The pandemic shutdown had not been kind to 72-year-old Dolores Blackburn. She grieved the loss of the dog who’d shared her Thornton apartment and been her closest companion. Her brother contracted COVID-19 in California, and while he eventually overcame the disease, she felt powerless to help. On top of it all, her computer malfunctioned and, […]
reading
Posted inEducation, News
Up next in Colorado’s bid to help struggling readers: New training for thousands of teachers
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here: ckbe.at/newsletters As part of an effort to boost persistently low reading proficiency rates, Colorado education officials will soon require 25,000 K-3 teachers to have completed 45 hours of training on reading instruction. While there are […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Remote learning robbed Colorado kids of end-of-year traditions. It might also set them back over summer break.
As students close their textbooks for the last time each school year and trade early mornings racing the bell for lazy ones sleeping in, the same threat hangs over most all of them. Losing some of the knowledge base and skills they developed over the academic year — often referred to as the summer slide […]
Posted inEducation, News
Colorado wants to ensure teachers know how to teach reading. But some say proposed rules lack teeth and transparency.
Colorado passed a law last year intended to ensure that every teacher who works with early elementary children has training on the best ways to teach reading. But as the State Board of Education considers what types of training qualify, some advocates fear the rules are too vague and don’t spell out how reading courses […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Most Colorado teacher prep programs don’t teach reading well, report says. University leaders don’t buy it.
About two-thirds of Colorado’s teacher preparation programs, including the state’s two largest, earned low grades for how they cover early reading instruction, according to a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality. The report, which is controversial for its reliance on documents such as course syllabi and textbooks, claims to assess whether teacher prep programs […]
Posted inEducation, News
How a Colorado public school for students with dyslexia is changing the game for struggling readers — and the state conversation on reading
Tammy Kennington and the four children in her cozy therapy room prepared to sound out the word “April.” “Divide before your first medial consonant. Accent the first syllable,” Kennington said, her fourth graders quietly echoing her words. “A vowel in an open-accented syllable is long. Code it with a macron,” they said. “A vowel in […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Colorado lawmakers seek overhaul for troubled $231 million program meant to help kids catch up on reading
State lawmakers on Monday introduced bipartisan legislation that would overhaul a statewide program that has failed to improve the reading deficiencies of young students despite costing the state more than $231 million over the past five years. Senate Bill 199 would add significant state oversight into how schools throughout Colorado teach kindergarten through third grade […]