HIGH FIVE LITERACY AND ACADEMIC COACHING

What does Big Tobacco have in common with the three big players in literacy education – Lucy Calkins’ Teachers College Reading and Writing Workshop, Reading Recovery, and Fountas and Pinnell?  

They are all enterprises that knew about the dangers or ineffectiveness of their products for years, ignored the facts, and, when called out and held accountable, purported to reinvent themselves by altering their products and engaging in misleading and deceptive advertising in the hopes that we would not look too closely.  The Tobacco industry began offering its customers filtered and “lite” cigarettes, which, although somewhat better than the unfiltered cigarettes of the past, are still known to cause severe harm to users.   

The “big three” in literacy education, unapologetically marketing and selling literacy programs based on the scientifically discredited “balanced literacy” philosophy, have recently been shocked into accountability by the well-deserved criticism they have received from parents, researchers, and education advocates.  In response, they have sought to “tweak” their products and marketing to make it seem like they are adapting to the times or that they have always followed the science. 

However, this is deceptive advertising.  If we dig deeper, we can only conclude that the big three always knew the science existed and chose to ignore it, and their coordinated effort to reinvent themselves at this time consists of nothing more than using slogans and soundbites.  Although reinvention can be a positive, they have used partial truths and skewed research to fool the public and school administrators into believing that they are still relevant in a changing world.  Instead of truly changing, however, they expertly sliced and diced data in order to maintain their standings and market shares.   But, their continued existence in the marketplace creates real-world consequences.  It’s time that they be held accountable for their unethical behavior.

As we approach the end of 2020, it’s time to look ahead and learn from mistakes made in the past.  There is no room for compromise anymore.  It is time to burn the boat.  Here are just a few suggestions: 

• Some believe that a class-action lawsuit alleging that the big three violated consumer protection laws by knowingly promoting literacy programs that damage children should be given serious consideration.     

• A school board election can be an opportunity to bring awareness to candidates who might not know about the issue and would otherwise support the status quo without any critical discussion or insight.  (I was recently contacted by a school board member who was seeking more information so he could ask the right questions of his district’s administrators).  By attending and speaking up at school board meetings, parents can and should make it difficult for incumbents to continue the cycle of complacency.  

• Petitions can be circulated on social media to enlighten consumers and expose companies, like Heinemann Publishing, that choose to peddle products to school districts that fly in the face of reading science.

• The same way shareholders have a say in the way a company runs its business, school districts should be viewed as business models, and residents can actively participate in decisions made with their tax dollars.  We need to become financially astute in looking at school expenditures and seeing the return on investment.  If school districts are morally and fiscally responsible, then they should want to increase the likelihood of success for all students.  Administrators must be instructional leaders, and they must answer to the public if they want to continue in their roles.  

• The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) publishes a Teacher Prep Review which examines which universities have embraced reading science and rates them according to certain standards.  This should be taken one step further.  Universities that have not changed their teacher education programs, despite the science, should be identified with warning labels, just like cigarette cartons.  The warning could say something like the following: “THE NCTQ HAS DETERMINED THAT BALANCED LITERACY IS AN INEFFECTIVE PHILOSOPHY FOR TEACHING READING AND MAY BE DANGEROUS TO A CHILD’S LITERACY HEALTH.”  It is a low-cost, effective measure to alert pre-service teachers to consider whether they want to attend a university that teaches antiquated and discredited practices. 

Unless we seek solutions outside of school walls and continue to expose the misleading and manipulative re-branding efforts, the education malpractice will continue. As the big three will continue to co-opt the science and recycle the same old, same old, we must try something new.

Hindsight is always 20/20.  Let’s have some foresight in 2021.  The future is filled with possibilities.

Faith Borkowsky is the founder of High Five Literacy and Academic Coaching with over thirty years of experience as a classroom teacher, reading and learning specialist, regional literacy coach, administrator, and tutor. Ms. Borkowsky is a Certified Dyslexia Practitioner and provides professional development for teachers and school districts, as well as parent workshops, presentations, and private consultations. Ms. Borkowsky is the author of the award-winning book, Failing Students or Failing Schools? A Parent’s Guide to Reading Instruction and Intervention and the “If Only I Would Have Known…” series.  She is also a board member of Teach My Kid to Read, a 501(c) non-profit organization with a mission to support and empower students, teachers, and parents through education so all kids, including those with dyslexia, learn to read.