Word: grades
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...writing them for the first time (Iowa is the lone holdout). The term standards in this case refers to something quite specific: official, written guidelines that define what a state expects its public school students to know and be able to do. Some states have set standards for every grade; others measure students' progress over periods of several years...
When Alexis Muskie talks about her daughter's experience learning to read, she begins to cry. Muskie, whose father-in-law was the late Senator and Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, lives in Peterborough, N.H. Before her daughter Olivia entered first grade, it became apparent that she would need some extra help, and so she received phonics tutoring in addition to her classroom instruction. But the school district had adopted the "whole language" approach to teaching reading. "There was a conflict between the special-ed teacher and the whole-language teacher," Muskie says. "The whole-language teacher was saying...
...read, she too begins to cry. Avery, from Millersville, Pa., recently served as president of the National Council of Teachers of English. Like most other members of that organization, she is a committed, sincere believer in whole language. "Mary knew how to read when she got to first grade," Avery says. "I asked her what she read in school, and she said, 'We don't read stories; we do papers.'" By "papers" Mary meant phonics work sheets. "She had a terrible time that year," Avery continues, now holding back tears. "She cried every night. She had to stand...
...reading achievement in the U.S. is low. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, 44% of U.S. students in elementary and high school read below the "basic" level, meaning they exhibit "little or no mastery of the knowledge and skills necessary to perform work at each grade level." Seventy-two percent of blacks scored below basic; 32% of fourth-graders whose parents both had college degrees also failed to reach the basic level...
...that beginning readers who were systematically taught phonics performed better than those who were not. She made it clear, though, that phonics instruction should not consist of mindless drills, should not be done to the exclusion of reading stories and should not extend beyond the first half of first grade...