Dyslexia and Teacher Prep Dysfunction

Is it too much to ask that professionals stay
abreast of the research? The authors of a recently published study, “The
Dyslexia Dilemma,” don’t think it is and the extended
title of the study suggests the reasons why without mincing words: “A History
of Ignorance, Complacency and Resistance in Colleges of Education.”^[1] The
study highlights the fact that the Science of Reading instruction is neither
studied nor taught in teacher prep programs.

For 20 percent of
children, reading is the most complicated, difficult endeavor they will face
probably until adulthood. Often these children who struggle to learn to
read are labeled “dyslexic.” The term has been medicalized into a neurological
syndrome across the board. The authors of this study, led by David Hurford,
contend that these children are simply not being properly taught. The authors’
dissatisfaction with the failure of teacher preparation programs to teach the
science of reading to aspiring teachers almost rises to the level of outrage—as
well it should.

In spite of decades of research and
legislation going back to the 1980s’ A Nation at Risk, the 1990’s America’s
Schools Act, the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the 2001 National Reading
Panel Report, the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, and the Common Core State
Standards initiative, reading achievement in the United States remains
stagnant. By NAEP measures, reading achievement remains at 1992 levels. Well
over 50 percent of children in grades 4, 8, and 12 do not read at a proficient
level. Even the attempted “end run” of a couple decades of teaching to the test
has not caused the scores to budge.

Failure to learn to read has dire consequences
reaching beyond the school years well into adulthood. The psychosocial issues
related to dyslexia include low self-esteem, depression, post-traumatic stress,
substance abuse, incarceration, poverty, social dysfunction, and more. Failure
to learn to read proficiently also constitutes a national economic
liability. 

Nonetheless, a survey of hundreds of teachers
revealed serious gaps in teachers’ knowledge of basic scientific findings. It’s
especially lacking when it comes to their need to understand the structural
phonology of language and its relationship to learning to read. Only 20 percent
in a sample of over 700 teachers could segment words into speech sounds, for
example. The teachers surveyed reported that they had never received formal
instruction in phonological processing.

NCTQ has documented this lack of instruction in the
reading courses taken by teachers. So too has Kelly Butler from the Barksdale
Institute in Mississippi, Milt Joshi from Texas A&M, and several others.
Not surprisingly, phonemic awareness is the single most absent topic in reading
syllabi. So let’s be clear about reading failure and teacher accountability: teachers cannot teach what they themselves
have not been taught.

In the same way that teachers cannot teach what they
have not been taught, neither can college instructors. The difference is that
college instructors have a responsibility to be on the cusp of research. Both
the ignorance and culpability are systemic in colleges of education.

In addition to documenting the pervasive weaknesses
in reading found in most Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs, Hurford et al point to the
persistence of myth in teacher preparation, the most insidious of all being the
idea that learning to read is a natural, innate process—the myth that gave rise
to the scientifically discredited and abject failure of the “Whole Language”
approach to reading instruction. 

Many children who
come to school ready to read are labeled dyslexic. The etiology of their
dyslexia notwithstanding, they can be taught to read. Hurford
et al close with: “Children with dyslexia and reading difficulties are waiting
to be taught to read and the knowledge and skills necessary to do so exist. It
is essential that the Science of Reading become part of the vocabulary,
knowledge base and training within colleges of education.” Children who are
neurologically dyslexic or just struggling to learn to read will continue to
suffer until the benefits of scientific findings gleaned over decades of
research with tens of thousands of children and adults make their way into
college classrooms.

Bob Marino leads
the NCTQ review of reading coursework as part of the Teacher Prep Review and is
a former principal in Baltimore City Public Schools.

^[1]Hurford D, Hurford J, Head K,
Keiper M, Nitcher S, Renner L. (2016) “The Dyslexia Dilemma: A History of
Ignorance, Complacency and Resistance in colleges of Education.” Journal of Childhood & Developmental
Disorders. ISSN 2472-1786 Vol. 2 Num. 3:26 http://www.carrdinc.org/TheDyslexiaDilemma.pdf