CNN's Danny Freeman came to our CCSU Literacy Center to talk about the sinkholes of illiteracy

In the movie, The Wizard of Oz Dorthy's dog Tota pulls back the curtain on the Great OZ.
" If you were really great and powerful, you'd keep your promises!” cries Dorothy, stamping her foot in outrage saying: "But the man behind the curtain is just a man. There is no other wizard but him." Dorothy offers an inside view of how policymakers, people in power, and our legislators hide behind the curtains of endless failure. There are people in power behind the curtain of America's Public Schools.  The cracks and the giant sinkholes of public schools in America are a direct result of their failures to give every child an equal education. In America, the quality of your education depends upon your Zip Code, the Color of your skin color, your economic status, or your immigration status. 

Time to return to the tragic story of Young Brave Aleysha Ortiz, the girl who fell into one of our public school's sinkholes. 

CNN Dan Freeman asked if this story about high school graduates who can't read is common or uncommon? My answer is yes and no. We would spend the next two hours discussing her tragic story, the broader issues of literacy, and the roles states and the federal government play in helping America's children learn to read. First a look at this courageous young woman who dared to share what most non-readers would never share.  She opened up to tell the whole world her story. 

The Alisha Ortiz case

"In recordings shared with the CT Mirror, made from March through June of this year, district officials acknowledged that in 12 years, Ortiz never received reading instruction or intervention. The CT Mirror also reviewed Ortiz’s educational records, including her recent IEPs and other documents." The link to the Connecticut Mirror Story:
> https://ctmirror.org/2024/09/29/cant-read-high-school-ct-hartford/ <   

I have reviewed her story and examined the details in the press. I find my thoughts thinking Groundhog Day 100 years. I would be remiss in not pointing out that children spend only 13% of their time in school. What about the other 87% of the time? Literacy is not just a school affair; it is a family affair, a community affair, and a national affair. When a child graduates high school unable to read and write, I understand there is plenty of blame to be shared. Who is responsible? Everyone is responsible. However, two groups always get a pass, but in my professional opinion, they are the most responsible. They love to call out others, but never look at themselves. Like Pontius Pilate they are forever washing their hands, claiming innocence. Who are these hand washers? They are the one who hold the purse strings, legislators and policy makers. 

Pontius Pilate

Link to time spent in school numbers: > https://www.naesp.org/sites/default/files/resources/2/Principal/2004/S-Op6.pdf  <

Behind these public education policy sinkholes

Of course, the Hartford Public Schools failed Ms. Ortiz, according to the story, literacy intervention services were non-existent for a non-reader for 12 years. Yes her school played a role. However, the state of Connecticut played a bigger role. We all played a role in her story.

In Bob Dylan's "Who Killed Davy Moore" song has six "Not I" verses  "Who Killed Davy Moore is about a boxer who died in the ring.

1. 1. " Not I said, the Referee, 
2. Not I said, the Angry crowd,
3. Not I said, the cigar-puffing manager,
4. Not I said, the gambler, 
5. Not I said, the sports writer,
6. Not I said, the man whose fists laid him low."

Not I said, the Connecticut Supreme Court

Wasted Data, Wasted Dolllars & Wasted Lives

 Wasted Data, Wasted Dollars, Wasted Lives: Research indicates not only an assessment system failure in American Public Schools. We have a massive moral failure where private entities are profiting off the misery of our children, teachers, and parents as well. 

We measure what doesn’t matter, and the results come back 6 too late. No one is reading the research, they are reading Influencers, Podcasters, CEOs, Political Think Tank Pundits,  

Who should we listen to? Children, teachers, and parents. These voices remain silenced in education reform research. Keeping them silent keeps profits up and an endless cycle of failure going. 

I invite you to watch the YouTube video Bob Greenberg filmed on Brainwaves Video Anthology of me discussing decades of education reform failures. 

