<html><head></head><body><div class="ydpb373744cyahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">To fully understand the position and the power of Wexler one should read her book The Knowledge Gap (<a href="https://cdn.bookey.app/files/pdf/book/en/the-knowledge-gap.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://cdn.bookey.app/files/pdf/book/en/the-knowledge-gap.pdf</a> and <a href="https://nataliewexler.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TheKnowledgeGap_DiscussionGuide.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://nataliewexler.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TheKnowledgeGap_DiscussionGuide.pdf</a>)<span style="letter-spacing: -0.02em;">. </span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.02em;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.02em;">Reading her articles written during her first crusade...synthetic phonics...should have been a warning. While those in the literacy profession may regard her to be a gadfly of sorts, her primary public audience has little regard for us. </span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.02em;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.02em;">My underlying belief is that she would be happy if the entire traditional literacy field would fold up shop and just go away. </span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.02em;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.02em;">Norm</span></div><div><br></div><div class="ydpb373744csignature"><div style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Norman Stahl<div>flowercjs@aol.com<br></div><div><a href="https://www.readinghalloffame.org/node/658" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.readinghalloffame.org/node/658</a><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div></div></div></div>
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On Sunday, August 3, 2025 at 07:41:38 PM CDT, Peter P. Afflerbach <afflo@umd.edu> wrote:
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<div><div id="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562"><div>Every Natalie Wexler article illustrates her deep and abiding lack of knowledge re: literacy, research, curriculum and instruction. Great that she cites Emily Hanford tho…</div><div><br><div class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_quote ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_attr">On Sun, Aug 3, 2025 at 5:34 PM P David Pearson <<a href="mailto:ppearson@berkeley.edu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ppearson@berkeley.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default">So now we do basic research on how the mind works and draw deep inferences about practice from that work, ignoring (or more to the point, not investing in) any empirical work about curricular or pedagogical matters? Just the model we need for evidence-free society. Oh, and while we are at it, let's do the same for medicine, pharmacology, public health, agriculture, economics, engineering, climate, and meteorology. </div><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default">Vexedly,</div><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default">David</div><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-size:small;" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_default"><br></div><br><div class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="ydpa1be790ayiv3992160562gmail_attr"></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div><br></div>
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