GROUP-CENTERED PREVENTION
Follow us!
  • Home
  • About
  • Teaching Reading
  • Reading Blog
  • Books
  • Reading News

So, if Children Miss School Because of the Pandemic, What Should We DO?

1/14/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
We need to reevaluate.  Would children actually lose that much educational value from 3 or 4 weeks of online classwork?  I say: no! 
 
Just to begin, let’s look at where education was before the coronavirus pandemic.  Education was not doing as much good as it should have been. As a psychologist, I study reading data because we have found that reading failure affects lifelong development from childhood to old age.  Yes, it really does.  When I was teaching university classes, I often sent my Lifespan Development students to a local nursing home to talk with residents about their early childhood experiences in reading.  As one man said, “We were the Bluebirds.  I have no idea why because everybody knew we couldn't read.  I still can’t read.”
 
Unfortunately, students are still having trouble reading.
Before the pandemic, according to the Nation’s Report Card, more than 60% of children were not able to read at their grade level in school in 4th, 8th, or 12th grade.  We have a major reading education problem in the U. S. 

Picture
Let's go back and look at reading scores before the pandemic.  We were already in trouble in reading before Covid-19. Proficient means that the student can read at their age level or above.  Below proficient means that students cannot read at the grade level. 

The charts show that more than 60% of students across the nation cannot read at grade level in 4th, 8th, and 12th grade.  The curriculum responsible for these devastating reading scores combines phonics, whole language, and balanced literacy.  All three have been proven not to work.



Picture

------------ 
See:  Is Teaching Decoding and Encoding a Form of Phonics?  No.
------------

Keep in mind that all of these test scores were from classroom instruction before COVID-19.  These scores reflect teaching methods used in classrooms before the coronavirus pandemic.  There was no disruption.  No online education or worksheets.  These test scores are from regular in-class instruction.

 
Is this the educational level that we are fighting and risking children’s lives for?  Is this why we are demanding that students be sent back to school, regardless how dangerous COVID-19 may be? 

Picture
Yes, everyone wants children to go to school, but we also want to keep them safe.  So, why are we forcing children back into the classroom—in many places without masks?  We’ve proven that just sitting children in a classroom will not teach them.  That’s why we have over 60% of students unable to read at grade level.
 
Would it actually be so bad to teach a few weeks online? 
Keep the children safe.  I’m not saying that we should revert to online teaching for the remainder of the year—just a few weeks or a month until omicron slows down. Then, reopen the schools when it is safer. 
 
Once the schools are open for good, we also need to improve our teaching methods in the classroom.  I’ll have more to say about teaching methods later.

-----------
Should We Be Sending Students Back to School? 
____________________________________________________________________________

Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Elaine Clanton Harpine, Ph.D.

    Elaine is a program designer with many years of experience helping at-risk children learn to read. She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (Counseling) from the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    if you teach a child to read, you can change the world.

    Copyright 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Elaine Clanton Harpine 

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.