- Jul 2024
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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Lucy Calkins Retreats on Phonics in Fight Over Reading Curriculum by Dana Goldstein
Not much talk of potentially splitting out methods for neurodivergent learners here. Teaching reading strategies may net out dramatically differently between neurotypical children and those with issues like dyslexia. Perceptual and processing issues may make some methods dramatically harder for some learners over others, and we still don't seem to have any respect for that.
This example is an interesting one of the sort of generational die out of old ideas and adoption of new ones as seen in Kuhn's scientific revolutions.
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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A ‘Science of Reading’ Revolt Takes on the Education Establishment by [[Sarah Mervosh]]
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- Oct 2023
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danallosso.substack.com danallosso.substack.com
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They then spent a couple of pages on the history of elementary education, followed by a discussion of the stages of instruction, beginning with "reading readiness" and continuing through "sight words" and "context clues", to mature skills that allow the reader to compare the views of different writers.
The broad idea of "reading readiness" stemmed from Jean Piaget's work, much of which was debunked by Peter Bryant during the 1970s. Yet we're still apparently discussing it and attempting to figure out how to do all this better: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/22/us/reading-teaching-curriculum-phonics.html
They didn't tackle the lowest level very thoroughly, but I was a bit surprised that with their discussion of speed reading they didn't give at least a passing mention to phonics which had a big rise in the 1960s before declining in the 70s and 80s only to see another big uptick in the 90s.
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- Sep 2023
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gothamist.com gothamist.com
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Gould, Jessica. “Teachers College, Columbia U. Dissolves Program behind Literacy Curriculum Used in NYC Public Schools.” Gothamist, September 8, 2023. https://gothamist.com/news/columbia-university-dissolves-program-behind-literacy-curriculum-used-in-nyc-public-schools.
The Teachers College of Columbia University has shut down the Lucy Calkins Units of Study literacy program.
Missing from the story is more emphasis on not only the social costs, which they touch on, but the tremendous financial (sunk) cost to the system by not only adopting it but enriching Calkins and the institution (in a position of trust) which benefitted from having sold it.
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- Jun 2023
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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For children stuck on a difficult word, Professor Calkins said little about sounding-out and recommended a word-guessing method, sometimes called three-cueing. This practice is one of the most controversial legacies of balanced literacy. It directs children’s attention away from the only reliable source of information for reading a word: letters.
source for claim in final sentence?
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“All of us are imperfect,” Professor Calkins said. “The last two or three years, what I’ve learned from the science of reading work has been transformational.”
This is a painful statement to be said by an educator, a word whose root means to "lead out".
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Unlike many developed countries, the United States lacks a national curriculum or teacher-training standards. Local policies change constantly, as governors, school boards, mayors and superintendents flow in and out of jobs.
Many developed countries have national curricula and specific teacher-training standards, but the United States does not. Instead decisions on curricular and standards are created and enforced at the state and local levels, often by politically elected figures including governors, mayors, superintendents, and school boards.
This leaves early education in the United States open to a much greater sway of political influence. This can be seen in examples of Texas attempting to legislate the display the ten commandments in school classrooms in 2023, reading science being neglected in the adoption of Culkins' Units of Study curriculum, and other footballs like the supposed suppression of critical race theory in right leaning states.
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Her curriculum, “Units of Study,” is built on a vision of children as natural readers, and it has been wildly popular and profitable. She estimates that a quarter of the country’s 67,000 elementary schools use it. At Columbia University’s Teachers College, she and her team have trained hundreds of thousands of educators.
Calkins' Units of Study curriculum has been estimated to be used by nearly 25% of the 67,000 elementary schools in the United States in 2023.
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For decades, Lucy Calkins has determined how millions of children learn to read. An education professor, she has been a pre-eminent leader of “balanced literacy,” a loosely defined teaching philosophy.
Columbia University Teachers College education professor Lucy Calkins, a leader of the "balanced literacy" teaching philosophy in reading, has been influential in how millions of children have been learning to read for decades.
Tags
- curriculum standards
- ten commandments
- curriculum development
- balanced literacy
- education
- reading pedagogy
- elementary schools
- wokeism
- three-cueing
- science of reading
- quotes
- education standards
- teacher training
- education policy
- reading practices
- Texas Legislature
- phonics
- critical race theory
- Lucy Calkins
- Units of Study (literacy program)
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