What happened to reading? Part 8

The series concludes with an analysis of low expectations, weak accountability, and learned helplessness.

Originally published in the Moultrie News.

What happened to reading?

This week, we conclude our series on the causes of American students’ reading decline by discussing the impacts of low expectations, weak accountability, and learned helplessness.

The problems begin early when schools allow kids to languish for years before seriously addressing developmental reading problems.

Kids shouldn’t be pushed out of first or second grade if they can’t read on a first or second-grade level. Studies have shown a 90 percent chance that poor first-grade readers will remain poor later on. Early reading development is so crucial it could justifiably be the sole criterion for retaining a child in those grades. And when retained, kids shouldn’t float through a repeat of the same subjects. They should be immersed in quality reading instruction to ensure they never have to be retained again.

Do we do that? No. Of the several states with reading-based retention policies, retention isn’t usually mandated until third grade. That’s too late. The critical period for reading acquisition is long gone by then.

After third grade, when kids are no longer learning to read but supposedly “reading to learn,” problems with accountability and expectations start to take their toll.

Last week, I mentioned teachers’ reluctance to let children read independently, citing the decline in reading’s popularity. But there’s another reason: Too many teachers don’t believe children can read independently.

Reading isn’t easy. It takes time and patience. The payoff is rewarding if the texts are good, but the journey can be arduous for even fluent readers.

Regrettably, the system has given up on making students do things — like reading — that are too hard. There are several reasons, including fear of harming children’s self-esteem, errant attempts to close the achievement gap, and educator laziness.

As a result, reading teachers are turning to comics, excerpts, audiobooks, videos, podcasts, and sometimes even nothing to replace the challenges of independent reading. Unless your child is among the elite (and often even then), opportunities to develop reading skills, particularly in grades 3-8, are evaporating.

Education’s slouch toward zero student accountability means that even when kids are assigned quality texts, they aren’t held responsible for reading them. If the only accountability for reading a challenging book is bull jiving their way through a class discussion, creating an art project, or writing a report where the book’s contents can quickly be cribbed from the internet, many kids will duck the challenge.

This becomes a bigger problem when teachers eschew whole-class reading and let kids read whatever they want— so-called “voice and choice.” The premise is good, but the problem is formidable — teachers can’t read all those books, so how do they ensure kids are actually reading them?

Before the “zero accountability” movement, the problem was solved with programs like Accelerated Reader (AR): kids chose their books and were held responsible for reading them by taking text-based digital quizzes. But kids who didn’t read couldn’t pass, and since failure is forbidden, schools are distancing themselves from AR.

Learned helplessness also plays a role in reading’s decline. Reading teachers are fast becoming the “helicopter parents” of instruction. They don’t assign texts — they belabor them. They pump class time with endless streams of “background knowledge” to prep kids for simple stories. They hover over the reading process, constantly explaining passages and defining unfamiliar words. Once the reading is complete, they maneuver students through written rehashes and cooperative projects.

The continual handholding doesn’t facilitate more reading; it kills it. Imagine trying to play basketball where the coach calls a timeout after every play. Would you even know what a real game is supposed to be? Basal readers were roughly 90 percent texts and 10 percent supplemental instructional materials when I started teaching. My brand-new 8th-grade basal is 40 percent text and 40 percent instruction (and 20 percent fluff). Such learned helplessness seriously jeopardizes independent reading.

So we end where we began. Professors report students no longer arrive at college prepared to read books. Washington Post columnist Ishaan Tharoor has said today’s youth is “trending toward post-literacy.” Hopefully, we now better understand how to avoid the onrushing dystopia. The question is: Will anyone in education do anything about it?

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Jody Stallings has been an award-winning teacher in Charleston since 1992 and is director of the Charleston Teacher Alliance. To submit a question, order his books, or follow him on social media, please visit JodyStallings.com.