Part 1 of 2

As a veteran parent, I cannot stress how important the work of Tom and his organization the Westwood Reading Project really is in the 21st century. Why? The K to 12 education establishment across Canada, no matter what school do not as a rule, assess students’ ability on the sub-skills of reading. What they do assess, are what are called, . authentic assessment - “is different in at least two ways from the reading assessment measures we will be discussing. First, the goal of “authentic assessment” is to measure children’s application of broad literacy skills to authentic tasks, like gathering information for a report, use of literacy as a medium for social interactions, or ability to read a selection and then write a response to it. It also seeks to measure children’s enjoyment, ownership, and involvement in literacy activities both at school and at home.”  http://www.ldonline.org/article/225#assumptions

I urged parents to read the report of : Joseph K. Torgesen called Catch Them Before They Fall: Identification and Assessment to Prevent Reading Failure in Young Children, in the above link to understand what Tom is urgently trying to convey. Torgesen is one of the top reading researchers in the areas of reading remediation. http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/torgesen.dp.html

Yet Torgesen’s research as of other reading researchers has been buried in a deep dark cave in the bowels of the K to 12 education establishment.  Why does Tom have a steady supply of students coming in for reading remediation?  An assortment of students that includes the LD students, as well as the non-LD students?  One has to go back to the assessments being used in the primary grades, where my dyslexic child will passed the authentic reading assessment, even though she had low phonemic awareness.  Authentic reading assessments cannot and will not measured the sub-skills of reading. How did my child get missed along with the other students, who are failing to developed the sub-skills reading skills, and yet passed an authentic reading assessment?

How do the students land in the Westwood Reading Project? As Tom has stressed - “You have to test the components of reading, skill-by-skill. We will now show you a test for one of the most basic, most important skills.”  The public education establishment no longer test for the components of the sub-skills in reading, skill by skill, and as in 2001 or the year 2004 when my child was formally identified as having LD, with the major problem in low phonemic awareness - and now in 2014, no students whether high achievers or low achievers are tested to measured the sub-skills in reading in our public schools.

Part 2 of 2

As Tom has stressed in his previous post - ” Older students who read poorly are in deep trouble in every subject, no matter how smart they are. To catch up, they must improve faster than their classmates, but they are trapped in the slow lane of poor reading, falling farther and farther behind. Some of our kids have IEP’s, assessments, and accommodations; their school pushed extra paperwork for them, but never delivered effective help. These students have passed from grade to grade, next year they move on to high-school,  Time is running out and their shabby education has become a hair-on-fire emergency.

We are helping our students break that cycle and catch up with their peers. Working with a small group of volunteers, we drill them one-on-one with phonics until they develop phonological awareness, and teach them spelling patterns and morphology until they can decode words they have never seen before, and spell them plausibly.”  /index.php/blog/read/ask-yourself-this-question-why-arent-public-schools-doing-this-themselves

Three problems - 1. No effective prevention measures to prevent reading failure. 2. No effective assessments to assessed the sub-skills of reading at any grade. 3. Their is NO effective reading remediation at any grade.

Why? Simply because the Canadian public K to 12 education system are refusing to honour the research, and have opted to download the basics of the 3 Rs to the parents, and outside organizations such as Tom’s to provide it. As a parent, I fought for 12 years an education system that refuses to provide timely and effective education services for children with reading difficulties and children with low reading skills. The Canadian K to 12 education establishment want all children to guess and memorized words in the processes of learning to read and reading to learn. Apparently there is a magical transformation that takes place where children will learn to sound out words on their own…...............I disproved that little bit of magical thinking when my LD child came home from high school, reporting to me the top achievers who have difficulties in unknown words. One might expect that from the low-achievers, but high achievers who are associated with high reading skills?  The sub-set skills are important to one and all, and it does get very embarrassing when the top achievers are asking my LD child,who had some intensive lessons in learning the sounds and word decoding to sound out a word for them.  Unlike her fellow classmates, who were still guessing at the unknown words…..........to which really amazed my LD child.

Thank you Nancy.  It’s heartbreaking to see kids being promoted from grade to grade without ever being taught to read.  Schools could do much better if they wanted to. 

Teaching reading doesn’t take any formal training, it just requires attention and persistence, and a disciplined, phonics-based approach.

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By the way, the TDSB demanded we change our name from “Westwood Reading Project” so that there would be no confusion with their Westwood Middle School.  So we are now just plain “Community Reading Project”.

Does anyone think that the TDSB would approved a partnership with the Community Reading Project? No, because it would not meet the criteria, judging for reviewing the documents of the school in question and TDSB policy.

