Writing Skills

For 20 years, a high school education was George Herbert Dunston's elusive goal.Over those years, he began high school equivalency classes five times, but something always interfered: his family, long hours at his job, responsibilities at his church -- where he is a deacon.Now, finally, Mr. Dunston is pursuing the education he has desired for so long. For the past two years he has been attending classes offered by the AFL-CIO Community Services' Project LEAP, which is partially funded by the United Way."

Baltimore schools chief Bonnie S. Copeland has written an open letter to the community defending Studio Course, even as she appoints a task force to review the new middle-school reading and writing curriculum. In a 13-page document e-mailed to school system employees and posted on the school system's Web site, Copeland says Studio is part of a strategy to reverse a slide in seventh- and eighth-grade reading scores. She says the curriculum builds reading and writing skills by engaging pupils in "high-interest, high-demand texts and regular writing assignments."

Mimi O'Donnell, senior manager of employee relations at Bendix FieldEngineering Corp. in Columbia, recently presented the second $5,000 installment of a $25,000 Allied-Signal Foundation Grant to Dr. Edgar Markley, principal of Mount Hebron High School.The contributions are earmarked for enhancing the writing skills of both student "achievers" and "at-risk" students through the use of computers.

Carroll County's English teachers are dusting off their grammar books as part of the school system's effort to bolster students' writing and reading skills. For nearly four decades, grammar instruction was discouraged in school systems across the nation, as researchers asserted that the stringent rules robbed students of their creativity. But in a back-to-basics move, school officials are emphasizing the need for students to learn grammar as the key to developing strong writing skills.

Parents helping children with homework is a common ritual in most homes. But some mothers and fathers can't help because they lack adequate reading and writing skills, or they don't understand English. When faced with this problem in Howard County elementary schools, Project Literacy offers assistance. The nonprofit adult literacy organization provides adults with free help and support in basic reading and writing skills. The program is run under the direction of the Howard County library system and receives additional funds from grants and donations from businesses and community organizations.

Baltimore schools chief Bonnie S. Copeland has written an open letter to the community defending Studio Course, even as she appoints a task force to review the new middle-school reading and writing curriculum. In a 13-page document e-mailed to school system employees and posted on the school system's Web site, Copeland says Studio is part of a strategy to reverse a slide in seventh- and eighth-grade reading scores. She says the curriculum builds reading and writing skills by engaging pupils in "high-interest, high-demand texts and regular writing assignments."

Pupils enrolled in Melody Mohr's three-week summer reading class at Seneca Elementary School in Bowleys Quarters were lucky -- their teacher planned for up to 20 children, but only 12 enrolled.The low turnout might have been fortunate for her pupils, incoming second-graders who needed extra help with reading and writing skills. But the empty seats baffled Mohr, a 12-year teaching veteran, and her boss, Principal Anthony Annello."I thought there would be more children who were interested," said Mohr, who sent two reminder letters to parents of her first-graders.

Students in Maryland and the rest of the nation perform slightly better on the second "R" than they do on the first one, but their writing and reading skills are far below national standards, according to results released yesterday of the latest national writing assessment.Twenty-three percent of Maryland eighth-graders showed they have a complete mastery of necessary writing skills on the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress, and 1 percent scored at an advanced level -- about the national average in both categories.

Given the number of books in print that describe how to write well, everyone should be able to communicate clearly and concisely, or at least without pain. Unfortunately, writing simple business memos and letters can cause even the most confident executives to sweat.Their aggravation is justified. Business writing consultants say an executive with poor writing skills can lose clients, frustrate customers and cause associates to doubt his credibility as a can-do professional.Decision-makers simply do not have the time or patience to plow through lengthy and badly phrased proposals, letters, reports and memorandums, says Lynne Agress, president of Business Writing At Its Best Inc. of Towson.

The ad seeking applicants for the Howard council administrator's job said it pays $55,918 and up, depending upon experience.That was enough to draw 224 applicants from across the state and from as far as Florida, Alabama, Georgia and West Virginia to fill the vacancy left by the firing of former administrator Sheila Tolliver last month.The level of applications is 43 percent higher than in January 1993, the last time the council had to fill the position.At that time, a former state senator and an employee of the U.S. Supreme Court were among the 157 applicants for what was then the position of council "executive secretary."

