Literacy deja vu all over again?

General Forums
1

Ran into a former colleague last week. After some pleasantries he asked: was I having a sense of déjà vu all over again?

He elaborated referring to the School District’s approach to raise literacy levels and subsequently graduation rates:

https://www.thenorthernview.com/news/highschool-completion-rate-decreases-for-prince-rupert-aboriginal-students-in-2018/

Where does déjà vu come in? Scuttlebutt has it that most if not all of the ‘fixes’ the district is re-introducing in literacy have been tried before with little success and some frustration. They do not adequately meet the complex needs of our students. (That’s not to say they don’t work elsewhere –maybe the do).

In many ways the ‘fixes’ tried previously are fairly appropriate to support reading comprehension. It’s the narrow focus on comprehension that is the problem.

If students are not thoroughly taught the: mechanics of encoding (an understanding sound and the sound-symbol relationship); decoding (making sense of the letters and letter groupings on the page to generate words) along with a healthy dose of vocabulary then understanding (comprehension) will be limited.

In other words: has the District concentrated on only one third of the problem with inadequate attention to the other two thirds.

Learning to read is a very complex business. If we don’t provide students with all the necessary tools are we failing them.

The problem isn’t unique to our school district and it is addressed in a New York Times editorial:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/opinion/sunday/phonics-teaching-reading-wrong-way.html

The author, Emily Manford, also has an excellent audio documentary that elaborates the opinion piece. Well worth the listen

Here’s a link:

https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read

Bottom line: there’s a great deal of recent scientific research that should be applied to helping children read – the social, academic, economic and intellectual payoff is huge.

Is it time for a more scientific approach to teaching reading de-emphasizing some of the philosophy that has guided literacy instruction for the last two to three decades. The world has changed incredibly in the last thirty years. Is it time to catch up?

Repeating the same techniques and expecting different results sounds almost like Einstein’s purported definition of insanity.

Can we really afford to move forward unquestioningly as a community accepting low reading scores and less than satisfactory graduation rates?

2

Yes. Not just literacy either.

There’s a lot of change in education, but a general problem (not unique to Prince Rupert) is that the people who are good at “the system” tend to be the ones who make the decisions. There’s a lot of “this is what school was like when I went, so it should be the same now.”

We wouldn’t accept that from any other field (medicine, for example), but we do for education for some reason.

All that being said, I see teachers every day who are teaching using 2019 methods and materials. I know Prince Rupert has plenty of great teachers who aren’t stuck in their ways too.

3

I agree with that! My 16 year old has an exceptional English teacher at CHSS who is challenging her to develop her writing.

4

Thanks to both MiG and hitest for responding.

If there is a need to assign blame to the situation we find ourselves in regards to teaching reading it absolutely does not belong to teachers.
There is some incredible teaching going on in this district and in the province. There is a large number of teachers who are diligent, thoughtful, and caring who strive daily to meet the learning needs of their students – a goal that becomes more difficult and complex year by year. With very few exceptions teachers should be commended. There are also pockets of individuals and small groups who are responsible for highly innovative pedagogy.

I believe Administration should take some blame a) for not acting as corporate memory and realizing that this is a ‘been there, done that situation’. I believe they should have been responsible for looking at the plan and casting very serious doubts; b) I believe the have built very serious walls between themselves and teachers; and, c) I believe they have not shown innovation and problem solving. But in the larger picture that blame is minimal.

Truly the blame rests largely on the shoulders of Faculties of Education who in preparing teachers for teaching ignore recent scientific research that is in conflict with their beliefs. The blame also belongs with the provincial Ministry of Education who not only set the curriculum but mandate implementation.

Districts across the province, inter-provincially and internationally are experiencing many of the same issues. My reference to the local District is because that is what I’m familiar with.

The scientific research that is current has shown to be applicable across all alphabetic languages. So a Danish child learning to read and a Portuguese child learning to read and a Russian child learning to read effectively and fluently experience the same general sequence of development.

Parents, teachers, administrators, faculties of Education as well the Ministry need to familiarize themselves with the research and work toward meaningful change.

5

I really did try to resist any comment but the opening words to the ABBA chorus keep rattling around in my mind.

“Mama Mia, here we go again…my, my…”

As you may have read elsewhere School District 52 is on the hunt for another Superintendent.

