Today Foundation - Education Reform Series – April 2009
What Can Be Done To Address Reading Failure?
Reading failure can be significantly reduced when we:
1. Intervene early
Effective early identification and intervention – starting in preschool and kindergarten – can reduce reading failure to less than 10% of our school age population.4
That's according to research conducted and supported by:
- the National Institutes of Health,
- Southern Methodist University,
- the University of Texas, and
- the University of Houston
... among other research institutions throughout the nation.
What constitutes effective early intervention?
The research is clear. Instruction must be based on valid and continuous assessment to meet each child's individual reading needs.5
2. Harness the power of technology
To flourish day-to-day in school and life, our children must receive effective and early reading intervention.
Children at-risk for reading failure require expert teachers and principals starting in pre-school. Unfortunately, many educators do not have expertise in assessing and teaching students with reading difficulties.5 This is no one's fault. Many are simply not prepared to attack the epidemic of reading failure.
Our struggling readers are left to fail in school because they simply cannot do the work expected of them. They are embarrassed by their limited reading skills, are demoralized and become worn down because they cannot succeed. They cannot fit in properly.
It is not a surprise many of these students are no longer motivated to invest the effort to learn how to read.
We must act now to help our students before they fail. We must overcome the challenges brought on by ineffective instruction. And, we must support our schools and teachers with the tools to overcome these challenges.
How can we accomplish this? New and effective technologies have been developed to help teachers provide high-quality, consistent instruction over the extended period of time it takes for students to master reading.
These technology tools provide explicit teaching examples which energize teachers. They also help teachers identify children in preschool and kindergarten who are at-risk for reading failure.
This proven technology is ready for the classroom. It can help the teacher offer instruction that is exciting, vibrant, engaging and motivating to children. It can also provide teachers, principals, district leaders and parents with continuous and frequent data reports on each child's reading progress.
Let's catch our children, before they fail. |
