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Merriam- -Webster's Collegiate dictionary defines literate as "...1b: able to read and write 2a: versed in literature or creative writing". Clearly these are distinctly different aspects of one skill, different enough to be separate skills altogether. How do you determine if a student who can read and write is literate, unless you test them?

There is a recent phenomenon called "teaching to the test". It comes from cramming extra sessions of sample study questions or practice tests into a curriculum in order to bump up a school's scores on standardized tests. What it actually does is put a spotlight on the deficiencies that remain in the higher levels after years of ineffective teaching in the primary levels. It puts a patch on the leaky tire to enable it to get off the lot, it doesn't make the car sound.

Literacy is a broad subject, involving several aspects of an activity. One has to learn the letters, then the phonics, then basic grammatical sequence. After all this fairly mechanical learning is done, then true literacy can begin, just as after basic addition and subtraction are learned, then true number manipulation can begin. Perhaps we should call the mechanics of literacy "letters" as in definition 1b, and keep "literacy" for definition 2a.

Teaching to the test narrows the emphasis of the subject to that which will guarantee a higher score on a particular test. Primary grades are where the emphasis on reading and writing should be the greatest. This is where rigorous testing identifies weaknesses in either the teaching method or the student's progress. One must be able to string together words coherently and decipher the same words accurately before any further "literacy" can begin. Many students can read a block of text and answer concrete questions about it immediately following. Fewer can read a block of text and extrapolate ideas from it. After about grade three or four, students should be able to form opinions after reading a short text, and should be able to create a short narrative or argument. This is where literacy begins, and rote testing can be phased out.

Much has been said about rote teaching and crushing individuality but the bottom line is that students need to learn the fundamentals early (remember "Reading is FUNdamental"?) before they can read and write critically, and activity that requires thought and experience without thinking of how to spell or where to put that apostrophe. You can't ride a bike while thinking of which foot comes up and how to steer and how to balance. Riding a bike is a seamless assimilation of discrete actions upon which the rider builds in order ride faster, over different terrain and in different conditions. A student needs to know their "letters" before they can become "literate".

Rigorous testing is used to identify weaknesses in a particular area, and can be useful in the early learning years.

Learn more about this author, Tracy Blankenship.
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