[LM_NET] SHARE: Don't Jail Teachers, Improve Libraries

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@GMAIL.COM>]

Library-advocate and reading professor Stephen Krashen shared this
through his blog on December 13, 2009 and since then it has been
reposted to the English Companion Ning.
http://englishcompanion.ning.com/profiles/blogs/dont-jail-teachers-improve
  I thought it might be good for us to see how things appear to those
who can't seem to find the obvious solution right in front of them.
Krashen has it right...Don't Jail Teachers, Improve Libraries
.....(and in my opinion....hire certified school librarians to teach
students IL skills).

Here's the blog from Krashen and an excerpt of the news article that
prompted his reply:

*****************************************************
DON'T JAIL TEACHERS, IMPROVE LIBRARIES


Detroit is looking in all the wrong places to explain their low
reading scores, and is ignoring the most obvious ("Detroit parents
want DPS teachers, officials jailed over low test scores," Dec. 13).
Jailing teachers, new reading initiatives, and volunteer tutors are
not the answer. The answer is improved school libraries, staffed by
certified librarians.

Study after study has confirmed the common-sense idea that reading
itself is the best way to develop reading ability: Children who read
more do better on all tests of literacy, including the fourth grade
NAEP reading test, the test Detroit children did so poorly on.

But in order to read, children need access to books, and for children
of low-income families, the only source is the school library.
Research done by me as well as Dr. Jeff McQuillan has confirmed that
access to books is strongly related to performance on the NAEP exam
for fourth graders, even when we control for the effects of poverty. A
study done by Dr. Keith Lance and colleagues in 2003 confirmed that
the presence of credentialed librarians in Michigan is related to
higher reading test scores.

I suggest that the investigative reporters of the Detroit News check
on the quality of school libraries in Detroit as well as library
staffing.

Stephen Krashen


(Excerpt from the Detroit News:)
DETROIT PARENTS WANT DPS TEACHERS, OFFICIALS JAILED OVER LOW TEST
SCORES

Detroit News -- December 13, 2009

By Santiago Esparza

Detroit -- Impassioned parents demanded jail time for educators and
district officials Saturday following the release of test scores that
showed fourth- and eighth-graders had the worst math scores in the
nation.

City students took the National Assessment of Educational Progress
test this year, and 69 percent of fourth-graders scored below the
basic level in math and 77 percent of eighth-graders scored below
basic.

The Detroit scores on the progress test were the lowest in its
40-year history. The sample of students included 900 of Detroit's
6,000 fourth-graders and 1,000 of the district's 6,000 eighth-graders.

Sharlonda Buckman, CEO of the Detroit Parent Network, called for
jailing and civil lawsuits against anyone in the city's educational
system that is not doing his or her share to help properly educate
children.

"Somebody needs to go to jail," she said in a tearful address to 500
parents gathered Saturday for the organization's annual breakfast
forum. "Somebody needs to pay for this. Somebody needs to go to jail,
and it shouldn't be the kids."

(Read more from the link listed :
http://englishcompanion.ning.com/profiles/blogs/dont-jail-teachers-improve
)

-- 
Shonda Brisco
Assistant Professor / Curriculum Materials Librarian
Mary L. Williams Curriculum Materials Library
001 Willard Hall
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
http://www.library.okstate.edu/cml/index.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://osulibrarian.wordpress.com/
http://www.osu-cml.wikispaces.com
sbrisco@gmail.com

http://okschoollibrarians.wikispaces.com
http://okschoollibrarians.ning.com/

"Digital Resources" columnist
School Library Journal

"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money
will get you through times of no libraries." ~ Library Poster

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