Apparently the present Board of Trustees feels the need to go in a different leadership direction. Fine. What direction is that? Generally, has anyone been disadvantaged by the current direction…students, employees, teachers, administrators? If they have: how will they be made whole? What is the reason for the different direction? Before heading off in a new direction maybe there needs to be some introspection and reflection by the board of Trustees - what got them to the place they find themselves in….and then it would be helpful to have some general statement of the new leadership direction they plan on heading in. It would also be helpful for the Trustees to demonstrate some degree of awareness and desire for accountability in reporting back to stakeholders on the markers of success they foresee working towards achieving the new direction.

But then again is that just wishful thinking…

If the District is floundering at the level of leadership, then it is floundering at a very fundamental level. (Never mind the sense of déjà vu when it came to literacy).

It’s definitely “Mama Mia, here we go again…my…”

6

What happened with the current superintendent?

7

I heard on CBC radio this morning that she was fired. Interesting days ahead.

8

Gotta agree with chien22 .
My sentiments exactly.

9

It’s more like Pink FLoyd that comes to my mind.
We don’t need no ejja kayshun DUH (dumb dumb) DUH (dumb dumb)…

On the other hand, I did make a career plugging green plugs into green sockets and red plugs into red ones because it was beyond a lot of people. And being able to RTFM…

10

With all due respect: I believe the media spin that the Superintendent was ‘fired’ does not quite match with the School District’s media release dated June 2, 2020 (available on the School District website).
In it, Dr. LaPierre’s departure is characterized as a disagreement over leadership and she has agreed to depart immediately. To infer otherwise without further justification makes the use of the word ‘fired’ questionable. In effect, a degree of inference has been applied to Mr. Horne’s statement and I would certainly be interested in the media’s explanation of the factual and logical reasons for the use of the word ‘fired’.

The media release includes an aspirational statement by Dr. Lapierre for the future of the school district – not, I believe typically - something a ‘fired’ employee does. If, however the same level of inference is applied to Dr. LaPierre’s statement as was to Mr. Horne’s. Well I worry about how it might be perceived.

I sincerely hope that people will step back, take a deep breath and move forward by accepting the media release as the end of an era: the opportunity to review the governance of the School District, the upper level administration, and articulate clear definable, accountable future goals. It serves us well to remember that this board did not hire Ms. LaPierre: she assumed her role in August 2018 and this board was elected in October 2018. (Although a number of trustees have served on both boards).

There are many struggling learners in this school district and it is time to move forward meeting their needs – and that will begin by the present board seeking genuine change that many of them campaigned to enact.

11

I’m not so hung up on the terminology of the piece ( letting go vs firing) . It’s the " different direction" clause.
I’d tried putting myself in the chair’s position when writing the media release.
There are a few things to be mindful of when a letter of this nature is composed.

Probably would have consulted a wordsmith to draft something up.

12

Soooooo, just read the headlines in the local rag.
I’ll need to recant my opinion about the term ’ fired’. It is nasty.
But my recommendation about the school district finding a wordsmith still stands.
Weekend is around the corner.
Days are still getting longer.

1 Like
13

Relax greyhair, enjoy the weekend.

I doubt the next act of the choreographed School District saga is going to be revealed in the upcoming 48 hours or so.

After today’s announcements of Director of Instruction and Assistant Superintendent positions it’s clear the School District is reverting back to norms.

Leadership and change are not going to be issues in the appointment of the new superintendent – maintenance of the status quo will be. Either someone local will be selected from current administrators or some joe (possibly with some weak connection to Prince Rupert) will be brought in to ‘settle’ the situation down while simultaneously preparing one of today’s appointees to take over in a year or so. (A familiar scenario).

As for the days getting longer…enjoy them while you can.

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14

Our local newspaper put out a story yesterday about the changes in leadership for SD 52. I noted the date on the paper. Heh.
IMG_20200612_132351

15

Is the August 22, 2019 a reference to something? ie: it’s the same story as a year ago? :slight_smile:

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16

I did a quick search and nothing comes up related to the front page story. Editing error?

17

Good catch hitest.

I’ll be travelling out of town in the near future and was distracted by the YPR advert on Page 2.

“What are opGons” for travel? And what “challenging Gmes” have we been through?

Why are we going to have to “swiMly” be moved to the airport. I look like shit in Speedos and can only muster a mean dog paddle…add my luggage to my back and I’ll drown.

My arguments about trying to improve literacy education seem so absurd now. :upside_down_face:

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18

I literally LOLed. :slight_smile:

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19

New Superintendent for School District 52.

New superintendent school district 52

20

An interesting article by Maryanne Wolf in the Guardian.

The idea that children are ‘wired’ to read is questioned and the implications of screen based reading are explored.

Screen-based online learning will change kids’ brains. Are we ready for that?