Responding to a message by Sheila, to Charles on ...
SK>Regarding the California Reading Framework:
SK>
SK>-> "I don't mean to be defensive about the framework, but it was a
SK>-> philosophical document," says Grubb, who still insists teachers
SK>-> needn't spend very much classroom time on phonics or word decoding.
SK>-> "We didn't even cite researchers. It was philosophizing about making
SK>-> sense of one's world by using literature, and it promoted the idea
SK>-> that skills be taught to kids in the context of exploring literature,
SK>-> not from separate how-to books. It never said don't use phonics. It
SK>-> told teachers to look at the research about phonics on their own, and
SK>-> apply it wisely."

SK>I have conversed with math teachers who claim that the Standards and
SK>California framework _state_ that grade school teachers should no longer
SK>teach fractions. Yet, I have both of these documents and have read them,
SK>and nowhere in them can I find such a statement.
Then how is that mistake made?  The teachers must know SOMETHING about 
the frameworks, yet they have made such a major misinterpretation?  
And so many of them?  Are the teachers stupid?  Is the frameworks flawed 
because it does not adequately address the issue?  Something is amiss.
I find the same is true of the NCTM standards - they are being adopted 
all across the nation, yet the only understanding most teachers have of 
them is the quick blurb they hear on the news or in a faculty meeting.  
Few teachers, even those "following" the standards, have actually read 
them and understand them.  And of course, my favorite complaint, they do 
not stand as research based standards - based on repeated, large-scale 
studies.
SK>I wonder why the school my children attend, which is located in Los
SK>Angeles County, but not in L.A. Unified, has not been plagued by this
SK>problem? Perhaps because I live in an area with many professional
SK>parents who demand that their children do well in school? We do have
SK>"open enrollment" here in California, which allows parents to sign their
SK>kids up to attend any public school, regardless of where they live,
SK>providing their is room for the  child. The teachers at my children's
SK>school seem to teach a smattering of the traditional skills, including
SK>phonics. They do get grammar lessons, spelling tests and my daughter
SK>even brought home an old primer last year from which she had to read
SK>some stories for homework.
Perhaps they never adopted the whole language program hook, line and 
sinker, or perhaps they had already begun to make the transition back to 
a more traditional program before you placed your daughter in that school.
Chuck Beams
Fidonet - 1:2608/70
cbeams@future.dreamscape.com
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