I read a report in the Columbia Patch today that highlighted a recommendation being made to the School Board tonight to eliminate reading classes in middle schools to increase the time for PE and to introduce language instruction. While I think that language instruction, especially Spanish, should be taught every year in school I am not sure that eliminating reading is a smart move. I have blogged before that reading is THE KEY to academic performance of students. Show me a child who reads and I will show you a good student. A report is quoted as the following:
"The shift in curricular emphasis from general reading comprehension to disciplinary literacy in all content areas will have the most significant impact on program and instructional resource alignment at the middle school level..."
OK I know that every discipline has its own form of speech but that sounds like "gibberish" to me.
2 comments:
Not to mention the unintended consequence of chasing a decent number of those who taught reading into other counties, maternity leave, and retirement. There are a number of those teachers who don't want to teach PE and can't teach a second language.
It would be great if they could just let the reading teachers go, since they are no longer needed. If the program works, it would a great example of doing more with less. And it doesn't seem like a ridiculous program to me. There are already no reading classes at the high school level. And English classes will still exist.
I can't imagine that the union would allow this program to happen. The union is all about teacher jobs, education be damned.
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