Winners of the 2012 Value-Added Achievement Awards announced
In a May 14 ceremony held at the Tennessee Supreme Court, the Commissioner of Education joined with the Education Consumers Foundation to recognize principals of 18 of the most effective elementary and middle schools in the state. Click here to see the list of winners and learn about their successful approaches to education or read the press release here.
Check back soon for additional details and photos from the event.
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Are Tennessee's Children Learning to Read? Mayor Tim Burchett Asks the Question in Knoxville
Knoxville mayor Tim Burchett is leading on education, highlighting the importance of early literacy: "I say, before we raise taxes, let's tackle this core problem." Other local officials in Tennessee are beginning to recognize the problem in their schools (see charts below).
Reading is the most essential skill that children learn in school. It is taught over a 4-5 year period that begins in preschool or kindergarten and extends to 3rd grade. Beyond 3rd grade, schooling turns from learning to read, to reading to learn.
Promoting children to the 4th and subsequent grades without sound reading skills not only reduces their chances of success, it misleads their parents about the child's progress, it unloads poorly equipped and discouraged learners on middle and high school teachers, and it violates the spirit if not the letter of Tennessee's 2011 law against socially promoting unqualified students.
Social promotion of students who lack mastery of reading ignores their needs, drags down the progress of all students, and makes schooling vastly more inefficient and expensive. Children who cannot read simply cannot fully benefit from their educational opportunities. They need more help, more contact hours of teaching, and more specialized treatment - all of which takes more teachers, more specialists, and more time in school.
Testing results of the past 20 years show that less than half of Tennessee's school children are mastering reading by the end of the 3rd grade.
Click on the links below to see whether children in your local schools are reading or just being promoted:
You can also compare schools statewide by visiting our interactive charts of "3rd grade proficiency versus poverty" in reading and math.
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Needed in Tennessee: An Early Reading Revolution
In a November 2011 position paper, the Education Consumers Foundation highlights the lack of progress in boosting literacy rates in Tennessee schools and introduces Direct Instruction as a proven solution. Click here to access this paper along with a host of support materials, including charts highlighting reading proficiency rates in each Tennessee district; directories of resources, trainers, and contacts experienced with DI in Tennessee; and more.
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Clear Teaching: With Direct Instruction, Siegfried Engelmann Discovered a Better Way of Teaching
Written by veteran journalist Shepard Barbash over a period of 10 years, Clear Teaching is a well-researched, highly readable introduction to Direct Instruction (DI). Click here to download this book in PDF format along with a host of support materials, including directories of resources, a list of trainers, and much more; those wanting print copies can order them from Amazon or can contact ECF for bulk orders.
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