The tricky business of removing balanced literacy
🗑️♻️ There is no magical switch. There will, however, be recycling.
I have a friend who works at one of my district’s elementary schools. She mentioned the other day that she felt bad for custodians.
Knowing being a custodian is a tough job in and of itself I asked why.
“Because of all the materials being taken out of classrooms,” she said. “It’s staggering. They’re like - what on earth is going on?”
You see, after years of using balanced literacy, including Journeys, my district is making the switch to evidence-based programming. They chose not to renew its license per DESE recommendation.
This is great news and a really big positive step. But it’s not necessarily a clean one, systematically. From my seat, I feel like there are a lot of perspectives that should be recognized.
Dear Administrators,
Thank you for not renewing our materials listed as low quality by DESE over the past few years. Instead, choosing to invest in higher-quality instructional materials for literacy.
Dear Teachers,
Thank you for your hard work, year after year. The pandemic and its intensity … all I can say is thank you for weathering that storm.
Now, an entirely new approach to teaching literacy coming is coming your way. There will be new materials. There will be training. There will be a shift. There will be learning curves and adjustments in day-to-day approaches and then some.
As a parent whose child did not do well with balanced literacy materials and approaches, please know that your efforts will be very much appreciated. It’s not just children with dyslexia that will benefit; it will lift all children. Please keep at it.
Dear Students,
You will not be encouraged to “take a picture walk” as my son was. There has been growing awareness within education that guessing words does not build strong readers, despite what Lucy Calkins led countless to believe. Children like you need to learn how to break down words, as well as connect letters and letter combinations to sounds. While there is more to reading than just those skills, it’s a start. The foundation for all the good stuff to come.
Some of you are younger, and will not really know a seismic change is happening in your school. You are the luckier ones.
Some of you are older. You are passed the learning to read years likey and into the reading to learn era. Only you cannot read well, if at all. You are struggling either visibly or invisibly. Reading is incredibly hard. You may hide what you don’t know. Or you might avoid, maybe even act out. Going to the principals is easier than reading aloud to your class, after all.
You are not alone.
Dyslexia affects 1 in 5 people. Look around you. Of that hockey team of 5 on the ice, statistically 1 player has dyslexia — each shift.
Know that adults who could not read all their lives can and do learn to with the right instruction. Oliver James, for example, is doing it at 34.
Dear Parents,
Learning to read is a fundamental right. Children do not have to fail before getting support. Children in K can be screened. There are Child Find (Massachusetts) laws for a reason.
Overview of Federal Child Find Requirements Under IDEA Part B
All children with disabilities ages 3 through 21 residing in the State, including children with disabilities who are in foster care, homeless, homeschooled, or attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their disability, and who are in need of special education and related services, must be identified, located, and evaluated. Child find must include children who are suspected of being a child with a disability and in need of special education, even if they are advancing from grade to grade. For more information about federal child find requirements, please see the United States Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), Return to School Roadmap: Child Find Under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Aug. 24, 2021)(Child Find guidance).
In other words, keep learning, keep asking, keep advocating. If your child is already struggling, do not wait for new materials to roll out. Do not wait and see if your child has a better teacher match come the fall. Do. Not. Wait.
Express concerns. Trigger testing. Document, document, document.
Removing balanced literacy from classrooms is a positive step, but there is still an incredibly long way to go.
Dear Custodians,
Thank you for all that you do, especially this year’s recycling!