What are the universities teaching the teachers?

Why aren't all school districts using the scientifically-proven best methods for teaching math, reading, and music? The only method that works, at least on the elementary school level, is Direct Instruction. The only direct instruction reading method that works is phonics, not discovery, not whole language, not sight reading. Same with math and music, which have been affected by the same faulty theories as whole language.

So what is the cause of all these bad methods and models still in so many school systems? Well, for 30 years Project Follow through experimented on our school kids in a joint venture between the government and the university professors. Twenty-two teaching theories or models were taught at hundreds of schools for almost 30 years. After the first ten years it was obvious that only one of the models worked - Direct Instruction (with phonics for reading).

In spite of that, we carried on with this faulty experiment for two more decades. Many of the bad teaching models were legislated into state law for schools and are still in operation. This is why so many parents of junior high or middle school kids have to take their children to Sylvan Learning Centers (or similar) to fix what the elementary schools were forced to teach.

It all goes back to the universities. We will never turn around the US educational decline until the universities change what they are teaching the teachers to teach! Those failed models were the brain-children of PhD professors who made their careers off of them, got the backing of curriculum planners and textbook publishers, who all made lots of money together pushing the bad curriculae. And they don't give up their babies very easily, cannot afford to admit failure, and have recruited many followers from the ranks of inexperienced college students.

Thus, the useless theories continue to plague our schools. Some schools have re-caught the vision of phonics and direct instruction, and kudos to them. But many are still damaging our children's futures almost beyond repair. Parents have to take the initiative and fill in the gaps for their children.

Our educational demise will not turn around until the universities stop experimenting on our children and start teaching the teachers to teach the right stuff the right way. Pride prevents this from happening in too many universitites.

One good university is the University of Oregon, which sponsored the only model that worked, and worked well, in Project Follow Through - Direct Instruction by Siegfried Engelmann.

There are some math curriculae that use direct instruction also, such as “Saxon Math,” by John Saxon, available on www.Amazon.com - secondhand marketplace - and eBay. It's important to get the texts, tests and solution manuals of the same publish date, otherwise the problems and solutions don't match. Additionally, the earlier texts are better - more traditional in nature. Later texts sometimes have a bit of "investigating" in them. Just skip that.

Never use "reform" math texts such as Connected Math, Core-Plus, or Investigations in Number, Data, and Space.

Discovery or student-led inquiry may have a place in high school and college- after students have a solid foundation in math and reading (and music)- but never in elementary school, and probably not in middle school, either.

So, the schools can't fix their problems until the universities teach the teachers to teach the right stuff the right way. Then, truly no child will be left behind.


http://godfreymethod.com/default.aspx