Assigned Books Too Hard for Some Students
Posted on: Tuesday, 24 October 2006, 12:00 CDT
A professor at Columbia University's Teachers College in New York said many U.S. schoolchildren are assigned books above their reading level.
Lucy Calkins, founding director of the Reading and Writing Project at the college, said science and social studies textbooks are often written at a reading level at least one grade ahead of the pupils they are supplied to, and reading material for young students often includes books that are difficult for adults to comprehend, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
We try to push adult stuff down on younger and younger kids and what's the point? asked Calkins.
Teachers studied 'The Great Gatsby' in college and then want to teach that book because they have smart things to say about it, and they teach it in high school, Calkins said. Then schools want to get their middle school kids ready for high school so they teach them 'The Catcher in the Rye.' It's a whole cultural thing.
Richard Allington, a professor of reading education at the University of Tennessee, said the practice could prove detrimental to many students, especially those in urban school districts where many children read below grade level. He said the difficult material supplied to the students can hurt their motivation to learn.
Source: United Press International
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