnose children which are not only often highly questionable, but also do not point to forms of learning support that are different from what should be provided to any other poor reader.

He suggests that the priority for teaching professionals and others should be to identify reading difficulties early in any child and intervene as quickly as possible rather than pursue a questionable diagnosis of dyslexia with all the costs and time delays involved
Again, I'm going further still than Profession Elliot - who points to early intervention for any and all students who need it - and I'm emphasising a need to look at the early reading instruction for PREVENTION.

This is not to say 'early intervention' isn't important or relevant (it is) - but it is to say that we are still not guaranteeing the content, methodology and quality of the reading instruction all children receive. Their experiences are still down to 'chance' and it is still looking likely that the reading instruction they receive in the US could be flawed - not based on the findings of a body of research.
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