Technolandy

I have some thoughts when I see articles panicking about reading test scores: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/reading-test-scores-american-students-5fb78d4e

I chuckle a bit because when a new program is declared ‘the one way’, it doesn’t always end up doing what we hope it will do… and snicker with “They also caution that the reading results don’t speak to the effectiveness of recent changes” …

I sigh a bit knowing that despite looking into programs, there is always a bit of doubt when it doesn’t reflect ways we learned as students – and of course we (guilty myself) will sometimes/often reflect that ‘it worked for me… without always giving mind time/space for those ‘it’ didn’t work for…

I roll my eyes a tad because there is a factor that we test more and more students that leads to the overall result, and fewer are omitted or ‘missed’ as we get more accurate measurements of ‘all’ learner averages… I’d also push to look at the metadata ~ there is always so much more information than just what headlines usually share…

I continue to tease that maybe this fad called reading has finally run its course of distracting youth and we can ‘finally’ focus on getting back to basics and oral/aural skills…

My eyes perk up when there is not a focus on what we as adults are doing (reading in public… talking about how they read – I refer you to Adrienne Gears Reading Power that ‘shows and tells’ how the brain engages in reading… not to answer questions on a page or regurgitate a writing piece… and instead added that there has been a decline in students’ joy for reading; fewer teachers asking for essay responses; and a rise in reading on devices. Gotta identify that nobody reads 5 paragraph essays and maybe we can do better writing types to help engage connections to readings – and look at what screen writings are going on… I admit the majority of my reading is on screens rather than paper tablets…

I smirk when I red that some states are looking at holding students back in third grade if certain benchmarks aren’t met… I really hope that some solid equity scanning takes place to reflect on who (and why) the benchmarks can be universally applied and scaled/understood for margins of error and unconscious bias that exist before it adds a year or two to learners career – and to ensure the rest of a repeated year is not a carbon copy that will lead to greater disenchantment and disengagement from learning.

I’m just happy Matt Barnum matt.barnum@wsj.com and Sara Randazzo sara.randazzo@wsj.com found it valuable to share this report – I would like it if they share what they currently read..; I do a share of a reading on this blog to start each month…