With more than half of the state’s third-graders failing to meet reading benchmarks, education stakeholders across the state agree that existing strategies must change in order to boost student scores. How to go about that change is where the consensus ends. State education officials are doubling down on their support of a piece of legislation […]
It’s rare to read an education report that doesn’t mention the learning crisis. As data on low learning levels have emerged in recent years, global education aid has swung its focus sharply toward improving test scores among primary school children. Of course, learning to read is a good thing in its own right. But when competition for scarce education resources is fierce, does this focus on foundational literacy pay off in terms of increased earnings, health, or other dimensions of well-being in the long term? At present, we do not have a fully credible answer to this question.
The theoretical and empirical case for mother tongue instruction is compelling. The theory of cognitive development suggests that children learn better when they can associate new concepts with familiar words and phrases from their home language.
Providing high-quality storybooks along with a network of reading supports effectively improved reading outcomes, including proficiency, frequency, and attitudes. Both caregivers and children perceived increased reading confidence