State board of education struggling to decide how best to teach reading and writing

After hearing from the public, board expects to vote later this week

Want to get English teachers really worked up? Try telling them what their students should be reading in class ... or, for that matter, what they shouldn't.

If that doesn't work, spark a debate on the best way to teach grammar.

That is exactly what the State Board of Education is doing this week as it prepares to rewrite the state's English, language arts and reading curriculum standards — a debate that has already brought some people to tears and lit up the blogosphere with fiery commentary alleging censorship of books.

The board is split on the best way to teach children to read and write. How board members resolve the issue, with a public hearing today and votes later this week, will determine which textbooks school districts buy and will shape what is taught in the classroom.

The contentiousness also foreshadows upcoming debates about the science curriculum, which will be set later this year.

A coalition of educators and publishers now has a slim majority of support among board of education members who support an English curriculum that encourages students to learn to read and write by doing it — the kind of instruction that has been going on in Texas for the past decade.

"A teacher will teach a mini-lesson in grammar and then follow up with a student application in writing," said Cynthia Tyroff, an instructional specialist with the Northside school district near San Antonio. "Studies show ... picking out verbs and nouns on a worksheet is not going to teach students how to write."

On the other side are supporters of a more traditional approach proposed by Donna Garner, a retired teacher and conservative education activist. Those board members say students need more spelling drills, phonics lessons and practice in grammar identification to learn to read and write properly. This side also favors developing suggested reading lists with a heavy emphasis on classical literature.

"They teach reading by getting them to read every third or fourth word," Garner said of current methods. "But the problem is when they start getting the harder (words) at about Grade 3, and they hit a wall."

The debate started heating up in January when seven of the 15 state board members began pushing to abandon the curriculum standards being developed in the past two years by a committee of curriculum writing experts and state educators. They support Garner's alternate standards, which she says she and other teachers developed. Those standards were rejected by the board in 1997 during the last curriculum revision.

The two sides sought a compromise after a contentious board meeting in February by assigning a subcommittee to work with consultants and other outside experts to revise the standards. Their compromise includes ideas from Garner's proposal such as a reading list, which many educators oppose because they say even "recommended" books are interpreted as mandatory by teachers and publishers, and can take states one step closer to censorship of books in schools.

With the subcommittee's revisions, however, new issues have cropped up.

Tyroff's group objects to the reading lists altogether and says some of the repetition being taken out of the standards was meant to ensure students practice their reading, writing and comprehension skills.

Garner says the new reading list has several objectionable books, such asJ.D. Salinger's"The Catcher in the Rye." She also said the compromise proposes too much material to be taught at each grade level.

The stakes are high.

A reading list or a major shift in teaching philosophy in Texas, one of the largest textbook-purchasing states in the nation, would have major ramifications nationwide for publishers, who typically anthologize selected readings and publish textbooks based on prevalent methods and readings. A major change in teaching philosophy also would require an overhaul of teacher training programs.

There's also the question of what methods are best for teaching a diverse population.

State Board member Mary Helen Berlanga, D-Corpus Christi, was moved to tears during a news conference last week in the Rio Grande Valley, where she said her fellow board members were ignoring the needs of Hispanic children.

Some education policy observers say the debate offers hints of what's to come when the board considers the science curriculum.

Some of the board members who support Garner's proposal say they also support teaching the weaknesses of the theory of evolution, which some science educators say is a tactic creationists use to circumvent laws that prohibit the teaching of religious doctrine. Some board member favor the teaching of the Discovery Institute's idea of intelligent design, which holds that the universe was created and not the result of a series of random events.

Dozens of passionate educators are expected to attend today's public hearing. Garner won't be among them; she says her presence is too polarizing. But that doesn't mean she isn't devoted to the cause.

"I've committed years to this cause, and I cannot believe that people can be so wrong about what kids need to learn," she said. "We've lost millions of Texas children in the last 10 years. We can't afford to lose millions more."

lheinauer@statesman.com; 445-3694

If you go

A public hearing on English, language arts and reading curriculum standards begins at 1 p.m. today at the Texas Education Agency headquarters, William B. Travis Building, 1701 N. Congress Ave. More than 60 people have signed up to speak, and because of time limits, it is unlikely that anyone who hasn't signed up will have a chance to speak.

On the Web

To review the standards being considered, go to www.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/TEKSELARFNL031908.pdf

Recommending reading

Some states with recommended reading lists:

Massachusetts, California, Indiana, District of Columbia and Alabama

States with examples of books or authors embedded in their curriculum standards:

Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama

Source: StandardsWork, the Washington D.C.-based consulting company working with Texas on the new curriculum standards.