USA: 'The Reading League Conference: A Tour de Force and a Force for Good' (Pam Snow, 2018)

[Debbie_Hepplewhite]

Congratulations to The Reading League for a highly welcomed and successful conference featuring world-renowned speakers and researchers in the world of psychology and literacy:

Professor Pamela Snow summarises The Reading League Conference in detail. This is a longish post but well worth reading for anyone interested in the issues of the reading debate - and also this event described in the post is heartwarming and encouraging for those of us who have spent decades working hard to promote evidence-informed reading instruction:

https://pamelasnow.blogspot.com

The Reading League Conference: A Tour de Force and a Force for Good

In late October, I had the great honour of attending and participating in The Reading League Conference, in Syracuse, upstate New York. The Reading League was formed just a couple of years ago, with the aim of advancing the awareness, understanding, and use of evidence-based reading instruction, and has the byline When we know better, we do better. It is the brain-child of Dr Maria Murray, a former academic at State University of New York (Oswego), ably supported by a team including Drs Jorene Cook, Heidi Beverine-Curry, Michelle Storie, and Ms Stephanie Finn (and more - see here).

The enthusiasm, sense of shared endeavour, and demonstrable capacity for hard work these people display is nothing short of inspirational. It was therefore, additionally wonderful to learn at the conference that The Reading League has been the recipient of a large philanthropic donation ($US9million) from the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. We can only dream of philanthropy on this scale in Australia, but I am confident it will be put to good use, both to expand national programs for teachers, and to commence an endowment fund. My congratulations to The Reading League team on this oustanding achievement, especially so soon after its creation.

[Debbie_Hepplewhite]

Pamela Snow concludes:

It could be reassuring, in the context of the so-called “Reading Wars” for us to draw some comfort from the fact that players on both sides of the battle-lines are wanting similar outcomes: students who are skilled readers. The reality, though, is we are not all in this together, as the Whole Language/Balanced Literacy camp does not shift its position (for example, reliance on Three Cueing, teaching banks of de-contextualised “sight” words to beginners, and relying on predictable, levelled readers as early instructional texts) in response to four decades of reading research. This fossilisation of ideas and practices would be something the rest of us could ignore, but for the fact that it leaves behind the bottom 30-40% of students. Imploring parents to read to their babies and pre-school children, and lauding the importance of “authentic” children’s literature (where and however that line might be drawn) is simply no substitute for effective classroom instruction in the critical window that is the first three years of school. It is these kinds of persisting ideas and practices that have given rise to the establishment of the Reading League.

All of us need to do everything we can to progress the science of reading and ensure that it is translated into practice in the classroom. To do this, we need to put knowledge and skills in the hands of pre-service teachers. The only people who can do this in an efficient and cost-effective manner, however, are education academics. But many education academics are waging a different campaign. Their campaign is less about the needs of children, and more about the need to shore up support for an out-dated and discredited view of how children learn to read (with virtual silence on how to support those who struggle). A key message from some of these academics is that everyone else should respect the professional autonomy of teachers, and basically butt-out of the debate. However, as I have noted previously, professionalism means highly constrained accountability, it does not mean “leave me alone to do my own thing (and trust me in the process)”.

If we cannot immediately change pre-service education, we can change the knowledge available to practising teachers, as evidenced in a short time by the efforts of Dr Maria Murray and her colleagues. My warm congratulations to The Reading League on an excellent conference, and also on its positive can-do energy and scientific commitment to support teachers everywhere to know better and do better.

[Debbie_Hepplewhite]

Check out The Reading League's website:

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