I took a look at the school, and my I would have a lot of questions. For example, for grade 6 and 7, English and Math are core subjects, but in grade 8, Math drops down to rotary subjects,  and where English is dropped altogether. In its replacement, it is now called Language under core subjects. http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/westwoodms/AboutUs.aspx

As well there is emphasis on the Arts, but it is rather odd the school received no supplementary funding for their enrichment programs in Arts. http://www.tdsb.on.ca/AboutUs/BusinessServices/BudgetsandFinancialStatements/SchoolBudgets.aspx?schoolNo=1593

The EQAO scores are nothing to raved about either - http://eqaoweb.eqao.com/eqaoweborgprofile/profile.aspx?_Mident=3284

One can conclude, Westwood is managing to do it on shoelace budget where the emphasis is on Arts and extracurricular activities. Absolutely no emphasis and no extra funding for improvement in literacy and numeracy. Not even after school tutoring classes,

On the front page of the school’s web site - “As part of the Toronto District School Board, we value

  * each and every student;
  * a strong public education system;
  * a partnership of students, schools, family and community;
    * the uniqueness and diversity of our students and our community;
    * the commitment and skills of our staff;
    * equity, innovation, accountability and accessibility; and
      * learning environments that are safe, nurturing, positive and respectful.

Our website is one way we can demonstrate these values.” http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/westwoodms/Home.aspx

Tom writes - “Most grade-8 students come to us reading at grade-3 level or less. You would think such poor reading would be evident, but often the parents don’t realize how serious the problem is.” 

Parents don’t realize how serious the problem is because they have had the wool pulled over their eyes, are told outright lies, myths that are seen as the truths, and that education is all about having fun, without mastering the basic skills in 3 Rs. As a parent who also went to school in Southern Ontario starting in 1960, I never truly appreciate the school until my youngest was in grade 1, in the year 2001. From grade 1 to grade 8, each September the whole class was tested for the sub-skills in reading and writing. The results were given to the teachers to sort out which kids needed extra help in the sub-skills of reading. Along came grade 5, it was the first week of October, the class was informed about the results, and as a result students change desks to correspond to their reading groups. Two students stuck out like a sore thumb, who placed number 4 and number 6 of having top scores in the reading sub-skills, but yet were put in the slowest reading group.

The two students was myself and another boy who sat across from me. The top reading group sitting on the other side of the classroom, got together and decided they were going to do something about it, and have us moved to the other side of the classroom. Our scores at the beginning and another set of different assessments at the end of year, put us in the top 20 % of students.  The students won, but we never did moved across the classroom because there was no room to put our desks, and no one to take our place at the C rows. Now reflecting about it now, no doubt the boy had some type of LD, just like I did…........but back then without 21st century knowledge, the teachers using good old fashion assessments that tested for the sub-skills of reading and as well as the higher foundational reading skills, rolled up their sleeves and brought each student up to grade reading level and above. At the end of grade 8,  the majority of students were at above grade 8 reading level, the minority of students were at grade 8 level. No student was below grade 8 reading levels.

Suffice to say, our core subjects were Math, English, Geography, History, Science. For English it was broken down to subtopics such as Literature. We also had Gym three times a week and Arts once a week, taking up the whole afternoon. Except for the latter two subjects, fail one of the core subjects, one had to repeat a grade. Two differences between my school of the 1960s and the 21st century Ontario school. The teachers of the 1960s sure knew how to remediate and correct reading and writing deficits and our school had daily grammar, spelling and composition lessons. The 21st century schools no longer do the latter, nor do they ensure good reading skills for one and all, and overall, pretty weak for teaching the foundational knowledge to achieve.

I’m interested in learning more about online seminars.

Render unto the phonics teachers ONLY the English words that are phonetically correct. Render unto the whole word teachers ONLY the words that are not phonetically correct.  The students of both groups of teachers will have reading deficiencies.

Can we change the “k” on the word spinner to a “ck”? (to be more in alignment with short words with short vowels ending with a /k/ sound)
Also, can we add an “ll” to the end consonants group? (to complete the floss rule spelling patterns)

Hi Martha, 

This is the simplest of the spinners, and meant only for testing blending.  There are more complex ones to test phonics, and they incorporate your suggestions.  They also test consonant clusters, consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs, etc.

Specifically I have avoided ‘ll’ because there are so many exceptions - for example the ‘-all’ which sound like ‘-awl’ (ball) and the ‘-ull’ words which often sound like ‘-ool’ (pull).

Poor reading skills are an acquired life long handicap resulting in marked lowering of life standard and enjoyment.  That a significant percentage of Ontario students are not being taught these skills is educational malpractice by educrats and teachers who are among the world’s best paid with a short working day, year and career with ability to retire fully pensioned at age 55.  The educational establishment (made up entirely of teachers or former teachers aside from elected politicians who come and go) should be taken to task publicly for negligence in the critical areas of reading and math ability in too many cases instead of constantly patting themselves on the back.  Even some student achievement for which the public school system takes credit is the work of private tutors hired by those parents who can afford them e.g.  my son’s perfect mark in Gr.12 calculus was due in large part to Kumon math.  Too often money is wasted on policies like small class size that teachers love for the decreased work load but that do not improve student performance as much as if it were spent on early remedial reading programs, for example.

I would like to bring attention to the shame theory. On the Children of the Code web site where the top and global reading researchers have opened up their reading research to the public, and the same research that is buried deep in bowels of the K to 12 public education system hidden from the prying eyes of the classroom educators, the students, the parents and the public.

