COMING INTO THE FOLD
Every six years, all Indiana school districts adopt new reading programs. The last time it happened in the EVSC was in 2000, one year before the No Child Left Behind act became law. Since then, the rules have changed. And EVSC administrators and teachers had a lot of new standards to meet.
Dr. Brenda Scheidler says, "Before No Child Left Behind came out, companies that were presenting programs for adoption did not necessarily have to present a core program. They could have presented series of books that teachers put together to create their own core."
WHATS A CORE READING PROGRAM?
A core reading program means all teachers have to cover five specific areas.
Phonemic awareness: teaching students to hear, identify and put sounds together to make words.
Phonics: teaching the relationship between letters and sounds.
Fluency: getting students to read quickly and accurately.
Comprehension: making sure students understand what they read.
Vocabulary: teaching the words students need to communicate effectively.
Thats one big change from the current reading program.
The other new requirement from no child left behind is the way the material should be taught. Now lessons will be taught in a systematic way with explicit instructions. All the lessons will be laid out in a logically progressive way.
Out of all the new reading programs out there- EVSC administrators, teachers, and parents who looked at the materials liked the "Treasures" reading program the best.
