Black Boys Read; Full Issue Friday

Last Wednesday night, Chicago school board member Che "Rhymefest" Smith co-hosted the fifth in a series of community conversations across District 10A. "Building Futures: What We're Reading" featured a student panel of young and older boys reflecting on their experiences as beginning readers in school.

While the celebratory evening was full of hope and useful strategies for parents to support their young children's emerging reading skills, there's an ongoing dispute between central office leadership and parents of children with dyslexia about how best to teach reading.

Ensuring all children read well by third grade is a problem in Chicago and nationally. Muckraking education journalist Emily Hanford has meticulously documented the failure of education fads like "whole language" and its successor, "balanced literacy," in ensuring all children have foundational skills in connecting sounds to letters.

In recent years, a statewide effort to revamp reading instruction in Mississippi has shown remarkable results. But Illinois has been slow to join the movement. Last year, Illinois developed a comprehensive literacy plan that embeds those foundational skills within culturally-responsive teaching and attending to the needs of English learners. But the plan is not a mandate. Without teeth, implementation is likely to be slow and spotty.

Parent advocates for children with dyslexia (and others) have expressed concern that the CPS Skyline curriculum pays only token attention to phonemic awareness and phonics, two key skills that help children crack the code of written text.

As a former CPS parent and longtime school observer, as well as a former teacher who worked with older teens struggling with basic reading (like the ones featured in this great piece from Chalkbeat Chicago), I can offer a few observations:

Some debunked balanced literacy practices, like encouraging students to read within a narrow range of "just right" texts, remain popular among teachers. Of course, we all want students to experience success as readers, but holding them back from more complex, high-interest books has been proven to be counterproductive.

Children with dyslexia often go undiagnosed and unsupported in Chicago, especially when their parents do not have the time, expertise, or money to advocate relentlessly or pay for private programs like Redwood Literacy, which was founded in 2018 by former CPS teachers.

A key strategy for Mississippi's success was to revamp how teachers learn to teach reading. I have heard almost nothing about how CPS teachers learn to teach reading in their pre-service programs. In Mississippi, getting professors on board in the teacher colleges was difficult but ultimately became a linchpin of bringing better early reading instruction into schools.

Why More Friday

I'm sorry today's issue is so short. As Chicago knows, the Southwest Side has been hit very hard by ICE activity. As a resident of the Back of the Yards and a member of the local rapid response team, I can say we've all been very busy.

Watch for a special edition on Friday morning featuring board member Therese Boyle.