[Susan notes: NCTQ is a bogus, partisan outfit and their report is not based on research. Good for Krashen for pointing to their fundamental flaw.]
Submitted to Chronicle of Higher Education but not published
05/25/2006
Re: For Better Reading Skills Among Children, Teach Their Teachers Well, Report Says (May 22)
The Chronicle’s brief announcement of the National
Council on Teacher Quality’s condemnation of teacher
education in reading fails to point out that the
report is based on assumptions that have been
seriously challenged. The announcement and the NCTQ
report assume that the conclusions of the National
Reading Panel are correct. Not so, according to a
number of scholars. The “intensive systematic”
approach to phonics pushed by the Reading Panel only
helps children do well on tests in which they
pronounce lists of words in isolation. The push for
more phonemic awareness training is unsupported by
studies that look at whether PA training helps
children read, not just do phonemic awareness
exercises. Their conclusions questioning the value of
recreational reading in school are based on an
inadequate and sloppy review of the research.
Here is a beginning bibliography for those who want to
read “the rest of the story.”
Coles, G. 2003. Reading the Naked truth: Literacy,
Legislation, and Lies. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Garan, E. 2002. Resisting Reading Mandates.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Krashen, S. 2003. False Claims about phonemic
awareness, phonics, skills vs. whole language, and
recreational reading.
http://www.nochildleft.com/2003/may03reading.html
R. Allington (Ed.) 2002. Big Brother in the National
Reading Curriculum: How Ideology Trumped Evidence
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
— Stephen Krashen
