Teach Effectively!

This is, I aver, an actual quotation from an editorial attributed to a superintendent of schools named Randy McCoy. I have presented only the first part of it; you can read the remainder yourself.

The teaching of reading is the cornerstone of our educational process.

In the Tupelo Public School District we begin with teaching children to recognize letters, sounds of letters, sounds of letter combinations, and then words.

Reading is learned, and it is not innate like learning to walk and talk. Reading is more than just calling words.

Students must understand what they read and then be able to apply that knowledge.

In our school district we begin teaching by using the Guided Reading Process.

This process requires teachers to apply research-based approaches to reading instruction.

Randy McCoy’s email address is rdmccoy@tupelo.k12.ms.us. He is superintendent of the Tupelo Public Schools.

To me, this reads like an excellent example of saying lots of nothing. There are lots of buzz phrases here—”not innate”; “more than calling words”—and little substance.

The author asserts the reading program is research-based. Shall we just take his word for it? How do I know the “Guided Reading Process” is founded on scientific evidence? Sadly, this gobbleygook dominates the rap in education.

Please tell me, how do you know? What’s the basis for your certainty? Could you, please, show us your data?

Link to Mr. McCoy’s statement. I wonder whether Mr. McCoy wrote this himself.