Beginning to Read and the Spin Doctors of Science: the Political Campaign to Change America's Mind About How Children Learn to Read
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 423 516 CS 013 288 AUTHOR Taylor, Denny TITLE Beginning To Read and the Spin Doctors of Science: The Political Campaign To Change America's Mind about How Children Learn To Read. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL. ISBN ISBN-0-8141-0275-1 PUB DATE 1998-00-00 NOTE 468p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 02751: $19.95, members; $26.95, nonmembers). PUB TYPE Books (010) Opinion Papers (120) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC19 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Beginning Reading; Elementary Education; *Politics of Education; *Reading Instruction; *Reading Research; Research Utilization IDENTIFIERS California; Direct Instruction; *Phonemic Awareness ABSTRACT Suggesting that the contention that phonemic awareness must be taught directly and that children need explicit systematic instruction in phonics is less of a scientific "fact" than an exercise in political persuasion, this book presents the story of the political campaign that is taking place to change the minds of Americans about how young children learn to read. The book begins with a close look at the empirical research being used to support a massive shift in the national understandings about language, literacy, and learning and concludes by revealing the ways in which research studies on early reading instruction are being used by the federal and state governments to support a new methodology that has turned early reading instruction into "a massive business of unprecedented commercial worth." The chapters in the book are: (1) In Which We Are Told Training in Phonemic Awareness Is the Key to Reading Success;(2) In Which Phonemic Awareness Research Is Analyzed from an Experimental Psychological Perspective; (3) In Which Phonemic Awareness Research Is Analyzed from a Sociocultural Perspective;(4) In Which We Find Foorman's Research Does Not Support the NICHD [National Institute of Child Health and Human Development] Proposition That "Phonological Processing Is the Primary Area Where Children with Reading Difficulties Differ from Other Children";(5) In Which Teachers Are Turned into Clerks and We Discuss Power, Privilege, Racism and Hegemony; (6) In Which Governor Bush's Business Council Holds a Pre-Summit Meeting in Texas;(7) In Which We Have an "If-They-Say-It's-So-It-Must-Be-So" Attitude toward Experimental Research;(8) In Which the Kindergarten Children in North Carolina Are No Longer Expected To Try To Read and Write;(9) In Which I Become the Documentation on Which I Build My Case;(10) In Which We Are Told That in America We Are All Equal. Are We or Aren't We?;(11) In Which We Find the Desks and Chairs Are Broken and the Toilets Don't Work;(12) In Which We Ask: Do You Think America Likes Children?;(13) In Which We Consider If We Are Comfortable Mandating Reading Programs based on Neuroimaging Research and Genetic Studies of Reading Disabilities;(14) In Which California Politically Reinvents How Young Children Learn To Read;(15) In Which California Ends Local Control and the State Board of Education Leads the Jihad; and (16) In Which We Enter the Central Chamber of the Hegemonic Labyrinth. (Contains & DEPARTMENT Office ot Educations: OF EDUCATION Research andimprovement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE INFORMATION AND CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL Ef<hisdocument has been HAS received Iron, the reproduced as BEEN GRANTED BY originating it. person Or organization CI Minor changes have been made reproduction quality to imorove Points of view or ment do not Oacessentyopinions stated on this docu- OERI posiooffor policy represent official TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC) BEGINNING TO READ AND THE SPIN DOCTORS OF SCIENCE NCTE Editorial Board: Pat Cordeiro, Bobbi Fisher, Xin Lin Gale, Sarah Hudelson, Bill McBride, Aileen Pace Nilsen, Helen Poole, Jerrie Cobb Scott, Karen Smith, Chair, ex officio, Michael Greer, ex officio BEGINNING TO READ AND THE SPIN DOCTORS OF SCIENCE The Political Campaign to Change America's Mind about How Children Learn to Read DENNY TAYLOR National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 5 Staff Editors: Michael Greer and Kurt Austin Interior and Cover Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf Cover Art: Keith Haring, "Labyrinth, 1989" @ The Estate of Keith Haring NCTE Stock Number: 02751-3050 @ 1998 by Denny Taylor. