Reading Wars - Robert Slavin's blog post Part 1

                                                                  Robert Slavin (Ph.D.)
                                                                Educational Researcher

Let us take a short break from Diane Ravitch and get back to her later.

Meanwhile, 
Here is a blog post by Robert Slavin written on 26.3.2020, on which I commented. The author has touched on the heart of the ‘Reading Wars’.

The following are a few extracts from the blog above.

How is it possible that the “reading wars” are back on? The reading wars primarily revolve around what are often called the five pillars of early reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Actually, there is little debate about the importance of comprehension, vocabulary, or fluency, so the reading wars are mainly about phonemic awareness and phonics.

There is little if any evidence that phonemic awareness or phonics cause harm, but a great deal of evidence that for perhaps more than half of students, effective instruction emphasizing phonemic awareness and phonics are essential.  Since it is impossible to know in advance which students will need phonics and which will not, it just makes sense to teach using methods likely to maximize the chances that all children (those who need phonics and those who would succeed with or without them) will succeed in reading.

Teaching reading without teaching phonics is surely harmful to large numbers of students, but teaching phonics does not guarantee success.

The following is a comment from me which received a response followed by another of my comments.

Comments:

Luqman Michel

“Since it is impossible to know in advance which students will need phonics and which will not, it just makes sense to teach using methods likely to maximize the chances that all children (those who need phonics and those who would succeed with or without them) will succeed in reading.”

Difficult to accept this statement. (My comment)

Michele Regan

March 26, 2020 at 6:18 pm

Why is it difficult to accept this statement?

luqmanmichel

March 26, 2020 at 8:26 pm

Hello Michele Regan, can we discuss this in full? Grill me on anything I say and let us discuss this.

Firstly, how do we know that some students need phonics and some don’t?

What is the method that will maximise the chances that all children will learn to read?

Who are those who succeed with or without phonics?

Believe me Michele, we will get somewhere if you will try and respond to all the above questions to the best of your knowledge and ability.

It is already 10 days now since I posted that comment and there is no response either from Michele Regan and/or Robert Slavin.

I am used to my comments not being responded to. These guys with Ph.D. titles write as if they are experts on the subject. Ask them direct questions and they never respond. 

Note:

Robert "Bob" Slavin, Ph.D., is an educational researcher who directs the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University. Born in Bethesda, Maryland in 1950, he received his B.A. in Psychology in 1972 at Reed College. Wikipedia