Anne Arundel school administrators, though proud of the gains students made on the SAT during the last school year, want to sustain those gains over a longer period with strategies such as preparation courses and literacy programs. The average scores at some high schools varied by more than 35 points from last school year. In addition to maintaining gains or recovering from losses, principals and staffs are gearing up for changes the College Board, which oversees the SAT, will roll out in the spring.

The performance of Maryland eighth-graders on a national writing test increased significantly between 1998 and last year, moving them into the top ranks of young writers across the nation. And though the state's school performance program was retired last year, a researcher and school officials yesterday attributed the steady improvement to what might be called a MSPAP echo. Results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress show that the "scale score" of the state's eighth-graders - a collective measure of the pupils' performance used by researchers - increased 10 points over the four years, from 147 to 157 on a scale of 300. The change is considered statistically significant by federal sponsors of the test.

NEW YORK - The third-graders at P.S. 277 in Brooklyn twist upward in their seats, hands fluttering on outstretched arms like flags atop a pole. As teacher Janet Kennedy recognizes them, they march in turn to the blackboard, drawing a collection of lines and connecting dots that would be foreign to almost anyone who graduated from college in the past 20 years or so. This is no arts-in-the-schools project, or even some beginning geometry lesson. The enthusiastic 8-year-olds are learning to diagram sentences.

First-grade teacher Karleen Tyksinski knows how to spot children who could develop problems reading and writing. But she doesn't need to see a pupil pick up a book or a pencil. Tyksinski just listens. Her ears are tuned to a child's phonological or phonemic awareness: the ability to understand that words are composed of smaller units of sound and to distinguish among those sounds. Tyksinski, a teacher at Park School in the Baltimore County community of Brooklandville, says by the time children reach kindergarten, they should have grasped phonological skills, or phonetics.

Parents helping children with homework is a common ritual in most homes. But some mothers and fathers can't help because they lack adequate reading and writing skills, or they don't understand English. When faced with this problem in Howard County elementary schools, Project Literacy offers assistance. The nonprofit adult literacy organization provides adults with free help and support in basic reading and writing skills. The program is run under the direction of the Howard County library system and receives additional funds from grants and donations from businesses and community organizations.

Advice and strategies to help your children read There is much emphasis in school today on helping children develop the skills they will need in the workaday world. Writing will be an important skill in your child's life from first grade through college and throughout adulthood. As a parent or caregiver, you can help your child learn to write well and have fun while doing it. In fact, he'll get something free in return! Well, nearly free anyway. The 2001 edition of "Free Stuff for Kids" (click on www. meadowbrookpress.

A newspaper headline last year said that "90 million American adults can barely read and write." Without further analyzing the data that was used to reach this conclusion, I believe it is safe to say that we have far too many adults and children who lack proper reading and writing skills and that, in the area of education, America can do better.As a public school teacher for 29 years, I would like to share some of my observations on teaching and learning in today's society and offer some suggestions on how school systems could enhance the academic opportunities for our students.

Anne Arundel school administrators, though proud of the gains students made on the SAT during the last school year, want to sustain those gains over a longer period with strategies such as preparation courses and literacy programs. The average scores at some high schools varied by more than 35 points from last school year. In addition to maintaining gains or recovering from losses, principals and staffs are gearing up for changes the College Board, which oversees the SAT, will roll out in the spring.

The next peanut-butter-and- banana sandwich you fix for your child, cut it in half for her, then in fourths, then maybe in eighths for a quick, simple lesson in fractions. Her grade-school teacher will thank you come fall. Children savor the do-nothingness of vacation, but some educators warn that students shouldn't be encouraged to shift their brains into neutral for the summer. "There's growing evidence that children's reading and math achievement scores tend to decline over the summer vacation," says Andrea Greenhoot, a developmental psychologist at the University of Kansas.

EVERY PARENT knows that kids love to get mail. But children at Running Brook Elementary School have fun sorting and delivering it, too. Since October, pupils and staff members have sent or received nearly 1,500 pieces of mail through Wee Deliver -- their in-school post office. Wee Deliver is a free program offered by the U.S. Postal Service. Participating schools organize their in-school post offices as though the school were a miniature town. The program is designed to help children, kindergarten through eighth grade, build reading and writing skills.