Try until we find one that works
The study of Reading First is not complete, but the early results are not promising. Not at all.
If the program continues to do nothing, it should be abandoned. There’s more than one way to teach a kid to read. Let’s try other methods - until we find one that works.
Says an editorial today on MassLive.com. WashingtonPost yesterday had a piece on Russ Whitehurst:
Education chief pushes scientific path to learning
Grover "Russ" Whitehurst is the point man in the push to elevate the role of rigorous research in public education. (Sarah L. Voisin/washington post)
By Maria Glod
Washington Post / May 4, 2008WASHINGTON - The Bush administration’s chief of education research says teachers too often rely on "folk wisdom" instead of proven methods to help students learn reading and math. Just as doctors consider data from drug trials and clinical research when they treat patients, he wants educators to think more scientifically in their quest for the right textbooks, technology, teacher training, and lesson plans to raise student achievement.
What do the two have in common? The belief that there is a — singular — solution that will solve the literacy problem. Guess who is goining to find that magic bullet?
If your answer is not the scientists or the politicians, you are unamerican.