Thursday, April 22, 2021

Dismantling the “Science of Reading” and the Harmful Reading Policies in its Wake – radical eyes for equity

Dismantling the “Science of Reading” and the Harmful Reading Policies in its Wake – radical eyes for equity
Dismantling the “Science of Reading” and the Harmful Reading Policies in its Wake



After emailing me about new reading legislation being proposed in North Carolina—next door to my home state of South Carolina that also has jumped on the “science of reading” bandwagon—Ann Doss Helms of WFAE (NPR, Charlotte, NC) interviewed me by phone.

I have given dozens of interviews about education over the last 15 to 20 years, and they all have a similar pattern; the journalist tosses out predictable questions and then becomes somewhat disoriented by my answers. Typically, the journalist at some point notes they didn’t know or had never heard the information I offered, the context and complications I raised about the topic.

My conversation with Helms was no different as we gradually peeled back the layers of the onion that is the “science of reading” as well as the very harmful reading policies that are being proposed and adopted in its wake.

Over the past couple years, I have blogged almost nonstop and written a book on the “science of reading” media narrative and how it is oversimplified and misleading but very compelling and harmful since state after state is adopting CONTINUE READING: Dismantling the “Science of Reading” and the Harmful Reading Policies in its Wake – radical eyes for equity