Promoting Literacy

Public Education Matters

Promoting Literacy

1.20.10

Last night in his state of the state address, Governor Mitch Daniels (besides asking for us all to be more optimistic) asked the state legislature to consider a proposal for a bill that would require all third graders to be at third grade level before they were promoted to 4th grade. The proposal does have exemptions for students with disabilities or those who have been previously held back for two or more years. Stats from the Indiana Department of Education say that nearly a quarter of third graders fail the reading section of annual statewide tests. Governor Daniels and Dr. Bennett posit that the single greatest cause of student failure is the inability to read.

I would hesitate on endorsing that last statement partly because I believe that it ignores underlying issues about why a student might not be able to read by the time he’s ready to be a Cubscout and partly because I don’t believe that it’s fatal for a person not to be able to read, especially in this day and age with all the technology we have available.

Even the commercially available Kindles will read text out loud for you now and in a product catalog I just received I saw a device that is like a camera and if you snap a picture with it, the device then reads out loud any text it sees. And did you know that your windows operating system now has a free text reader and also a free voice dictation program? There are lots and lots of new fangled ways to get around the ability of reading these days, apart from the tried and true methods that people have always had at their disposal; things such as asking to have something read to you or compensating by using auditory and picture clues to get at meaning in a text. And did you know that the man who invented and designed Cracker Jack toys could neither read or write or cipher? So it’s never held completely true that a non-reader will turn out to be a dismal failure in life.

That said, I do personally and professionally agree that the ability to read makes it much easier to succeed in life and I am for almost anything that will help children learn to read. Almost. What I’m just not sure about here is the issue of holding back a student because he can’t read or can’t read at grade level. What does that do to a child emotionally? What does it do to a parent emotionally?

I have to wonder also if the stats on the number of 3rd graders in the state that can’t read at grade level has nothing much to do with the instruction as much as it has to do with that the average IQ’s in any one population of people are between 90 and 110. If you look at this on a IQ bell curve, you’ll see that those with IQ’s between 80 and 90 comprise 16.1% of a population, those with IQ’s between 66 and 79 comprise 6.7% of a population and those with IQ’s below 65 comprise 2.2% of a population. If you do that math, that shows you that exactly 25% of the population have IQ’s below what is considered normal.

Now please don’t jump all over me about the meanings of IQ scores. I am, in fact, fairly well read on the subject and I do not maintain that we shouldn’t consider that there are other types of intelligences that haven’t been typically measured by IQ tests or that scores can’t be inaccurate or that scores can’t be affected by racial bias among other causes.

What I am trying to say to you is that it’s just flat out true that some people (and children are people too) are just plain smarter than other people. I’m sorry, but it’s true. And I’m also trying to point out that it’s probably a mite easier for a child of average or above intelligence to learn to read than it is for a child of below average intelligence and I can’t believe that I am the ONLY person who doesn’t find it coincidental that a quarter (25%) of Indiana’s 3rd graders can’t read at grade level and a quarter (25%) of any one random population of people have IQ’s below what is considered average.

Am I advocating against trying to teach those with IQ’s below 90 to read or to read more proficiently? NO! I’m not. I, personally have taught children to read who had IQ’s below 80. What I am saying is that it takes more time because they might learn more slowly, that it takes extra drill and repetition, that it sometimes takes smaller groupings of children or one on one attention, and that it sometimes takes different methods than the ones used in the typical elementary classroom.

What I am questioning however is whether or not it makes sense to hold them back in the 3rd grade. Has anyone that is going to make this decision looked at the research about the successes or failures of children who have been held back? Has anyone in our legislature been provided with statistics about what types of Reading methods provide the best instruction and remediation? Are they considering the logistics of what you are going to do when ¼ of your 3rd graders get held back? Does the state have the money for the extra instruction that will need to be provided or will they just make class sizes higher, ignoring a whole lot of research about the effects of primetime? (And yes, I have also read the research saying that the positive effects of primetime programs don’t hold after so many years but I’m waiting for researchers to come up with the real reasons for that before I dismiss the idea of being of worth.)

I’m pasting below a passage that is measured to be at a third grade reading level. I’m guessing that most people outside the field of education will be somewhat surprised about how difficult it is. What I’m also guessing is that about ¼ of the general population of anywhere in the US won’t be able to read it with comprehension. Should we put them all back in the 3rd grade? Is that the answer?


Types of Teeth
Everyone has several different types of teeth. Each type has a unique name and a different purpose. The teeth in the front of your mouth, and the easiest to see, are called incisors. There are four incisors on the top and four on the bottom. Incisors are shaped like tiny chisels with flat ends that are sharp. These teeth are used for cutting and chopping food. They are the first teeth to chew most food we eat. The pointed teeth on either side of your incisors are called canine teeth. People have a total of four canine teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. Because they are pointed and sharp, they are used to tear food.
Next to your canine teeth are the premolars. You have eight premolars in all, four on top and four on the bottom. They have a completely different shape than both the incisors and canines. That is because premolars are bigger, stronger, and have ridges – all of which makes them perfect for crushing and grinding food. Finally, there are your molars. You have eight of these, four on the top and four on the bottom. Molars are the toughest of the teeth. They are wider and stronger than premolars, and they have more ridges. Molars work closely with your tongue to help you swallow food. The tongue sweeps chewed food to the back of your mouth, where the molars grind it until it is mashed up and ready to be swallowed.
By age twenty, four more molars grow in the back of the mouth, one in each corner. These are called the wisdom teeth. People do not need wisdom teeth now, but many years ago these teeth were necessary to help people chew tough plants, which were an important part of the human diet. Now, many people get their wisdom teeth pulled by a dentist, a doctor who takes care of teeth, to keep them from crowding their other teeth.
The next time you eat, pay attention to which teeth do which jobs. Having a cookie? Incisors do a good job of biting into that tasty treat. What about a carrot? Those molars get the job done, not the teeth in front. How about a slice of pizza or a piece of bread? Your canines will help you tear at the food, and your premolars and molars will help you grind up that pepperoni pizza or peanut butter and jelly sandwich. © Jim Cornish

1. What do your molars do?
A. Tear your food.
B. Cut and chop your food.
C. Taste your food.
D. Grind and mash your food.

2. A tooth that looks like a chisel would be what shape?
A. Pointy and sharp.
B. Flat and sharp.
C. Curved and shiny.
D. Long and jagged.

3. What would be another good title for this reading passage?
A. Many Kinds of Molars.
B. The Food I Love to Eat.
C. How to Prevent Cavities.
D. Different Types of Teeth

4. Why do some teeth have different shapes?
A. To pass food to the back of the mouth.
B. To help us talk.
C. To help us chew tough plants.
D. To chew different types of food.

5. Why is the tongue important to the eating process?
A. It pushes food to the front of the mouth.
B. It helps people talk.
C. It pushes chewed food to the back of the mouth.
D. It sits next to the wisdom teeth.


*Extra credit question*

Do you believe that the Indiana State legislature should pass a law to hold students in the 3rd grade back from 4th grade if they cannot read the above passage? Yes or No.