Link to Wasted Data, Wasted Lives: The Missing Link in Assessment (12:56)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLwoXf2ULKc

I am sending out an Assessment SOS. Research paints a massive moral failure of education reform in America. 

Readers, this one needs to go viral. Our Public School Assessment System is broken and unfair and does more harm than good to children, teachers, and the public.

Respectfully,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Professor of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education
Uniting to Save Our Schools
Badass Teacher of Truth 

Just in case you feel like listening to the tune that inspired my morning walk today it is Barry Lane's More Than a number https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Vf8cwTWRY

Eye On The Prize: Pathway to Transformational Literacy

From the opening of the

“We travel carrying our words.
We arrive at the ocean.
With our words we are able to speak
Of the sounds of thunderous waves.
We speak of how majestic it is,
Of the ocean power that gifts us songs.
We sing of our respect
And call it our relative. ~ Ofelia Zapeda 

From the first book, readers are listeners, immersed in comprehension skills. The skills needed to read/listen to the print are deeply rooted in the transformational potential to find ourselves, and others, and pathways to change our world. In other words, words carried us here and will carry us until we are no more.

We not only find words to decode, but we also find ourselves, our families, our ancestors, and our journeys from there to here in those words. When Dr. Zapeda speaks of words carrying the people, she is referring to language as being something bigger than the structure of their linguistic components. For her words are bigger than the printed page. My Tohono O'odham friend Dr. Angie Listo told me recently "Our ancestors hear us through the words we use. Use words that made them proud."  I see the power, the beauty, the hope, and the story of the Tohono O'odham people in Ofelia's poem above.

Before the first printed word is read, it was spoken, we heard it spoken on the loving lips of parents, grandparents, siblings, trusted elders, and in our sacred temples, mosques, and churches. To ignore the idea that words carry us, that something came before the print, is to miss the greater purpose of becoming literate. I want more than print. I want connections to my people. I find my redemption in the words my people carry. Words are my redemption songs. 

Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist who learned to read, Said, "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." He viewed literacy as the path to freedom from slavery. His view of literacy lives in his mirrors, windows, and sliding doors. His biography is the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”. His words allow us to walk in his shoes. If we sell learning to read as merely correctly reading the words on a page, we risk losing the path to freedom on the journey to becoming literate. The SOR community needs more than decodable books, they need the words that carry the people, and those words are found in literature written by the people. 

Quick review:
Mirrors: books we see ourselves in, decodable books can do this, not nearly as well as authentic literature, but they can do it,

Windows: books we see others in, and like the above decodable books can do this, but not as well as authentic literature. 

Sliding Doors: these are books that let readers walk in the shoes of others, these are transformational. They change the way we see ourselves, others, and the world. 

I have yet to see decodable books that can do this. The danger in not learning to read without understanding the role of Transformational Literacy is to produce readers who cannot see the path to freedom and liberation. 

I chose the above image from "Thank You, Mr. Falker", taken from one of America's most successful and prolific Authors; Patricia Barber Polacco takes us inside her shoes as a young Dyslexic girl struggling to learn to read, and her gifted teacher who knew it is the combination of skills and the magic of transformation pathways that bring struggling readers to be as Frederick Douglas said: " Forever Free". Words are the honey people carry via spoken and written words. Readers need skills to access the written word. To make readers who love books, we must connect to readers who love language, recognize those words that carry them. Dare I say the forbidden word Balanced Literacy. Without balance, there is no pathway to freedom, no way for words to carry the people, and we lose those Sliding Door books that transform us. Readers do not go to Barnes and Noble to buy the latest decodable book. Readers, go to find those Transformative Sliding Door Books.

In Marginalized communities, children and their teachers require not only skills, but a transformative literacy purpose deeply rooted in experiences that offer pathways to freedom, justice, and redemption. To understand that words can carry us, we need to see us in the words on the printed page. 

Respectfully,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
CCSU Literacy Center Director
Uniting to Save Our Schools
Badass Teacher

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk it is Bob Marley's Redemption Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7eXTtNRWHE