To the Editor:
Literacy in Indiana has been a hot topic recently. Lawmakers and educators at the Indiana Statehouse are arguing over whether students should repeat third grade if they fail the IREAD-3 state literacy test. However, repeating something at which you have already failed has limited potential for success.
I think there is another alternative that has not been mentioned. Schools with enough students for two or more classes in a grade should create a class with a heavy emphasis on English and reading, even if they must limit or curtail other subjects such as history, social studies, geography, and science. The English emphasis classes might be in second, third and/or fourth grades.
Casey Smith recently wrote in an Indiana Capital Chronicle story shared by the Daily Journal correctly “third grade is a critical year for literacy because it’s at that time students shift from learning to read toward reading to learn.” Students who cannot read well do not learn well in most other subjects. It is the first step toward dropping out of school several years later, and not going on to college.
This is why learning to read well in second and third grade is more important than all other subjects. Reading well is the bedrock of all future learning. If students learn to read well, they will catch up in other subjects in subsequent years.
Educational professionals can best determine what literary skills are most important, but I have some ideas as a starting point. A reading class before lunch and another reading class after lunch would be helpful. Spelling and vocabulary are important, along with word meanings. There has never been enough time for grammar. Sentence diagramming is valuable.
Choice of words when writing can convey anger, love, hatred, sympathy, etc., but only by an educated writer. Studying well-written paragraphs and learning what made them effective can help students learn how to express themselves.
Such a specialty class could help a student in later grades, without the negative stigma of repeating a grade and its associated cost.
Dennis Sherfy
Greenwood
