Learn To Read Then Read To Learn

The Sunday edition of the Indianapolis Star had a nice article entitled Our Children Our City that mentioned a volunteer program called ReadUp.  There was a picture of a ReadUp volunteer reading together with a scholar that brought a smile to my face as I started my second career as a volunteer.  The ReadUp program is seeking volunteers to spend one hour a week reading with third and fourth grade scholars.  The article stated that so far seventeen people have come forward as volunteers but more than two hundred scholars are waiting for someone to read with them.  As you can see the need for volunteers in our schools is great but what gives me cause for concern is that some of the grade levels being supported by ReadUp are third and fourth grade.

At the end of the last school year I did some teacher biography data entry into out school's website.  While doing this one of the teachers put in her bio the following statement, first you learn to read and then you read to learn.  The learn to read process runs from kindergarten through the second grade.  The read to learn process begins in the third grade and goes forward for life.  Knowing this I find it a bit disappointing that ReadUp is reading to third and fourth grade scholars when in fact these scholars should not be learning to read but reading to learn.  Sadly I know why ReadUp is working with third and fourth grade scholars.  In the state of Indiana every third grade scholar must take and pass an IRead3 test.  In theory if the scholar fails the test she/he is supposed to repeat the third grade.  Well, for the majority of third graders that fail to pass the test that does not happen.  A conservative estimate of the number of third graders that fail IRead3 at my school is thirty percent.  With approximately twenty five third grade scholars in each of the three third grades you're talking at about twenty two scholars who should be repeating third grade.  Sorry, but that is enough scholars to require the school to start another classroom and hire an additional teacher and that is not going to happen.

I checked with my part time consultant and part time editor and full time spouse to see how long the IRead3 testing process has been in place.  She thinks it's been four or five years.  If you do the math that means that somewhere between eighty and one hundred scholars are in my school right now that are not reading at grade level.  I'm not an education expert but with the high number of scholars in my school not reading at grade level something is broken.  So what's broke?  I'll start with IRead3.  This testing process has clearly identified scholars who do not have the ability to read but at the cost of a few million dollars a year.  If the state of Indiana wants to spend millions of dollars to identify scholars that haven't learned how to read and then ignores the results and promotes the scholars to the next grade level something is seriously wrong.  It's my opinion that it is time to abandon IRead3 and find a better use for the millions of dollars that is wasted on this program every year.

Here is the other part of the reading process that I believe is broken.  Just a short distance down the hallway from my classroom are the three second grades.  On average each classroom has twenty five scholars with a teacher who gets no support from an instructional assistant or even a volunteer.  That's twenty five scholars and one teacher and this is the last grade level where you learn to read so you can begin reading to learn. Given the failure rate of third grade scholars who take the IRead3 test something is wrong with what goes on in the second grade.  I'm going to say it right now and say it strongly, don't even think about blaming the teachers.  I know all three of the second grade teachers very well and we do not have a teacher problem.  In fact, four years ago when I was a volunteer the first classroom I stepped into was with one of these teachers. As I do today, I had a nice view from the back of the room and I recognized immediately that there were too many scholars in this classroom.  So what's broke?  A teacher can't spend the required time to teach each scholar how to read with twenty five scholars crammed into the classroom.  Testing history shows that at some point thirty percent of these scholars will fall behind in their reading ability and the teacher simply can't divide herself/himself into enough parts to help twenty five scholars that are at different reading levels.

So what is the fix?  IRead3 results plus results from the state mandated ISTEP testing in reading and math clearly indicate that a class size of twenty five or more is not working.  Knowing this the first thing to do is downsize the classroom especially in the kindergarten through second grade classrooms.  What is the ideal amount of scholars in these early grade levels, I'm thinking twelve.  It would be much easier for a teacher to manage and as soon as a scholar gives indications that she/he is struggling the teacher can focus a lot more attention on that scholar. Will the class sizes in kindergarten through second grade be downsized any time soon?  No!  Why not?  Money!  The sad situation is that there is money but that would require risk takers to say enough with the millions of dollars spent on IRead3 and enough with the tens of millions of dollars spent on ISTEP testing.  It will take a risk taker to step up and redirect that money so that class sizes in kindergarten through second grade can be cut in half which would give a teacher a real opportunity to put all these young scholars on an immediate track toward a successful education.

I've been living in Indianapolis for over thirty years and during all that time education has been at the forefront.  It's time for a change.  It's time for a risk taker to step up and take education by the horns and move it in a new direction and here is the proof that what is happening now is failing.  A frequent visitor to the editorial page of the Indianapolis Star wrote an article entitled: Give yourself the gift of learning.  The author is a Abdul-Hakim Shabazz.  In his editorial piece he makes reference to the 7,300 jobs that go unfilled here in the immediate Indianapolis area.  These are jobs that pay from $14 to $16 per hour but are not filled.  Why?  There are not enough candidates coming out of our schools with the required skills to fill these jobs.

First you learn to read and then you read to learn.  Unfortunately thirty percent of the scholars in the first you learn to read part of the previous sentence have not learned to read.  We can't continue going down that path.  It's time for a change.  It's time for that risk taker to step up.  Hopefully I will not have to wait another thirty years before that change happens. Yikes!  That means I'll be ninety five.