Literacy at the Crossroads.  Regie Routman (Heinemann: Portsmouth, N.H. 1996

          I was hooked on this book the minute I read the sentence, “Education is political, and it’s time we teachers got political in dealing with it.”  For a long time teachers have quietly been doing their jobs, seemingly oblivious to all the negative talk about the state of education and the lack of quality teachers.  As the author points out in the introduction, “bashing our public schools is a national pastime that dates back to before the turn of the century”.  People want to know that their tax dollars are well spent and they are not well-informed about curriculum. 

          No one will deny that there are “terrible schools”, but no one will stand up and talk about the high correlation between low achieving schools and a lack of resources.  Let’s look at California.  When school funding was drastically changed by Proposition 13 in 1978, the state was never able to replace the local funding with state money.  The 1994 NAEP test results showed a lack of performance in core subjects of California’s students across all grades.  Worried administrators began to look at what may have caused these results and came up with some interesting facts.  California has the highest class sizes in the nation and some of the lowest funding per student in the country.  Lack of inadequate schools and public libraries, increases in English Second Language students, and no cohesive staff development have all combined to create an atmosphere of inadequacy.  Teachers, rather than screaming about class size and lack of inadequate funding, complain about their salaries.  In an economy where the average worker does not make as much as a teacher, or get summer vacation, these complaints fuel the negative feelings.

          Educators have not done a good job representing what we do.  When you ask people about the state of education, they’ll talk about how “Johnny can’t read and write” and about teachers who make too much money, have summers off, and get terrific PERS.  When you ask these very same people what they think about the schools their children attend, they will give them high marks and tell you that teachers don’t get paid enough.  Why the discrepancy? The attention that newspapers, radio, and television give is always negative.  When was the last time you heard about what schools do well?

          The majority of this book gives suggestions for making schools better, especially in teaching Language Arts.  Throw away the textbooks and start having students read real books.  Include parents in book selection and in student assignments.  No matter what the grade level, read aloud to your students every day.  Model good reading habits by talking to students about the books you are reading. Above all, involve students in their education.  Set up situations where they can self-evaluate, where they can reflect on what they read, and where they can communicate to their parents what they are doing.