“Most children who struggle with reading experience the struggle as a reflection of something wrong with themselves - something to be ashamed of. Unintentionally but pervasively, parents, schools, and society as a whole contribute to perpetuating this insidious myth. Children don’t think that their reading troubles might be the result of normal differences in their genes and brains analogous to being tall or short - they don’t think that maybe their parents, siblings, and other care-givers didn’t engage them in enough conversation before they started school - they don’t think that their teachers didn’t teach them correctly - they don’t think the confusion they experience is a consequence of an archaic and artificially complex ‘code’ that presents a completely unnatural processing challenge to their brains… no, they blame themselves - they feel ashamed of themselves - ashamed of their minds. Statements like: “I’m dumb”, “I’m stupid”, “I’m not smart”, “I’m not good in school” are all strategies to protect themselves from the shame they feel.

None of us like to engage in activities that cause us to feel ashamed of ourselves.  So what happens to children who feel ashamed of themselves when learning to read?  They are in serious danger. The shame they feel not only motivates them to avoid reading, it also fosters self-dis-esteem and undermines the cognitive capacities they need to learn to read in the first place. Millions of children are caught in this learning-disabling downward spiral. Not only are they in danger of being poor readers, which is learning disabling with respect to educational content access, they are also in danger of developing aversions to other learning situations that trigger similar shameful feelings. Such mind-shame is learning disabling and it can have a very powerful effect on how children learn their way into adulthood.”
http://www.childrenofthecode.org/

The Children of the Code web site, provides the science evidence to back up Tom’s, 110 % plus.  The second direction, is to direct the readers to the sister web site of the Children of the Code - Stewarding Healthy Learning - http://www.learningstewards.org/

The latest blog post - Do you see what I see? The Child, the Child…  “Most of the children who chronically struggle with learning these critical skills began the process of learning them without having sufficiently developed the sub-process proficiencies that learning them depends on. All higher-order skills depend on lower-order processes (e.g. attention span, working memory, linguistic differentiation, processing speed, emotional stability and resilience…). If the lower-order processes are inadequate at supporting the higher-order skill learning that depends upon them, learning those higher-order skills becomes significantly more difficult.

The reasons for such sub process improficiencies are many. Some children have innate wiring differences that make learning these skills harder; some didn’t receive sufficient stimulation during their sensitive slopes of development; some developed unhealthy emotional behaviors that interfere with focus; some grew up in impoverished family language environments; some have chronic health issues including poor nutrition; and most have received, and are receiving, instruction (dysteachia) that fails to adaptively bridge these ‘readiness’ issues with instruction and that engenders maladaptive cognitive strategies.”  http://www.learningstewards.org/do-you-see-what-i-see/

Tom’s work is so very important Tom is trying to correct after the fact on a set of children who have been well trained in the use of maladaptive cognitive strategies carefully nurtured by the prevalent practices of whole language reading ideologies and instruction that is in general use in our K to 12 education system.

Tom’s pop-up schools are a true blessing, and his work could be considered a mental health innovation in the 21st century. Not only does Tom, improved the overall reading skills of his children, but he has also improved the mental health of his children - the children no longer think they are stupid, dumb or too stupid for school. Pity, how the K to 12 education establishment ignores Tom’s pop-up schools and as well as the reading science research, where whole language and its variants have been disproved as being ineffective and just plain bad for most students.

First of all, what an incredible project. There’s nothing as amazing as finding things that need change and then working on them relentlessly. Bravo!

Reading is one of those underrated skills. You’re right, a lot of grade 8 students have the skill level of a much younger person. I often think that it has to do with shaky foundations. I saw that a few schools tried to rectify that by installing reading apps (http://www.jumpstart.com/parents/games/reading-games) or allowing computer times to learn to read but without the stress. Kids do learn better when it’s a game.

However, I do believe that the right instruction, like the blend and segmentation method you’ve mentioned here are key to permanent learning. I do also believe that kids are intelligent and our teaching techniques need to be altered a bit.

Bravo on a fantastic job. These pop up schools sound just the kind of innovation our education system needs right now!

Jaqueline:  Thank you for the kind words. 

Following the posting of this blog (and an email blast by the SQE), I received many emails from desperate parents.  So we experimented with Skype and now have a half-dozen parents helping their older children become readers, from Winnipeg to Newfoundland.

We provide the software, plus coaching and support via Skype and email.  I’m working on documentation and we are expanding the website.  It’s all free.

In my dreams, this will go viral - a parent who has helped their own child might coach the next parent.

I’ll report on this project in another blog posting, probably in 2-3 weeks.  But in the meantime, if you know a parent of a struggling reader, pass this along.

Tom, in your next blog posting - please tell us if the parents are hailing for rural or urban locations. Just curious, on the parent from NL.

P.S. Wonderful to use Skype technology to expand operations

Hi Nancy,  this few data-points don’t give any useful insight.  But I am going to collect postal codes going forward.

The postal codes also give ‘proximity’ for possible meet-ups between parents.