Latest news with #UnitsofStudy
Boston Globe
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Readers have words over renewed push to overhaul literacy
Equally troubling is the growing drive toward programs that rely heavily on screens, rigid workbooks, and scripted lessons. Many are not differentiated, lack a logical scope and sequence, and even promote practices, such as repetitive, skill-based worksheets and Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up No program can succeed without time, support, and high-quality professional development. Teachers need space and support to respond to student needs, not top-down mandates that reduce complex work to checklists. Advertisement Literacy reform should focus on equipping teachers, not blaming them. Let's build a path forward that centers professional learning, student needs, and instructional flexibility, rather than scapegoating and standardization. Becca Burk Leeds, Maine State risks discarding a valuable resource I was concerned to read about Advertisement The Units of Study series, with its reading workshop approach, was an excellent resource for teaching literacy in my fourth-grade classroom in New York in the mid-2010s. This program brought wonderful children's literature, book clubs, and thoughtful approaches to teaching to my students. The authors of this curriculum have since taken pains to address the critiques of previous versions, including increasing phonics instruction. I worry about the effect of mandating a curriculum for students, teachers, schools, and districts for whom Units of Study, with targeted adaptations, has been working well. In education, and especially in literacy, we tend to look for silver bullets and quick fixes. Many literacy curriculums currently in vogue rely on common textbooks even at the elementary level, which I fear would be far less interesting or challenging to many students. If we mandate new curriculums and all districts purchase these materials, and then things swing the other way in 10 years, will we simply toss those materials, at great expense? Our state should resist the urge to mandate a literacy curriculum, no matter how tempting. Peter Cipparone Roslindale The writer is the head of school at The Croft School in Jamaica Plain, a private school that currently educates students in preschool through grade four. Any reform should address children's crucial first years Reading depends on knowing spoken words in one language or multiple languages. When babies hear songs, lullabies, stories, and conversations every day, they can start to understand words and phrases. When babies start to talk, they can listen to stories read to them from books. They can follow simple and complex sentences (for example, 'You are my sunshine ... you make me happy when skies are gray'). Advertisement Toddlers can learn to spot the initials of their family members from an alphabet page (M is for Mama). By the time they are in preschool, children can understand the link between the spoken and written word. Children who both have a basic vocabulary and know the connection between written letters and the spoken word will be able to learn to read in school. Parents and day-care and preschool teachers may need help to present very young children with many hours of face-to-face talk. I hope the new literacy reform will include effective programs for helping new parents and caregivers build basic vocabulary during the precious first two years of life. Greta Lee Splansky Framingham Phonics made all the difference I taught my son to read 25 years ago when I purchased Hooked on Phonics. He would have much preferred to be watching TV or playing games after dinner, but I continued to follow the program with him for the year until he mastered all of the material. In addition to the study of the printed phonics flash cards, we listened to recordings of the correct pronunciation of letters and phonics. This program was very effective in teaching my son to read, spell, and pronounce words correctly. This simple and basic curriculum solved a big problem for my son, who was not learning in the classroom. Posted to by Veritas 2
Boston Globe
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Lawmakers once again seek to overhaul reading instruction
About half of the state's districts in 2023 relied on reading programs in kindergarten through third grade the state considers low quality, among the findings of a Related : Advertisement 'It's very clear that we can't wait any longer to address what the data is telling us and the data is telling us that we are in a literacy crisis,' said Mary Tamer, founder and executive director of Lisa Lazare, executive director of Educators for Excellence, said students struggling with reading could face severe consequences if the Legislature fails to act, noting it could increase students' risk of dropping out of school. 'It is heartbreaking,' she said. Mandating literacy restrictions has generated resistance, including from the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Advertisement 'With so many districts facing a fiscal crisis and possible additional losses in federal funds, it is even more harmful to introduce new state-mandated spending that local districts can't control on limited curriculum packages,' Max Page and Deborah McCarthy, the president and vice president, said in a statement. Following the Globe's investigation, Governor Maura Healey announced a $20 million But Representative Danillo Sena, a bill sponsor, said more aggressive action is needed. 'I know that teachers want students to succeed," he said. 'We can give them the tools they need to use evidence-based material.' The lack of a statewide mandate is leaving many parents with an uphill battle to change reading curriculums, with debates emerging in such districts as Lexington and Winchester. Lexington superintendent Julie Hackett has been A similar debate is unfolding in Needham, where some parents earlier this year started the Needham Literacy Coalition. The group is attempting to convince district leaders to stop using Lucy Calkins's Units of Study, a reading curriculum that is subject of a Related : The debate filtered into this year's School Committee race. Leanne Ratti, who has three children in the Needham public schools, ran for a seat in an effort to push for changes to literacy instruction. Advertisement Ratti, who lost her School Committee bid on April 8, said she was surprised Needham was still using Units of Study, noting Boston Public Schools, where she teaches, got rid of it eight years ago. 'The trust with Lucy Calkins has been broken,' Ratti said. 'Why would we buy another product from the same company and the same person?' Parents pushing for changes say the debate has turned contentious and they have faced false accusations of pushing a conservative political agenda. 'It's just so hurtful and could not be further from the truth,' said Melissa Rotman, a speech therapist with two children in Needham schools. 'I definitely think getting this bill passed would help.' Needham is in the midst of overhauling reading instruction and is piloting five programs, including a revised version of Units of Study that now has a stronger emphasis on phonics, but would continue pairing it with a separate phonics program. Carmen Williams, assistant superintendent of instruction and innovation, said she believes a combination of strong guidance and accountability from the state would be better in ensuring quality reading instruction rather than a state law mandating specific programs. 'There is no perfect program,' Williams said. James Vaznis can be reached at
