The latest test results show that America's schools are ranked #14 in reading among industrialized nations. Here are my top ten solutions: 2011 Resolutions for
Education Reform.
1. Start early. Recognize that parents are the first reading teachers. Give children the 10 million words-a-year advantage of data entering their brain by reading aloud and talking to them from babyhood. Do it in short stints but often.
2. Take advantage of the critical period of brain development from birth to age 5. In a bi-lingual home, begin the second language as soon as possible. Have the mother speak to the child in the native language and the father speak to the child in the second language.
3. Support universal preschool for all children. Eliminate the major problem that causes the achievement gap, which is that 1.5 million American children enter kindergarten each year who cannot write their names.
4. Teach spelling explicitly. Make sure every child brings home a spelling book in his or her book bag. Children who can't spell don't read or write with proficiency.
5. Bring back the basics: foundational skills such as spelling and handwriting. Common core standards are a good idea. Replace loosy-goosy "kids learn it their own way" teaching with real curricula. Without a curriculum, teaching is hit or miss. In 2011, explicit is in. (Implicit is out!)
6. Respect teachers. They are not the problem.
7. Don't replace all the teaching time with testing. The cow doesn't get fatter by weighing it.
8. Embrace technology but be wary of the digital reading brain. Recognize that reading books at a critical level is not the same as grabbing quick information on the internet. Recognize that digital reading is rearranging you child's brain circuits. Real readers get beneath the surface.
9. Read these three books this year: Raising Confident Readers (by Richard Gentry), Beating the Odds, (by Howard Margolis & Gary Brannigan ), and The Death and Life of the Great American School System (by Diane Ravitch). These are the best books about education published in 2010. Recommend these books to your friends.
10. Put children first. When we vote for changes, make decisions, or look for solutions, keep the child foremost in mind. Be a gadfly for reform until our schools improve. Use the carrot, not the stick.
With these resolutions in mind, 2011 can be a great year. Here's wishing us all a happy, prosperous, and peaceful New Year!
(Note: Dr. Richard Gentry is the author of Raising Confident Readers. Available on Amazon.com. Follow Dr. Gentry on Facebook and on Twitter.)
