SKrashen:
Invest in libraries and librarians
Sent to Los Angeles Times, Feb 24.Research and common sense tell us that we get better at reading (and writing, spelling, grammar and vocabulary) when we read a lot. But we can only read a lot if we have access to books. Most students in LAUSD are without access to books: they have nowhere to turn. Eighty percent of LAUSD students live in poverty, which means, among others things, very few books
FEB 23
Please take a closer look at the Common Core
Sent to the School Library Journal 2/23Librarians may be "findings aspects of the common core to celebrate"("What's happening at the core," Feb. 2014), but they are ignoring very serious problems. The standards might look like look like they involve "deeper levels of critical thinking" but they are completely untested. There were no pilot studies. The language arts s
FEB 21
Our focus should be on protecting children from the impact of poverty
Published in the Wall Street Journal, February 21.Response to: "A progressive education" (Editorial, Feb. 14)Your editorial sends the message that our public schools are failing. They aren't. When researchers control for the effects of poverty, American schools rank near the top of the world. Our overall scores are unspectacular because the child poverty rate in the U.S. is very high, 23