Critical Reflection Paper

Literacy Has Been Left Behind: What is Literacy and Why They Are Not Following

Richard M. Prock

Fordham University

[UEGE 5102 - 7.10.2008]

If someone, say a parent of one of my tenth grade students in the Bronx, asked me what the term “literacy” meant, I feel that I could give them a straight up answer. Well, I’d say, to me literacy is the ability to communicate and interact with a wide range of things, or- to be able read, write, listen, and speak for adequate communication and critical thinking (Kellough & Kellough, p394). Defining “adequate” communication is a little more difficult. That parent may ask why it is so important to have all of those things (read, write, listen, and speak) instead of two or three of the four being adequate enough. To that, the best answer I could give is- would you be comfortable if, after four years of high school, your child could not read or write? The question of literacy may not be one of “why is it important?” but “how do we get everyone to become literate?”

In my humble opinion, as a new teacher in New York City’s public school system, literacy appears to be falling. Granted, I’ve only been in the classroom for one full school-year, but the kids that I have seen are writing as if they are texting and emailing, and reading well below their grade levels. In talking with at least thirty other teachers from schools across New York City, this is not an isolated case. Why? It cannot be that the government is not trying, because I believe that they are. The teachers, I believe, are doing everything that they can as well. So how come my colleague’s school is being phased out? Well, it is because a majority of that school’s students, for the past few years, have been failing the state exams, that’s why.

I do not believe that it is any secret that our schools are losing the literacy battle right now, and the children are going down with the ship. The government even stepped in in 2001 to assist in the situation with the No Child Left Behind Act. Schools were asked to restructure their programs so that all students can have access and succeed in the general education classroom- and all students should be included in the high stakes tests (Salend p20). According to the US Department of Education’s website, there are “Four Pillars of NCLB” that it is based on: “stronger accountability for results, more freedom for states and communities, proven education methods, and more choices for parents.” (p1). There is no doubt in my mind, that through this education amendment, the government is trying to get all of America’s students up to par with the rest of the world. I applaud their effort. However, something is still rotten here.

Among the issues that have come about since implementing NCLB is the “one-size-fits-all testing as the sole way to identify student progress” which can stifle the “individualization” of instruction in the classroom (Salend p21). What this means to me is that individuality (on the part of the students, schools, and teachers) is being held back, and the creativity with which teachers can teach their own classroom is also being drowned out. So, teachers are teaching to the test in order to stay “alive,” and schools have been accused of fluffing scores. Not only are many schools being accused of lying about the scores their students receive on the state tests, but those state tests are not national, they can be different from Michigan, to California, to New York. The government has tried here, but if there isn’t a standard for the country, how could we every know whether each state’s standards are up to par with another’s? If this smells of distrust, that is because distrust exists. However, what state or local government wants it to get out that their schools are failing? Nobody wants that, so things may happen. I’m not saying that they do or they don’t, I am just stating what things have been mentioned around the water-coolers in teacher-centers all across the United States.

So, what does this mean for literacy? It means that I try to teach my kids to read, write, listen, and speak for adequate understanding and multi-modal communication in today’s world only after I make sure that they know how to take a standardized state exam. For instance, at my school, the tenth grade students had a state exam in June, so they had two practice state exams, as well as two writing assessment tests, and I was still expected to teach standardized test-taking skills using former actual exams throughout the year. That sounded like a mouthful, didn’t it? As a first year teacher, I was teaching a novel, and had to stop in order to teach them how to take that test, then resume with the novel. This is not about standardized tests, however, this is about getting these kids comfortable with using and interacting with language in a meaningful and acceptable way. How can I get them to a level of cultural literacy- when that involves world issues, national issues, literature, reading, writing, listening, speaking, etc.- if “The Test” is what ominously looms over their heads all year long?

This is, in my opinion, against the constructivist, student-centered approach to teaching where students get hands-on experience (Johnson, et al. 331). Students do not get choice in this state-testing mode of teaching. Just for the record, I do not believe that standardized tests are to blame, I mean, aren’t they in place because of the dismal state of literacy in the first place? If there was one root cause (which there cannot possibly be in my opinion), it may be related to funding, and/or motivation. The kids at my school get neither sports, art, shop, or any of the other myriad “extras” that make high school bearable, let alone fun. If they are not getting these things, I don’t see how they are going to be interested in working on the fundamental skills to make them better citizens. That, in and of itself, is not enough to get kids to study. To become literate, one must be motivated. There are not many out there, I would venture to say, that are motivated because they want to become literate.

References:

Salend, S.J. (2008). Creating inclusive classrooms: effective and reflective practices (6^th

ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.

Kellough, R. D. & Kellough, N. G. (2007). Secondary School Teaching: A guide to

methods and resources (3^rd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.

U.S. Department of Education: Promoting educational excellence for all Americans. Four

Pillars of NCLB. Retrieved July 10, 2008, from ed.gov website:

http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/4pillars.html

Johnson, A. J., et al. (2008). Foundations of American education: perspectives on

education in a changing world (14^th ed.). New York: Pearson.