March 12, 2020
The Write Stuff
Literacy audit calls for curriculum changes
By Jerry W. Kram
That was the one line summary of a literacy audit of the school district performed by Angela Peery, a consultant hired by the school board under the Striving Reader Comprehensive Literacy grant the district received this year.
Peery said Parshall doesn’t have a comprehensive curriculum to guide its teachers and evaluate its students performance. The school has purchased reading, social studies and other packages of educational material, but Peery said those are programs and not a curriculum. She said those programs should be used to implement a curriculum, not stand in for one.
Peery’s harshest criticism was on the amount of writing required by Parshall students, as well as reading. Peery said just 15 percent of the classes she sat in on had required writing every day as well as independent reading.
“You need to have more writing,” Peery said. “One teacher told me she could not expect her class to finish a one paragraph assignment in an hour. That is a third grade skill. Independent reading must be an expectation. Parshall is a low literacy community so kids need to get their hands on all the books they can get.”
Peery said Parshall doesn’t have a comprehensive curriculum to guide its teachers and evaluate its students performance. The school has purchased reading, social studies and other packages of educational material, but Peery said those are programs and not a curriculum. She said those programs should be used to implement a curriculum, not stand in for one.
Peery’s harshest criticism was on the amount of writing required by Parshall students, as well as reading. Peery said just 15 percent of the classes she sat in on had required writing every day as well as independent reading.
“You need to have more writing,” Peery said. “One teacher told me she could not expect her class to finish a one paragraph assignment in an hour. That is a third grade skill. Independent reading must be an expectation. Parshall is a low literacy community so kids need to get their hands on all the books they can get.”
