Resourceful Academics

06/09/2022

Important developmental points to consider!

Credit:

05/15/2022

Really wish all states would implement this!

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks are calling it the largest and most comprehensive approach to supporting public school students with the learning disorder.

04/11/2022

This is interesting.

New Jersey is one of several states exploring later school start times, as educators grapple with concerns about the pandemic's impact on youth's mental health.

05/22/2021

Great ideas for all ages!

Stop checking Facebook.

04/22/2021

“It’s not that learning loss isn’t real, or that social and emotional initiatives alone will solve it. “Districts face a hard reality,” Berger concedes. “Many children lost a great deal of academic growth last year...Districts need to know which students need extra support, including tutoring in and outside the classroom. But educators need to assess students’ abilities in a way that motivates them to grow.””

Learning loss is real and needs to be addressed, but how we go about it should be commensurate with the size of the moment.

03/26/2021

One for the books 😢

03/06/2021

Trust science.

Stanford Professor Bruce McCandliss found that beginning readers who focus on letter-sound relationships, or phonics, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading.

02/24/2021

Interesting read!

Yale researchers Sally and Bennett Shaywitz say there’s an upside to dyslexia. Those with the disorder tend to be out-of-the-box thinkers because they have trouble reading.

02/20/2021

Super excited to read my first The Reading League’s journal.

02/15/2021

Early screenings are imperative!

Dyslexia can be identified with 92% accuracy at the age of 5.5 years, according to the National Institute of Health.

Dyslexia can start being identified as young as age 4.

Preschool and Kindergarten screenings can flag those at risk for Dyslexia, and (with appropriate remediation) prevent reading failure.

Dyslexia is not a medical diagnosis.

Dyslexia is not letter/number reversals or a vision issue.

Dyslexia does not mean you cannot read, or that you have to have poor reading comprehension.

Dyslexia, by definition, is difficulty with accurate and/or fluent word recognition, poor spelling, and poor decoding.

Dyslexia requires a Structured Literacy intervention.

01/26/2021

Illinois is in the midst of a literacy crisis. According to the ISBE Grade Card, in 2019 only 37.4% of all Illinois students are proficient in English Language Arts. This is less then 2 out of 5. Among those who are ESL learners, minorities, or youth in care, those numbers are far lower. And that is pre-pandemic.

Studies from the past 30 years have repeatedly shown that students who are not proficient readers by the end of third grade face a much more difficult future. They are 3 times more likely to end up in jail or on welfare. They are 4 times more likely to drop out of school.

One in every five Illinois students has Dyslexia. It is the most common reading difficulty. Children with Dyslexia can be identified as young as 4 years of age, with 92% able to be identified at the age of 5.5 years. Early identification and remediation can prevent reading failure. Sadly, the vast majority will never be identified by their school district.

This needs to change.

On January 29, 2020, Illinois State Representative Lindsay Parkhurst filed bill HB4406. This awesome piece of legislation provides Dyslexia screening guidelines and rules, and requires school districts throughout the state to screen students for Dyslexia risk factors. It was read, and then sent to the Rules Committee.

On February 25, 2020, the bill was assigned to the Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee.

On June 23, 2020, HB 4406 was re-referred to the Rules Committee.

It still waits in the Rules Committee, to hopefully be reintroduced this legislative session.

We need this legislation. HB4406 was an amazing first step, that needs to be completed.

No one suffers when we build classrooms with Dyslexic learners in mind.

We are all made the better for it.

Please share this post, to help raise awareness for HB4406. Please message your Illinois State Representative, to ask for their support, or tag them in the comments below!

We would like to thank Representative Parkhurst, along with the other co-sponsors of this bill for their amazing support! Give them a huge thank you in the comments below! Representative Keith Sommer, State Representative Bob Morgan, State Representative Yehiel Mark Kalish, Charlie Meier State Representative 108th District, State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, State Representative LaToya Greenwood, State Representative Anna Moeller, 43rd District, Anne Stava-Murray, State Rep Theresa Mah, State Representative Michelle Mussman, State Representative Mary Edly-Allen

We would also like to remind Governor JB Pritzker, the Illinois State Senate, and the State of Illinois House of Representatives to not forget that roughly 19% of their constituents have Dyslexia. We need polices and funding to help young students be identified and properly remediated before reading failure ever occurs. We need policies and funding to help older students (Jr High and High School) receive the remediation they need to thrive. And we need polices to help adults of all ages to receive the identification and support they need to help them overcome life challenges.

Thank you,

01/24/2021

Interesting!

The College Board, citing the pandemic for the changes, will shift focus to a new digital version of the college entrance exam.