Common Core Kindergarten Reading—A Disservice to Children!
An article in U.S. News and World Report written by Robert Pondiscio, a journalist turned fifth grade teacher for a while (how he became a teacher is unclear), is entitled,“No Time to Lose” and “Early Reading Isn’t a Threat to Kindergarten, Nor is Common Core.” Pondiscio is now a senior advisor to a charter school named Democracy Prep Public School, in Harlem, and executive director of CitizenshipFirst, a group emphasizing the teaching of civics. He is not a reading specialist that I know of.
Pondiscio was also vice-president for the Core Knowledge Foundation, an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1986 by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. Hirsch is considered the father of the Common Core. You can learn more about him and the group in the link above.
Of course, Pondiscio likes Common Core, though he acknowledges he understands why some might question it. But he believes children should be learning to read in kindergarten. The use of the title words No Time to Lose presents an element of emergency to scare Americans into thinking they need to accept the changes being foisted upon their children.
Pondiscio makes a serious mistake, however, in this article, criticizing a paper done byDefending the Early Years (DEY) and The Alliance for Childhood entitled“Reading Instruction in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose.” Both are well-respected, well-known, early childhood advocacy groups, run by experts with serious credentials in the area of early childhood education. The paper, authored Common Core Kindergarten Reading—A Disservice to Children!:
