SKrashen:
Charters are not superior to public schools and the public schools are not failing
Sent to the Wall Street Journal, Feb. 1, 2014The WSJ's enthusiasm for the Sgt. Marcus Lutheran school, and for charters in general, is not supported by the data ("The 'Progressive' War on Kids," February 1-2).An article in the Milwaukee Courier (October 12, 2013) revealed that St. Marcus Lutheran students perform well below the Wisconsin state average on state tests, with between 18 and
A better way to deal with summer loss in reading
Sent to the Seattle Times, Jan 31, 2014There is a much cheaper and much more effective way to deal with summer learning loss than adding 20 days of school to the school year ("How to solve summer learning loss and close the opportunity gap," January 30): Provide more access to interesting reading material. Research tells us that those living in poverty have the least access to books and
JAN 30
Krashen tele-presentation: accent
A Conjecture on Accent in a Second LanguageIn: Z. Lengyel, J. Navracsics, and O. Simon (Eds.) 1997. Applied Linguistic Studies in Central Europe, vol 1. Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Veszprem, Hungary. (available at sdkrashen.com)The hypothesis: We do not use our best accents because we feel silly.The"output filter": a block that keeps us from doing our best, from &
Krashen tele-presentation: reading
Some new evidence for an old hypothesis (self-selected pleasure reading is good for you!)Stephen Krashen www.sdkrashen.com twitter: skrashen Free voluntary reading – the source of reading ability, writing style, much of spelling, vocabulary, grammarThe evidenceSustained Silent Reading- The Fiji Island study (RRQ, 1983): Elley & Mangubhai: gains in RC Grade ALM SSR Big Books
JAN 28
A race to the top for tots?
Stephen Krashen, January 28, 2014 From President Obama's State of the Union Speech:"Research shows that one of the best investments we can make in a child's life is high-quality early education. Last year, I asked this Congress to help states make high-quality pre-K available to every 4- year-old. And as a parent as well as a president, I repeat that request tonight.But in the meantime, 30
JAN 27
Rewards for reading aloud?
To be published in the School Library JournalShould we provide rewards if parents read 1000 books aloud to their children ("Vivacious vocabulary," Jan. 2014)? Read-alouds are very pleasant for both parents and children. The vast majority of children say that they enjoy being read to: 97% in Walker and Kuerbitz (1979), 95% in Mason and Blanton (1971), and parents agree: Eighy-nine percent
JAN 26
The never-ending common core boondoggle
Sent to USA Today, January 25, 2014.I was happy to read that "Some states get cold feet as Common Core testing draws near," (Jan. 24). As Theodor Rebarber noted, estimates of costs should include technology. All common core tests must be delivered online, on up-to-date computers, which many schools do not have. This will cost billions, and we can be sure that as soon as the system is fun
JAN 25
Lively discussion (debate) in the Japan Times over libraries/recreational reading
Lively discussion in the Japan Times (Krashen vs. Chris Clancy)My original letter:Recreational reading will scorePublished in the Japan Times, January 19, 2014Regarding the Dec. 31/Jan. 1 article “English to get 2020 push but teachers not on the same page“: Experts have criticized Japan’s reform plan for English for not including enough hours of English instruction to accomplish its goals. They