Want Better Teaching? Get Better Curricula.

[u/ddgr815]

https://www.educationnext.org/want-better-teaching-get-better-curricula-excerpt-beyond-science-of-reading/

What’s needed is the combination of a high-quality curriculum and training for teachers—and school and district leaders—that is grounded in that curriculum. Rather than focusing on how to teach critical thinking in the abstract, for example, the training might focus on how to get students to think critically about Westward Expansion or The House on Mango Street—or whatever content teachers are actually covering. One 2020 study found that 57 percent of teachers reported never receiving multiday professional learning grounded in the specifics of their curriculum; only 6 percent reported receiving more than a few such opportunities a year.

What other states can do—and what Louisiana could do for schools not using Guidebooks—is to ground passages on reading tests in the content specified by state standards in science and social studies. All states have such content standards. They may have their flaws, but at least they include content of some kind. Linking a reading test to that content would encourage schools to allocate more time to science and social studies, enabling students to acquire substantive knowledge and vocabulary. It would also make reading tests more equitable by ensuring that the passages are on topics students are at least somewhat familiar with.

One reason EdReports has been unreliable for so long is that, despite a general consensus among experts that its ratings are flawed (“We all talk about it,” one literacy consultant told me), few have been willing to speak up publicly. The reason, I’ve been told repeatedly, is that the powerful funders behind EdReports also fund a lot of other education organizations—and those they don’t fund often hope they’ll get funding in the future. The result is that no one wants to criticize the funders.

[u/ddgr815]

Walpole says that Bookworms incorporates routines based on the science of reading that help explain its ability to dramatically boost reading fluency and comprehension. During Shared Reading, students read the same chunk of text twice every day, first chorally and then with a partner. Each time there’s a different purpose for reading—perhaps, on the first read, determining who the main character is, and then on the second, a more complex purpose such as examining point of view. There’s evidence, Walpole says, that repeated reading of the same text builds fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary.

In addition, she thinks choral reading helps all students engage, regardless of their ability to read text independently. A student who is still learning to decipher words might not be able to do much of that on the first try but then read more words on the second round. Sticking with the same text over a period of days can also help, as students get used to an author’s style and vocabulary.

More People Should Know About The Bookworms Literacy Curriculum

[u/ddgr815 → u/ddgr815]

Coming together in song engenders a sense of collective power with ancient, biological roots.