Blog 1

The first chapter in Adolescent Literacy gave me a lot to think about. It gave many examples of problems that we have in our education system. I have written a paper and given a speech before about the use of standardized testing in school and why I don’t think it is a good idea. This chapter would have helped me a lot with this argument.  This chapter talked a lot about the NCLB and the AYP. These are both things that were intended to help students but inadvertently hurt them. The example that the author gave about Derek and how he improved his tests scores but did not reach the level that he needed to is not something that happens on a rare occasion. This is something that occurs all the time. These students are improving but at the same time are being told that they are not good enough. This is something that needs to change. We need to find a way to reach out to these students and let them know that they are making great progress and that they are doing an awesome job. We can’t continue to allow these kids to think that they are not good enough. The point about the poverty gap was an important section in this chapter. It showed that many kids in the school system today to not have a home life that sets them up for success. This is where the school must intervene and find a way to help these students who are struggling. Over all there are many problems with literacy in schools today. This problems need to be fixed so we can insure academic success among all students.