ANCHOR
KIDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY ARE STRUGGLING TO READ… AS NEW DATA SHOWS U-S STUDENTS ARE FALLING FURTHER BEHIND.
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THE PROGRAM FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ASSESSMENT RECENTLY FOUND READING SCORES FOR 15-YEAR-OLD U-S STUDENTS DROPPED 14-POINTS FROM 20-22.
ANOTHER KEY FINDING… THE GAP BETWEEN THE HIGHEST AND LOWEST SCORING STUDENTS IN THE U-S IS AMONG THE LARGEST OF ANY COUNTRY TESTED.
DOCTOR MARK SEIDENBRG IS A PSYCHOLINGUIST STUDYING HOW KIDS LEARN TO READ.
HE SAYS THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS WHY READING LEVELS CONTINUE TO DROP IN THE U-S… LIKE INCREASING SCREEN TIME… SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS… AND ISSUES AT THE SCHOOL LEVEL.
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Duration: :46
Super: Dr. Mark Seidenberg – Professor emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Schools in America have struggled with how to effectively teach reading, especially how to do it with children who are at risk for other reasons like poverty or bias or other kinds of things. So we have had difficulty figuring out what best practices would be for a long time, and there have been debates about this. And I think we are struggling in this country to make sure that the things we do in school are as efficient and effective as possible. And though there has been progress, I think in recent years, we are still working towards finding those best methods, the ones that will really help the kids who are, especially the kids, who are at risk.”
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SEIDENBERG SAYS RESEARCH SHOWS LEARNING TO READ DEPENDS HEAVILY ON SPOKEN LANGUAGE AND A CHILD’S KNOWLEDGE OF SPEECH.
HE ENCOURAGES LIMITING TIME ON SCREENS… BOTH PARENTS AND KIDS… AND TALKING MORE TO EACH OTHER… SO A CHILD HAS A RICH ORAL LANGUAGE BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS.
HE ALSO SAYS PHONICS… LEARNING THE SOUNDS ASSOCIATED WITH LETTERS… IS AN IMPORTANT STEP TO HELP CONNECT EVERYTHING TOGETHER.
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Duration: :38
“After the child cracks the code, after a child gets some understanding of how print works and the fact that it’s actually representing spoken language in a certain way, then the goal is to have children be able to flesh out that knowledge, expand that now, which is not just from instruction, but from reading and writing activities, a broader range of reading and reading activities. So it takes language, it takes knowledge of print, and it takes a lot of experience to expand your knowledge. Vocabulary, phonics, sentence structures, all sorts of things take a lot of experience reading and getting feedback about your reading.”
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SEIDENBERG ALSO STRESSES STUDIES SHOW READING PROFICIENTLY IS AN ADVANATGE… AND IS HIGHLY CONNECTED TO OVERALL SUCCESS AS KIDS GET OLDER.
