[Reading-hall-of-fame] [Fwd: Bush's $6B Reading Program Failed]

Fri May 2 15:23:46 BST 2008

IS , THIS JUST ANOTHER CASE OF THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG?  All of us have
been in education long enough to know that how we measure and evaluate any
subject matter, whether it be reading or mathematics, influences the
curriculum. The newspaper account that I read this morning stated that in
comparison to a control group the students who were taught reading under the
Reading First grants did no better on comprehension tests than the controls.
I hope my memory is correct on this one, but  weren't the recipients of
these grants encouraged to use  DIBELS instruments?  Almost  all of these
tests emphasize speed of performance and comprehension is not tested. The
one exception is the DIBELS  oral retell test that is so filled with
reliability problems as to render the test invalid [See Mike Pressley et.
Al, for a biting criticism of this test.]  Back to the point I am trying to
make. With the testing-evaluation emphasis on speed and not on accuracy, can
we not assume that reading reinstruction also echoed this emphasis?  If the
tests that were used to evaluate and compare Reading First  groups with a
control group used comprehension tests as the dependent variable, no wonder
no difference was found.  The hidden enemy was not us but the emphasis on
speed at the expense of comprehension .

Ken Goodman, Dave Pearson, Mike Pressley and I have been critical of the
DIBELS tests.  The DIBELS tests all claim that they are measures of fluency,
and according to the definition of fluency that I use, the tests only
measure indicators of fluency, and not the central core characteristics of
fluency.  I think it is time that we start using tests of fluency that force
student to simultaneously decode and comprehend, and there are tests that
can do this.  Jay Samuels [samue001 at UMN.EDU]

Up
t

From: reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.o.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Ken Goodman
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 3:55 PM
To: Celt list, The; LiteracyForAll; NRCEMAIL; Susan Ohanian; Bridges, Lois;
gbracey1 at verizon.net; Alan Farstrup; Reading Hall of Fame
Subject: [Reading-hall-of-fame] [Fwd: Bush's $6B Reading Program Failed]

Finally the Reading First Emperor is seen as naked and forlorn. The neocons
are already calling it a bad study but it was the DOE's own study and they
apprantly forgot to suppress it. Statements by Kennedy and Miller ar finally
disowning the Reading program and blaming it on Bush's cronyiwm. Now is the
time for all of us to renew of our efforts to expose the terrible things
being done to literacy education in the name of reading first. I didn't see
a single statement in any of these press reports from IRA or other
professional organiztions.
Ken Goodman

-------- Original Message -------- 

Subject: 

Bush's $6B Reading Program Failed

Date: 

Thu, 1 May 2008 15:10:14 -0500

From: 

Jay Spuck  <mailto:jspuck at hotmail.com> <jspuck at hotmail.com>

To: 

Spuck, Dennis  <mailto:spuck at uhcl.edu> <spuck at uhcl.edu>, Ohanian, Susan
<mailto:susano at gmavt.com> <susano at gmavt.com>, Miller, Karen
<mailto:kmillerpta at aol.com> <kmillerpta at aol.com>, Cupp, Cindy
<mailto:cindycupp at mindspring.com> <cindycupp at mindspring.com>, Bracey, Gerald
<mailto:gbracey1 at verizon.net> <gbracey1 at verizon.net>

CC: 

Wilkinson, Cristy  <mailto:cristywilkinson at hotmail.com>
<cristywilkinson at hotmail.com>, Reagan, Billy
<mailto:billyrreagan at uaccess.org> <billyrreagan at uaccess.org>, Goodman, Ken
<mailto:kgoodman at u.arizona.edu> <kgoodman at u.arizona.edu>

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4764083

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/01/AR2008050101
399.html?hpid=topnews

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1736581,00.html?imw=Y

http://www.whnt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8256541

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-05-01-reading-first_N.htm

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