The Early Literacy Success Initiative

The Oregon Legislature passed HB 3198, The Early Literacy Success Initiative, which pays for reading tutors, teacher training and requires a shift to teaching methods based on decades of research.

The research that is quoted is the subject of debate: Which research? Why is some research labeled “The Science of Reading”? Will one method of reading instruction dominate other useful methods?How will school districts receive grants? How much testing and data collection is required? What type(s) of testing and data?

This educational online article, What I Learned From Debating the Science of Reading More Than 20 Years Ago Is Still True, is about the so-called “Science of Reading” was submitted by Prof Jerry Rosiek, University of Oregon Education Studies Dept., which was written by his friend Leigh Patel, Professor of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh.

She writes in her introduction:  

What I learned then that is still true:

Binaries kill nuance.

Research is never neutral.

Everything is political and cultural.

No singular reading approach will save us from racial capitalism let alone help us build freedom.