The Reading Wars? Who’s Talking About Reading and Class Size?
…extensive research in the reading difficulties of children show that large classes are the basic cause of failure in reading as well as in other subjects.
~Professor Arthur I. Gates, nationally known authority in the field of reading instruction. Elementary School Journal; February 1937.
When parents and teachers debate phonics and whole language, they might be ignoring a real problem facing their children in the classroom—the difficulty that steals a teacher’s ability to address the individualized reading needs a student brings to school.
That problem is huge class sizes! If you note the date of the quote above, it’s 1937!
In 2018, few still discuss class size in relationship to reading instruction along with reading disabilities and dyslexia. Many policymakers and corporate reformers like to push the class size issue under the rug.
The reading wars, on the other hand, often create opposition between teachers and parents. This rift can hurt public schools, and more importantly students. There are many who believe this conflict is designed to do just that!
Some researchers proclaim that class size doesn’t matter, that it is simply not cost efficient. So there’s no point in addressing it. But class size research disputing the Continue reading: The Reading Wars? Who’s Talking About Reading and Class Size?
