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The Great Reading DisasterMona McNee and Alice ColemanSearch
Inside the Book at Amazon.com
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By the late 1980s half the nation’s children were receiving eleven years of progressivist schooling that failed to give them even the elementary basis of education that was completed by the age of seven in earlier days. This great reading disaster was caused by the ‘look–say’ method of teaching, which presented whole words not individual letters. This book explains the causes and provides the solution to this problem.
In 2006, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills has ordered schools to use the phonic method but there seems little evidence that its implications are properly understood or that any serious re-training programme for teachers is being put in place. The authors believe their explanations and recommendations in this book are thus needed just as much as ever.
"Nobody has done more to try to solve this country's reading crisis than Mona McNee. Her account of what has happened makes tragic but essential reading. It should be on every college reading list and in every primary school classroom. I hope Mr Balls has a copy by his bed." Chris Woodhead
"The Great Reading Disaster includes chapters on progressivism, teacher training, local education authorities, central government, publishers and the media, voluntary organisations (including the Campaign for Real Education), conspiracy theories and testing. Political attempts to improve the system against the customary backlash from the 'progressive' establishment are also covered. Mystified parents, teachers, school governors and employers seeking to understand state education will find many answers in this book." Nick Seaton, Campaign for Real Education Newsletter