Point of View

No Child Left Behind: Executive Summary

By: George W. Bush (2001)

The Bush administration's program, No Child Left Behind, is a plan for educational reform that is targeted at changing the use of federal funds to close the achievement gap and improve achievement levels. The following is excerpted from the executive summary.

The Latest Dismal NAEP Scores

By: E. D. Hirsch, Jr. (2001)

The NAEP 2000 reading results provides further evidence of a longstanding gap in verbal skills between rich and poor children in the United States. This article describes the history of this achievement gap, speculates on its causes, and makes recommendations for closing it.

Do Preschoolers Need Academic Content?

By: Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst (2001)

Reading skills provide a critical foundation for children's academic success. Children who read well read more and, as a result, acquire more knowledge in numerous domains.

Broad Claims From Slender Findings

By: Richard Allington (2000)

It seems, suddenly, de rigeur for advocates of particular approaches to early literacy instruction to assert that the "research says" particular curricular and instructional policies are necessary or, at least, appropriate.

The Right Kind of Reading War

By: U.S. Department of Education (1999)

The phrase "reading war" has been the popular description for long-running disagreements about the best way to teach children to read. Fierce battles have been waged by academics and theorists since the late 1800s (McCormick, 1999), with classroom teachers often spinning like weathervanes as they tried to align classroom practices with the prevailing winds.

The Case Against "Tougher Standards"

By: Alfie Kohn (1999)

The call for higher standards is a common but problematic one that disregards students, according to this author. The author points out five fatal flaws of the standards movement, in terms of motivation, pedagogy, evaluation, school reform, and improvement.

Seven Myths About Literacy in the U.S.

By: Jeff McQuillan (1998)

In this provocative article, the author argues that reading achievement hasn't changed much in several decades, and that many common notions about a reading crisis are, in fact, myths.