Dive Brief:
- Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews expressed dismay at the state of writing instruction following an Education Trust review of actual middle school assignments in two urban school districts in two states.
- The review of 1,876 assignments found 18% required no writing at all and only 9% went beyond requiring a single paragraph, even though Mathews says he and the writers he knows developed their love for the craft by writing diary entries, poems, songs, letters, essays and articles.
- Mathews bemoans the infrequent opportunities for heavy editing that could help students improve their writing, but he finds some hope in former Education Trust Vice President Sonja Brookins Santelises’ move to the top spot in Baltimore City Public Schools, where she will have the power to revamp writing instruction for an entire district.
Dive Insight:
Even students who go into science, technology, engineering or math fields need to be able to write. Literacy is an important element of any field because it comes down to how people communicate. One problem with literacy education is that teachers often back off from teaching students how to read after third grade, the year when experts say there is a shift from learning to read to reading to learn. Yet middle and high schoolers who read below grade level need to go back to the basics.
Principals and administrators can ensure teachers are trained in literacy best practices and make sure the focus on reading lasts all the way through high school. Steve Tozer, director of the Center for Urban Education Leadership at the University of Illinois at Chicago, tells the principals he prepares that adult learning is job No.1. When teachers learn, they can better help their students do the same. And it is principals who create the environment that facilitates this professional learning.