Reading Instruction

GOOD reading instruction can often make the difference between a child's success and failure in school. Yet, as is RTC apparent in test scores, the preparation and professional development required of Maryland teachers has not given them adequate grounding in the basics of reading instruction.Next week, the State Board of Education will vote on a proposal to ratchet up the level of reading instruction knowledge that teachers must have to be certified in Maryland. In our view, adopting these requirements is a no-brainer, especially for a state that so far has shown admirable determination to give teeth to all the talk about accountability in education.

In Baltimore County Toddlers reading program expands to nine libraries TOWSON -- A program to help prepare toddlers for reading has expanded to nine Baltimore County public libraries, with more than 3,000 children participating. The program, which some libraries call "Little Wonders," caters to children up to 23 months old, said Bob Hughes, library spokesman. Children who attend the reading groups with their parents listen to stories, sing and dance. The program is offered at libraries in Arbutus, Catonsville, Cockeysville, Essex, North Point, Parkville, Perry Hall, Towson and White Marsh.

OAKLAND -- With dramatic flair, kindergarten teacher Denise Helbig uses the story of "Henny Penny" to teach word rhyming, spelling and letter sounds."What letter does 'ducky' start with?" she asks her class at Garrett County's Dennett Road Elementary School, gathered on the floor around her "reading rocking chair." She writes "ducky lucky" on the chalkboard and asks, "Are these words alike?Next up was a study of the "h" sound in "hen," and a reinforcement of rhyming and word similarities with "Henny Penny" -- the type of book Helbig likes because, she says, "It's a mix. Phonics is there, literature and fun with rhyming.

VETERAN teachers such as Jean Abbey know that reading instruction is not -- and never has been -- a pure tug of war between phonics and whole language. If only it were that simple.Rather, as Abbey demonstrates in her first-grade classroom at Hampstead Elementary School in rural Carroll County, effective reading instruction requires a quiver full of techniques drawn from both camps in the Great Reading Wars and from numerous other sources, internal and external.When we inquired of trusted Carroll educators about the best first-grade reading instruction in the county, two of them said, independently, "You ought to visit Jean Abbey."

School board candidates were quizzed last night about curriculum changes, preparing students for the workplace and reading instruction at a sparsely attended forum sponsored by the Carroll County Council of PTAs.The forum drew 15 people, including two candidates for other offices.School board incumbents C. Scott Stone and Gary W. Bauer are running for re-election. The four challengers are Susan Krebs, Mary D. Oldewurtel, James F. Reter and Thomas L. Shaffer.All candidates supported a greater emphasis on reading instruction and praised a return to a greater use of phonics in county schools.

Area schools, libraries and literacy programs use volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills.Among them are:Partnership for Learning, an agency of the Baltimore state's attorney's office, works with first-time juvenile offenders who have reading difficulties and learning disabilities. The partnership will train prospective tutors in the multisensory, phonics-based Wilson Learning System of reading instruction, with the next training session set for Saturday. Contact: Mischa Green, 410-396-5092.

WASHINGTON -- Declaring that every child has the right to "excellent reading instruction," the International Reading Association -- a nonpartisan group -- is calling on school districts across the country to concentrate more resources on reading specialists, classroom teachers and supplies rather than on standardized tests. "Classrooms have changed very little in the last 45 years," said Carol Santa, president of the International Reading Association, at a National Press Club news conference Monday.

IF AFFLUENCE were the only criterion for education success, more than two elementary schools in the entire state would have received "excellent" ratings in the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. The two schools are Manor Woods in Howard County and Somerset in Chevy Chase. Both have large percentages of students from affluent, stable families, but that is only part of the story. The rest is how hard teachers and parents worked to get the best possible results.Manor Woods kindergartners receive reading instruction -- three students to a tutor -- several times a week.

IT'S NOT TRUE that everything you needed to know you learned in kindergarten. But too many Maryland students haven't learned everything they should have by age 9 -- or by sixth grade, or even before graduating high school. Alicia Pettit is well aware of that. She attends Severna Park High School. Although her school is considered one of Anne Arundel County's best, she sees plenty of room for improvement. The shortcomings she has witnessed firsthand prompted Ms. Pettit, a senior and the county school board's student member, to back a plan that doubles reading instruction for sixth-graders.

At Fifth District Elementary School in Baltimore County, pupils are so serious about improving their reading skills, some of them chart their progress on tests in notebooks. Every one of them knows the school's motto: "Keep reading."Three reading tutorials, pupil-driven literature clubs and a school day revamped to enable pupils to cycle more easily through reading workshops seem to be paying off.On state reading tests, the percentage of Fifth District third-graders scoring at a satisfactory level rose from 42.4 percent in 1994 to 78.7 percent in the spring.