CER Curriculum Watch

Updates from the Reading Corner

REPORT CARD: The nation's reading report card is out and the news is not good: Less than 32 percent of 4th graders are proficient at reading, while 8th grade proficiency is only 31 percent. See CER Newswire June 24, 2003 for more details and a link to the full report.

NEW YORK'S UNPROVEN PROGRAM PROPOSAL: In response to the New York City school district's initiative to implement questionable curricular programs in 1,000 low performing schools, more than half a dozen national experts from Teacher's College at Columbia University, Yale, Cornell University and the City University of New York wrote to protest the move, arguing that the reading program chosen is "woefully inadequate." Month by Month Phonics "lacks the ingredients of a systemic phonics program.... It puts beginning readers at risk of failure in learning to read." Read their critique at www.educationnews.org. Also check out CER's February 18 and January 28 Newswires, as well as education professor and historian Diane Ravitch's Newsday article on the topic.

NEW READING GUIDE: 

Take Me On A Reading Adventure, A Literacy Guide For America's Charter Schools assists charter schools in developing high-quality reading programs. The guide profiles nine charter schools that have implemented reading programs resulting in significant student achievement, and also provides information and resources on how children learn to read, teaching strategies and faculty development, and building family involvement with reading. The Guide was created by America's Charter School Finance Corporation with assistance from The Center for Education Reform and other charter organizations. Link to more information and Literacy Guide in .pdf format.

POLICY AND PRACTICE: 

Parent Power! Magazine
 Not only is "reading is fundamental " -- it is also rocket science. Check out this checklist of what to look for in your school's reading program, as well as tips to help your child learn to love reading. All this and more in the June 2002 Parent Power!

MILLIONS FOR CHILDREN: On January 25, 2002, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced that President Bush will seek a $100 million increase in funding for Reading First. Reading First is President Bush's program to help every young child in every state become a successful reader by the end of grade three. The program, created through the new No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, will help states and local school districts establish high-quality comprehensive reading instruction — based on scientific research — for children in grades K-3.

TAKING INITIATIVE: First Lady Laura Bush has launched the Ready to Read, Ready to Learn initiative, which is dedicated to ensuring "that all young children are ready to read and learn when they enter their first classroom," and to helping "our nation recruit the best and the brightest to become teachers, especially in classrooms in our most impoverished neighborhoods." Link to text of remarks on the Department of Education website.

PHONICS RULE: After reviewing some 100,000 documents and reviewing in detail the results of major reading evaluations, the National Reading Panel said that clear cut systematic phonics instruction provides significant benefits for children, particularly those with problems learning to read. All grade levels benefit from phonics instruction, which improves the ability of even good readers to spell.... more. 

RESOURCES:

CER Home Page E-Mail CER CER Publications