Art Burke - was Transforming science: Fact-free reform

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

A teacher manual with twelve pages of activities for teaching twelve 
one-syllable words leaves no time in the day for reading and responding to 
real stories. Surely that was clear to anyone following this thread with 
the intention of understanding how the report of the National Reading Panel 
has been used to establish phonics instruction (together with phonemic 
awareness) as the principal or almost the only component of reading 
instruction in early primary.

I made the mistake of responding to a comment from Art Burke.

It seemed like a reasonable comment, questioning whether I had made an 
overstatement.

But when I replied with evidence for my original statement, Art shifted 
ground with a new question. If history is any guide, a reply to that one 
would simply generate another.

Most of us on this list, I think, are willing to answer a long series of 
sincere questions. Art never seems to make any positive contributions to 
the assessment reform movement: no draft legislation, no testimony, no 
leaflets, no talk shows, no articles, no letters to the editor, no 
financial contributions, no collaborative dialogue, no posting of articles 
likely to interest or inform other list members. After many months of his 
posts, is there any reason to believe he is asking sincere questions?


George Sheridan

There is no such thing as a standard child.