Myth: People have reading problems because they dropped out of school.
Fact: People dropped out of school because they had reading problems.
At least sometimes that’s the reason, or one of many. The good news is that no matter what age or grade last attended, it’s never too late to learn to read well
Usually kids drop out of school many grade levels beyond third grade. We have an expectation that our third graders should be able to exceed the first benchmark when we give them the standardized test in third grade. What if every child that walked into third grade was already a wonderful, successful reader? This means that they can comfortably read and understand whatever we give them, as long at they have the prior knowledge to make sense of it.
If all third graders could read well, we would never need another reading program or an intervention like Score 4 Reading. We could use reading as a vehicle for learning. Teachers could teach critical thinking skills, logic, literature, math, history, and so many other content areas using reading and not be spending time, money, and other resources on reading programs.
Think of all the kids beyond third grade that know what they need to know, but are using that information within a formula that isn’t working for them. Let’s build programs (interventions) that focus on the formula rather than on parts that aren’t missing.
