The Post and Courier - Literacy must be statewide focus, report says - Charleston SC - postandcourier.com

The Post and Courier - Literacy must be statewide focus, report says - Charleston SC - postandcourier.com

I have identified the problem and the solutions for addressing literacy in grades K-3. South Carolina's Standards of Learning are set at The Department of Education. Education Weekly reports in Quality Counts that SC's standards rank 92% nationally and our student achievement is 64%. The problem like the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test is we test and teach children above grade level. We expect kindergarten children to perform on the first grade level which is not age, grade or developmentally appropriate. We must align the standards to be developmentally appropriate so teachers can teach and children can learn. We all know that practice makes perfect and reading is the hardest thing we learn to do and we learn it as children. The idea that children will read by 4 years old is not realistic for their human growth and development. Most children are not proficient or confident readers until the 3rd grade. We must allow the natural progression for brain maturity to develop and stop rushing the normal development of children. SC's literacy results have proven that we need to get back to the basics for children to build a firm foundation is reading, writing and math.