Aren most teachers using a balanced approach to reading that integrates both basic skills and wholistic instruction?
Although most teachers and principals advocate such an approach, all indications are that this is not happening. There are four persuasive indicators. Teacher College preparation, school district staff developments, textbooks, and standardized test results. Research shows that only 10 to 20% of experienced teachers can consistently identify some of the most basic speech sounds, syllables, and morphemes. Although school districts vary, many if not most, rarely offer staff development focused on graphophonemics. Many actively discourage this kind of training. Textbook analysis shows the most widely used reading and math texts teach basic skills too little and too late. Most standard student tests are designed to examine basic skills ability and the results of these tests speak for themselves.
