tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post4017104593432235959..comments2024-01-04T05:57:26.735-06:00Comments on Education Policy Blog: Hosted by the Forum on the Future of Public Education: "Reading First" a failureCraig A. Cunninghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160288758906798678noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-14373370949178913202008-06-12T15:19:00.000-05:002008-06-12T15:19:00.000-05:00good postgood postAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-28663392026485403962008-05-10T11:01:00.000-05:002008-05-10T11:01:00.000-05:00For anyone who has looked at the video clips of di...For anyone who has looked at the video clips of direct phonics instruction with young black and brown children (the kind of teaching for the poor that neurologist crackpot, Reid Lyon, advocates, and the same kind that the Oregon Gang has gotten rich on), the abusive nature of these practices is unmistakable. See here:<BR/>http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/search?q=movie+clips+direct+instruction<BR/><BR/>While Lyon talks about re-directing neural circuits, Kozol calls this kind "instruction" just what it is: cognitve decapitation." It is an affront to ethical and humane teaching, and it represents nothing less than the present day manifestation of applied eugenics. And it was intended for universal application in Title I schools by the NCLB engineers.<BR/><BR/>NB said:<BR/><BR/>"Early childhood interventions, if they're really early and really long lasting, seem to have some effect, but beyond that the only thing that works consistently is getting poor kids out of schools that are 90% poor. Unfortunately, the former is really expensive and the latter is well nigh impossible in most places."<BR/><BR/>I would add that it is "well nigh impossible," given the current absence of political will to re-engage the civil rights initiatives that were set aside thirty years ago when Reagan came to Washington. The economic integration experiments in North Carolina have shown great promise, as reported by the Century Foundation: http://www.equaleducation.org/publications.asp?pubid=420<BR/><BR/>If Obama can show himself capable of considering something other than the neoliberal agenda of national tests and charter schools, there might be hope of addressing poverty, in school and out of school, which, as we know, is the primary source of all gaps.James Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04462754705431590571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-33292551115622806642008-05-06T17:21:00.000-05:002008-05-06T17:21:00.000-05:00Congratulations! Your blog has been nominated for...Congratulations! Your blog has been nominated for the ED in '08 Blog of the Year Award. Blogging has made a huge impact on the Education debate and we'd like to honor this impact by launching our first annual blog of the year award. Voting will run from now until May 14th and the winner will be announced at our 2008 Blogger Summit on May 15th.<BR/> <BR/>You and your readers can vote at http://edin08.com/bloggersummit/bloggerpoll.aspx<BR/> <BR/>We have created nominee badges to help promote your blog in the competition and they can be found at http://edin08.com/bloggersummit/ShowYourSupport.aspx<BR/> <BR/>Good Luck!<BR/> <BR/> <BR/>ED in '08 Blogger Summit TeamAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-84110537154591140422008-05-04T17:18:00.000-05:002008-05-04T17:18:00.000-05:00Enjoyed reading some of your posts. Thanks.From o...Enjoyed reading some of your posts. Thanks.<BR/><BR/>From one writer to another..<BR/><A HREF="http://www.miroadvantage.com/blog" REL="nofollow">Admissions and Test Prep Blog</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-44551738779272424202008-05-03T13:19:00.000-05:002008-05-03T13:19:00.000-05:00Think Ed Policy is a discouraging field to work in...Think Ed Policy is a discouraging field to work in? You should try K-12 teaching.<BR/><BR/>Great post. It certainly has been amusing to watch the DIBELizers backpedaling and bringing out the statistical smoke and mirrors. The fact that the (generally desperate) schools who sought RF monies early have produced worse results aligns with the idea that early explicit phonics instruction may improve emergent-reader decoding skills, but doesn't ultimately result in genuine literacy for older kids.<BR/><BR/>Coleman was right (and Rothstein is right): some problems are bigger than programs. David Cohen spent a career knocking down the Next Big Thing in education, with deadly accuracy and good data. Still, I think it's worth remembering that there are still classrooms in some pretty unlikely settings where world-class learning is happening--not as a result of a commercial program or even a school initiative, but because there's a good, sharp teacher in front of the room, who cares about the kids and knows how to teach.Nancy Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00047575960944913289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-68548979273625859812008-05-03T11:27:00.000-05:002008-05-03T11:27:00.000-05:00LOL. This is why ECE is the ONLY field to work in....LOL. This is why ECE is the ONLY field to work in. Teaching theory to grad students was fun for a while, but there's no real hope in actually accomplishing much. In ECE you're doomed to failure, but there's a chance of success... if you avoid just about everything that the last century's been researching on.Jason Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08678439544508714619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-2797926640381386652008-05-02T12:59:00.000-05:002008-05-02T12:59:00.000-05:00From the USA Today article:While critics will like...From the USA Today article:<BR/><I>While critics will likely say the data portray Reading First as an expensive failure, Whitehurst speculates that the study may simply suggest that schools need to spend even more time on phonics and the like.</I><BR/><BR/>Un- bleeping- believable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com