While there are numerous reasons that our educational system has continuously lagged the rest of the world in outcome measures, this retired special educator is frustrated and amazed at the failure to address the fundamental reading ability of our children for so long. Perhaps some of you can point me to more optimistic and immediate indicators of a turnaround, beyond the “Southern Surge”, but it just seems to take forever. Perhaps an article such as this one in the well-read New Yorker will have some influence or our we just going to continue focusing our attention and national debate on whether some students can use the bathroom they prefer?
Thanks, Joel, for the astute observation. I share your hope that articles like this one will help sustain the focus. I hope that the forthcoming stories in E. Hanford's follow-on for her "Sold a Story" series will help bolster continuing interest in the issue. I'll watching for that.
Meanwhile, I wonder if it would help to identify success stories in places other than Mississippi, Louisiana, etc. There are schools in lots of states that are are succeeding. Perhaps we can identify them so that readers in those communities will have local examples at which to point.
While there are numerous reasons that our educational system has continuously lagged the rest of the world in outcome measures, this retired special educator is frustrated and amazed at the failure to address the fundamental reading ability of our children for so long. Perhaps some of you can point me to more optimistic and immediate indicators of a turnaround, beyond the “Southern Surge”, but it just seems to take forever. Perhaps an article such as this one in the well-read New Yorker will have some influence or our we just going to continue focusing our attention and national debate on whether some students can use the bathroom they prefer?
Thanks, Joel, for the astute observation. I share your hope that articles like this one will help sustain the focus. I hope that the forthcoming stories in E. Hanford's follow-on for her "Sold a Story" series will help bolster continuing interest in the issue. I'll watching for that.
Meanwhile, I wonder if it would help to identify success stories in places other than Mississippi, Louisiana, etc. There are schools in lots of states that are are succeeding. Perhaps we can identify them so that readers in those communities will have local examples at which to point.