Undercover Readers

This might be a reason kids have stopped reading books – at least in Houston, Texas.

It seems Houston Independent School District elementary teachers have been forced to sneak chapter reading into their instructional day, since the district’s curriculum department is requiring learning time to be focused on other types of reading designed to prepare young learners to be ready when high-stakes tests roll around. Lisa Falkenberg, columnist for the Houston Chronicle, addressed the issue in a recent article. Here are excerpts from Falkenberg’s column:

“Knowing the stakes, Rose and her classmates at their west-side elementary practiced the drill just as their teacher instructed.”

“The third graders kept a stack of worksheets tucked underneath their chapter books at all times as they took turns reading aloud with their teacher. At any moment, they knew, their teacher might get an urgent text that district officials were on campus. Rose’s mother says a staff apparently send alerts using a secret code of emojis to signal which classrooms the officials were coming for.”

“When Rose’s teacher gave the word, the children were trained to stop reading and place their books inside their desks. They’d grab pencils and pretend to be engrossed in a packet of test prep.”

“Rose always placed her book with the open side down so as not to lose her page. She was smitten by the gallant, non-conforming little mouse who takes on the cunning dungeon rats in Kate DiCamillo’s book ‘The Tale of Despereaus.’ The 8-year-old never thought she’d be part of a daring plot in her own classroom.”

“’I just wanted to read the book,’ Rose, now 9, told me in a recent interview.”

…

“Turns out, reading a good book in an Houston ISD classroom has become a difficult feat on campuses targeted by a state takeover that seems more focused on raising reading test scores than raising life-long readers.”

“Books – actual books with dust jackets, spines, whimsical illustrations, and characters and cliffhangers – are increasingly unwelcome in the land of worksheets and slide shows. Teachers say that, with few exceptions, the only stories allowed in the early grades of state-appointed HISD Superintendent Mike Miles’ New Education System [NES] are minced into dry text that teachers read from manuals. The few approved books focus on phonics.”

…

“Teachers and parents fear the long-term effects of young children being taught reading as a technical skill – something on part with typing – rather than a source of creativity and inspiration.”

“’I’ve taught over 450 kids how to read and it’s much harder to do it without books,’ said a veteran teacher at a northside NES elementary school. ‘It’s harder to get them to understand the joy.’”

Could it be that social media isn’t the real culprit when it comes to kids not spending time reading? Come to think of it, most of the complaints about kids not reading in favor of scrolling through TikTok and Instagram emanate from our K-12 system and institutions of higher education.

Maybe the real culprit causing kids not to read is that our traditional systems have become nothing more than testing systems – for over 50 years now.

To imagine a kid not being able to read a book in a school.

A school!

I don’t see how anyone could defend what is seemingly going on in Houston – and maybe elsewhere.

Oh, and one more thing. The Texas Education Agency just announced a state takeover of Fort Worth Independent School District. Beware Fort Worth! You might be going down the same road as your neighbors to the South.

I’ll be off tomorrow, but back Wednesday. Til then. SVB