Feb. 23.10

A World's first for West Dunbartonshire - The Elimination of Reading Failure by Tom Burkard

* SD with 60,000 students
*2nd lowest socio-economic area in Scotland
* after 10 years they virtually ERADICATED reading failure
* included "traveler's children and ESL students

How? was the question that I needed answered which precipitated my trip. I needed to see this first hand because it truly seemed too good to be true.

* Norfolk, England - The first stop on our trip to meet with the author of A World's first.... Tom Burkard. There I discovered that Jolly Phonics, a very similar program as Open Court, was the phonics program of choice now being used in England and Scotland's schools. Tom Burkard spoke extensively to me about the Rose Review and how it was the turning point in the direction of teaching phonics exclusively in schools.

1. When did they implement this and why?

* Baildon, Shipley, West Yorkshire, England. Toe by Toe, Keda Cowling - Heading north, second stop. Keda is a lady in her senior years who has long since retired from teaching in the classroom but not in her tutoring and speaking engagements. She began teaching later in life once her children were older and always felt challenged to find ways to help the students who were not learning to read like the others. Thirty years ago she travelled to "America" where she learned about Dr. Samuel Orton and Beth Gillingham's method of teaching dyslexic students. She then developed a reading program for students at risk and found tremendous success. The headmaster at her school encouraged her to not die and take it with her, and Toe by Toe was born. Little by little it began to be known, by word of mouth until one day a psychologist saw it and that was the beginning of its notoriety. They have never advertised the book. It has all been word of mouth, and they have a website.

Toe by Toe is being used in 500 schools in New Zealand. It is also being used in Hong Kong, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, South Africa and the U.S. Hopefully soon we can add Canada to that list.

It is also being used in 150 prisons in the UK. An organization called the Shannon Trust has been overseeing the implementation of the prison project by which literate prisoners instruct illiterate prisoners with great success. We know from our presentation by Doug Fraser and Nian Zhu that literacy and education are the keys to non reoffending.

2. How did this fit into West Dunbartonshire?

Dumbarton, Scotland - We crossed the border into Scotland and went to visit the elementary school that was basically Command Central for the implementation of Toe by Toe. There I met two amazing teachers who had been overseeing and training teachers to use Toe by Toe. The lady on the left is Helen Nellis who worked for Tommy Mckay (remember that name) and on the right, Anne Marie McDonald a seconded teacher for the purpose of continuing implementation. They told me about the project's start in 1998. They told me about the ability of this project to break the cycle of illiteracy in the community (the district of West Dunbartonshire). They said it could be done as an intercommunity project. To that end, they reiterated that the Toe by Toe book needed to be done 7 days a week, 20 minutes a day, so the book went home on weekends. They were also using Jolly Phonics as their main reading instruction in the district. They talked about children needing to learn the alphabet interactively so it became automatic. They stressed learning the sounds of the alphabet as opposed to singing it. I was in awe of these ladies. They were dedicated and so passionate about what they were doing.

3. Was Toe by Toe only for "at risk" students?

Anstruther, Fife, Scotland - The last leg of our journey. Laura and I drove alongside the North Sea to the little village of Anstruther north east of Edinburgh. There we met Joyce Watson. This lady is the person who provided the pivitol information by which all of the changes in Great Britain have happened, and the basis for the success of West Dunbartonshire. Joyce Watson had been a teacher all her life but it wasn't until she retired that she decided to do her PHD at St. Andrews university. She made her thesis the Clackmannanshire study. This study examined reading methods in mostly financially disadvantaged areas and determined at the end of 7 years of longtitudinal study, which one worked best for all students. It was her work that caused the entire country to switch from every other kind of instruction to phonics, with a list of criteria. This study is now internationally reknowned and sited as credible research. And she did after all obtain her PHD as a result of it. Some of the most remarkable realizations were:

*boys and girls achieved the same results
*children from lower socio-economic backgrounds achieved as well as those from advantaged backgrounds.
*they face the same problems we do with students who move a lot, theirs are called "traveler's children" or gypsies.
*they also face the same ESL situations


4. How does this all fit together?

I came away from this trip with a big picture scenario of what had transpired in all of the UK and how West Dunbartonshire was able to realize their success. Here are the answers to the questions and the overall big picture:

Once Clackmannanshire research took place (92-97) and was published, the tide began to turn in teaching reading methods and changes began in earnest. In 2006 Sir Jim Rose wrote an "Independent review of the teaching of early reading" where he determined that phonics was indeed the method by which ALL students learned to read.

