Why Are Children Failing Basic Reading Skills in America?
Here in America we pride ourselves on being achievers.
We achieve politically, socially, economically, and in an academic sense.
Or so we think.
The fact of the matter is American children have been struggling academically for many, many years now.
Why do you think this is? Many educators point to illiteracy as the main culprit.
If you don't have the fundamental skill of reading in your grasp, how could you be expected to learn any other subject? Startling Statistics There are a growing number of reports suggesting that reading skills are being stunted until a very late age.
Language development is often used as a marker by which to gauge how reading skills will develop.
A recent report shows that a growing minority of children are not developing adequate speaking skills.
In fact, this study found that 4% of the children in the study were not verbal until age 3.
Children should be beginning to be verbal when they are between 9 and 12 months old.
Without verbal skills, children aren't able to mimic language and learn how sounds blend to make words.
Implications So let's say we have a class of preschoolers, most of which have a working vocabulary of over 200 words, but a couple who have very limited speech.
The teacher tries to accommodate the class at their various levels but those couple of students just can't quite keep up.
The majority of the class learns their letter sounds and names and maybe even starts the beginnings of short vowel reading.
Unfortunately the few children who are unable to keep up are ill prepared for kindergarten.
At the very start of their academic career they've already begun slipping through the cracks.
The problem is this doesn't just happen to a couple of children.
It happens to thousands of children and has a crushing effect on their self esteem and success in school.
State legislatures have been grappling with this trend, but in an ineffective way.
Instead of trying to come up with a long term plan of action to have the materials or programs it takes to teach children on various different levels the same skills, they have chosen to increase the age in which a child has to be to enter kindergarten.
They believe the older the child, the easier they will adapt to a learning environment.
Regrettably this just isn't the case.
The Solution State legislatures may not know it, but there are programs out there that are designed to reach children on all reading levels.
These programs utilize phonics as a tool to open the world of reading.
Teaching reading in a progressive, step by step way allows any child to build their reading skills in a logical, rewarding way.
Teachers can use phonics programs as a blueprint to direct their students to build reading skills in a progressive way with no gaps so that reading becomes an enjoyable skill and an absolute asset in their future scholarly endeavors.
We achieve politically, socially, economically, and in an academic sense.
Or so we think.
The fact of the matter is American children have been struggling academically for many, many years now.
Why do you think this is? Many educators point to illiteracy as the main culprit.
If you don't have the fundamental skill of reading in your grasp, how could you be expected to learn any other subject? Startling Statistics There are a growing number of reports suggesting that reading skills are being stunted until a very late age.
Language development is often used as a marker by which to gauge how reading skills will develop.
A recent report shows that a growing minority of children are not developing adequate speaking skills.
In fact, this study found that 4% of the children in the study were not verbal until age 3.
Children should be beginning to be verbal when they are between 9 and 12 months old.
Without verbal skills, children aren't able to mimic language and learn how sounds blend to make words.
Implications So let's say we have a class of preschoolers, most of which have a working vocabulary of over 200 words, but a couple who have very limited speech.
The teacher tries to accommodate the class at their various levels but those couple of students just can't quite keep up.
The majority of the class learns their letter sounds and names and maybe even starts the beginnings of short vowel reading.
Unfortunately the few children who are unable to keep up are ill prepared for kindergarten.
At the very start of their academic career they've already begun slipping through the cracks.
The problem is this doesn't just happen to a couple of children.
It happens to thousands of children and has a crushing effect on their self esteem and success in school.
State legislatures have been grappling with this trend, but in an ineffective way.
Instead of trying to come up with a long term plan of action to have the materials or programs it takes to teach children on various different levels the same skills, they have chosen to increase the age in which a child has to be to enter kindergarten.
They believe the older the child, the easier they will adapt to a learning environment.
Regrettably this just isn't the case.
The Solution State legislatures may not know it, but there are programs out there that are designed to reach children on all reading levels.
These programs utilize phonics as a tool to open the world of reading.
Teaching reading in a progressive, step by step way allows any child to build their reading skills in a logical, rewarding way.
Teachers can use phonics programs as a blueprint to direct their students to build reading skills in a progressive way with no gaps so that reading becomes an enjoyable skill and an absolute asset in their future scholarly endeavors.
Source...