Why has our educational system failed to teach over 20% of our children to learn to read adequately?

1.       Who are the absolutely worst instructors in our universities?  They are the instructors in the colleges of education.  Reason? Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.  Those who can’t handle the heat in the classroom, get their PhD’s and teach teachers.  Sad, but true. Of course, if you're a college instructor reading this, it couldn't apply to you because you are searching for help. Most don't. They already know all it all. If you're offended by my blanket generalizations, I'm sorry. I apologize for offending you by telling the truth.

2.       Lies told as absolute truths that create problems for kids, lies such as our language goes left to right, that kids are supposed to learn to read in the first two grades and then from grades three on up they read to learn. See: Read by Grade Three? Say What!

3.        Who are the most discriminated against minority in adult education classes throughout the U.S. ?  We have everything from dog obedience classes to cake decorating, but we don’t have classes for parents who want to learn how to help their kids at home.  The schools flat out refuse to help that minority, that minority that just want to learn how to help their kids at home when they're having problems learning to read and/or spell.  By the way, homeschoolers receive all kinds of free help from AVKO.  For years, AVKO has offered FREE lesson plans to school for such a course, but schools continue to refuse to offer help to parents.

4.       Our U.S. Department of Education has failed to fund any adequate study of spelling since 1954.  No adequate baseline exists today.  See AVKO’s challenge to researchers: Project Spelling

5.       Teachers should be (but are not) taught to read and write upside down with both left and right hands.

6.       Want all the classic definitions of dyslexia translated into plain English?  Go to: What Is Dyslexia?

Who is Don McCabe? The Research Director of the non-profit AVKO Educational Research Foundation founded in 1974, Author of over 40 books in the area of teaching spelling, reading, and handwriting, including The Patterns of English Spelling, the only source book (10 volumes!) ever written in which a teacher, writer, or researcher can find all the words in English (American or British) that share the same phonic patterns such as the ci = /sh/ as in social, crucial, and suspicion. 

Review:...”This (To Teach a Dyslexic) is more than an autobiography of a distinguished educator.  It’s a blueprint long overdue that school systems can use to teach reading and writing.”  – Carl Smith, Ph.D., Director Family Literacy Center, Indiana University.

HomeSchool Christian Review of Sequential Spelling

For more info contact Don McCabe at the AVKO Educational Research Foundation. Phone Toll Free 1-866-AVKO-612