The West Dunbaronshire Council (School District)Their graduation and illiteracy rates were abysmal with 28% of students functionally illiterate entering highschool they decided at the urging of a psychologist named Tommy McKay to tackle this problem head on. They developed a vision stating that they would have a zero tolerance level for illiteracy in their district. Tommy McKay was contracted to oversee this undertaking. Jolly Phonics was the reading program for teaching reading and Toe by Toe was the method by which they caught the children at the edge of the cliff. This was the program that allowed no one to fail.

I returned home with several copies of Toe by Toe. I met a mom by chance who was talking about her son's struggles in reading. I told her about Toe by Toe and offered it to her. She and I did the first lesson together with her son and she took the book home. After several months I called her last week to see how she'd been making out. Here is her reply in part:

Dear Heather,

I wanted to thank you so much for introducing my son Parker to the Toe by Toe program. After years of struggling with reading and writing, at age 9 he was finally diagnosed with Dyslexia and Dysgraphia. By this time his confidence had been extremely crushed and suffered from anxiety. My husband and I had spent thousands and thousands of dollars on Sylvan and eye therapy, and nothing had helped. When you introduced Parker to the Toe By Toe program I was so excited. We have not yet finished the program but thus far his reading has improved ten fold, his confidence has gone up and he now looks forward to going to school. Parker now reads books on his own and to his sisters. This program has been a complete life saver. I truly believe ever child learning to read could benefit from this program not just the ones who have Dyslexia or troubles reading. Once again Heather my husband and I would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Sincerely, Tracey
Conclusion

As the matter of literacy has always been a personal one for my family making us passionate about the subject of reading, my husband felt it important enough to finance this entire trip. He donated all his air-miles he'd collected over the years doing building projects and also gave my daughter and I the cash necessary to make the trip possible.

I hope the district truly appreciates the huge donation made by my husband Randy Maahs in order for my daughter and I to go and for me to be able to bring you this information.

Sincerely,

Heather Maahs

Trustee hopes new program will improve literacy rates
By Katie Bartel - Chilliwack Progress

Published: February 26, 2010 6:00 AM

School trustee Heather Maahs raised some eyebrows when she skirted school board rules this week to present a program she claims will cure illiteracy cheaply – and without the need to hire more costly teachers.

In fact, the Toe by Toe program – already in use in Great Britain – doesn't require any teachers at all, she says.

But the president of the Chilliwack teachers' union has concerns. Katharin Midzain says that trustees advocating pet programs leads down a dangerous road.

"It is a huge concern for the CTA when anybody, trustee or not, who has no educational background, training or experience at all in schools is making curriculum decisions," says Midzain. "We have experts, specialists in education, who do that job."...................

No apology for advocating literacy
Published: March 02, 2010 9:00 AM
Updated: March 02, 2010 9:54 AM

In her opening paragraph Katie Bartel states that I “raised a few eyebrows” and “skirted school board rules” when I gave a presentation to the board (Trustee hopes new program will improve literacy rates, Chilliwack Progress, Feb. 26). I am perplexed by this conclusion because as Chair of the Curriculum committee it is part of my job to give presentations to the board on the last committee meeting which was precisely what I was doing.

I had given this presentation to the committee at our last meeting and was “reporting on it.” Don’t just take my word for it.

The current Chair, the former Chair and the Superintendent sanctioned this presentation in this venue. The majority of Administration and all but a couple of trustees thanked me for the presentation afterwards stating they sincerely appreciated it.

