Supporting CLI is an opportunity to improve the quality of underserved children’s education of in some of Philadelphia’s most impoverished neighborhoods, so that they may pursue their dreams and have real futures as successful, responsible members of their communities…CLI acts on the belief that quality education is a civil right: every child has the basic human right to learn to read, regardless of the poverty of his community. The presence of CLI programs in Philadelphia classrooms can improve the immediate, material lives of impoverished children and set them on course for a productive future as public citizens. As their lives improve, so do their neighborhoods and communities.
For Policy Makers
Because teacher expertise is the most important factor in student achievement, quality professional development is critical. In What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future, the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future cites the study comparing high-achieving and low-achieving elementary schools with similar student characteristics, which found that differences in teacher qualifications accounted for 90% of the variation in student achievement in reading and mathematics.
Helping teachers use effective practices, supporting their professional development, providing them with great books, and showing teachers and administrators how to use assessments and benchmarks to inform instruction are all activities that have enormous impact. (more...)
Published: Mar 31, 2010 | Duration: 34min
"Dire" is one adjective that Linda Katz, founder and executive director of Children's Literacy Initiative (CLI), uses to describe the U.S. education system, which is leaving an increasingly high number of children without adequate reading and writing skills. For more than 20 years, CLI has been working with school systems across the country to overhaul how teachers are trained, hired and mentored. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Katz discusses not only why classroom teaching is broken and what can be done about it, but also the secret to helping kids learn to love reading.