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to providea forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Taylor, Denny, 1947 Beginning to read and the spin doctors of science/Denny Taylor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 0-8141-0275-1 (pbk.) 1. ReadingResearchUnited States. 2. LiteracyPolitical aspectsUnited States.3. ReadingLaw and legislationUnited States. I. Title. LB1050.6.T38 1998 428.4072073dc21 98-9526 CIP 6 DEO IC AT 1 CI 11 This book is dedicated to the memory of Lilian Janye Hawkins, known to her family as Ginny, who was born in1889at Penylan Fields on the Varteg, a coal mining village in South Wales. Ginny received her education in the Wesleyan Schoolroom and be- came a pupil teacher at the Varteg School. She wasconcerned about the poverty that surrounded her and, even though she was not allowed to vote, she stood on a soapbox to denounce the conditions in which the miners and their families were forced to live. On August 30,1926,Ginny was a member of the mass picket to protest against those who crossed the line and worked in the mines dur- ing the General Strike. She was extremely lucky not to be convicted and imprisoned for illicit assembly along with two of her school friends who also participated in the picket. Ginny, who was my great aunt, died when she was quite young, but she did live to see women over 30 get the vote in1918and women over 21in1928. In each generation there are teachers who struggle for emancipa- tion and for an ernancipatory pedagogy. Perhaps the most we can expect of these courageous teachers is that they will teach the next generation how to participate in the struggle in whatever form it takes. In this task I know that teachers are succeeding, for in writing this book I have talked with many teachers whose courage and determination easily equals Ginny's. With this in mind I also dedicate this book to them. To the teachers who struggle for emancipation today, and for all the teachers who, being mindful of the courage of their predecessors, will continue the struggle for the emancipation of future generations, please accept this book in recognition of your important work. v COINITIEINFTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX AUTHOR'S NOTE xHi PROLOGUE: In which it is explained that the end of the book can only be found at the beginning xv In which we are told training in phonemic awareness is the key to reading success 1 In which phonemic awareness research is analyzed from an experimental psychological perspective 10 In which phonemic awareness research is analyzed from a sociocultural perspective 19 In which we find Foorman's research does not support the NICHD proposition that "phonological processing is the primary area where children with reading difficulties differ from other children" 33 In which teachers are turned into clerks and we discuss power, privilege, racism, and hegemony 58 In which Governor Bush's Business Council holds a pre-summit meeting in Texas 62 In which we have an "If-they-say-it's-so-it-must-be-so" attitude toward experimental research 88 vii 0 43 In which the kindergarten children in North Carolina are no longer expected to try-te-read-aftd-write 94 Sio In which I become the documentation on which I build my case 117 10 In which we are told that in America we are all equal. Are we or aren't we? 127 11 In which we find the desks and chairs are broken and the toilets don't work 133 12. In which we ask: Do you think America likes children? 153 1.3 In which we consider if we are comfortable mandating reading programs based on neuroimaging research and genetic studies of reading disabilities 158 144 In which California politically reinvents how young children learn to read 165 1S In which California ends local control and the State Board of Education leads the jihad 244 In which we enter the central chamber of the hegemonic labyrinth 258 APPENDIX ONE: In which a response is made to the preliminary statistical analyses used to support the nationally publicized findings of the NICHD Houston reading studies 327 APPENDIX Two: In which late-breaking news about the NICHD Houston reading studies raises further questions about what counts as "reliable, replicable research" 333 Notes 339 References 400 Children's Literature Cited 423 Index 429 Author 443 Viii BEGINNING TO READ AND THE SPIN DOCTORS OF SCIENCE a Writing is a social process, but it is also a selfish act. I began writing Spin Doctors after I visited the exhibit hall at the 1997 IRA Convention. I wanted to write a short paper on phonemic awareness research, and I talked with Sharon Murphy about the possibility of publishing it in Lan- guage Arts. "Keep it short," she said, "twenty pages, doublespaced." I called Sharon several times at the beginning of June 1997 to discuss my progress on the piece.