Yet Another Policy Change?

As a career changer coming to the teaching, I feel especially attuned to conversations surrounding the teaching profession in the public sphere. Accountability drives policy decisions, which seems agreeable on the surface, but stakeholder definitions of accountability vary widely. Teachers are stuck in the middle of this debate, and the history of literacy instruction illustrates the challenges teachers face as the pendulum swings.

Current education policy in literacy instruction stems largely from research conducted within the past 10-15 years. The National Reading Panel worked to compile research findings into a single document, and details the Big 5 components of literacy. Balanced literacy fuses whole language and phonics-based approaches. As research is disseminated, journalists and reporters are also quick to make their voices heard. The NY Times’s Kindergarten Cram describes one mother’s desperate attempt to find a school that does not subscribe to the “push-down” approach so many schools have adopted in response to policy changes.

Teachers are left to sift through the divergent conversations and, using their education and professional expertise, develop developmentally appropriate means of teaching while also preparing students for testing. I think it is up to individual teachers to understand their increasingly complex professional responsibility. I’m fortunate to work in a district with a 90-minute reading block that emphasizes balanced literacy. Such a long time block allows the opportunity to reach each student at their ability level. I believe it’s up to each teacher to consider policy decisions, but also remember the research and best practices they learned in their teacher preparation program and their professional development. I’m learning how resistant many teachers are to training and continued coursework, but building expertise allows teachers to articulate rationale behind teaching practices.