I travelled to Scotland last March/April at my own personal expense, or rather at my husband’s generosity and was happy to have the opportunity to bring the information on this phenomenal reading success story I found back to our community.

Our district has struggled with reading and graduation issues for years with no measurable improvement. I was simply doing what I believed to be in the best interest of students who are not succeeding. It would seem that I am being criticized for this action which seems a bit strange.

As noted by Dr. Ruth Wiebe in a presentation to us a month or so ago, 44 per cent of students in grade six are reading at or above grade level. This was from our own district testing which means no parents opted their students out. The information is not skewed. It is accurate. That means 56 per cent of our grade 6 students are not reading at grade level!

We also have a falling graduation rate now sitting around the 68 per cent mark. That means that 32 per cent of students are not graduating. And that does not include the students that drop out.

Should we not be welcoming every opportunity to learn what we can about successes in other places?

I do not say these things to be critical of teachers who work diligently with struggling students. This information is brought forward to give them every advantage possible.

I worked with students for 10 years as an Orton Gillingham tutor and I completely understand the difficulties.

What I presented is not criticism, it is a desire to help make our students literate, successful, functioning members of society.

Teachers need not feel threatened because we are on the same page in relation to student success.

I will not apologize for being an advocate for student literacy. This was my platform every time I ran for school board. Literacy has and always will be the cornerstone of all learning.

As an elected trustee for the community of Chilliwack I will continue to advocate for the student’s reading skills and their subsequent achievement. That is what the School Act says a school board’s number one priority is supposed to be.

So I guess you could say I’m just doing my job.

Heather Maahs
Chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee
Chilliwack Board of Education

Trustees say action on literacy needed

By Katie Bartel - Chilliwack Progress

Published: March 06, 2010 12:00 PM

Chilliwack school trustees are losing faith in the education experts and are seeking their own solutions to the district's failing literacy rates.

As reported last week in The Progress, trustee Heather Maahs funded her own trip to Scotland two years ago, before being elected trustee, to explore a program that she says will do what the current school programs are not doing – cure illiteracy.

Longtime trustee Martha Wiens agrees that something needs to change.

"I think parents should be up in arms right now," said Wiens. "What we're doing now is not working."

Only 61 per cent of Chilliwack students, in Grade 7, met or exceeded expectations in reading, according to the 2007-08 Foundation Skills Assessment tests. The FSA results, along with the district's DART tests, show a steady decline in student achievement from Grades 4 through 9 – districtwide.

"We're getting kids to Grade 7, and they still can't read," said Wiens. "We've tried the experts, and the [literacy] results are no better, no greater. I'm not proud of our results ... we need to go back to basics."

A Ministry of Education spokesperson said that the government is heavily committed to bettering literacy throughout the province, already investing more than $1.4 billion in literacy and literacy-related initiatives since 2001. But the government cannot do it alone, he said, applauding trustee Maahs' initiative.

"The ministry is always interested in anything constructive that has to do with literacy," he said.

Maahs wants the Chilliwack school district to develop a pilot project for the Toe by Toe program, a simple, direct, phonics-based program that was founded in Great Britain. It would be the first time Toe by Toe has ever been offered in a Canadian school.

kbartel@theprogress.com

The usurpation is a political usurpation of the sovereignty of parents.

What if -- just what if -- parents took back their children? What if parents revolted against being treated as second-class citizens? What if parents, through correspondence courses, online programs, home education or other means took over the education of their children? What if Neighborhoods of Learning became the learning centers through wonderful libraries and librarians and volunteers and specialist tutors and specialists and children and parents and grandparents gathering. And where students obtained their compulsory education.

Education is compulsory, but public schooling is not!

Katharin Midzain, Chilliwack Teachers’ Association president (same as the above who bragged about the subversion of FSAs), in response to a trustee’s recommendation of a new reading program was quick to say: “You cannot have a school system without teachers. To put what clearly identifies itself as a home-based program, that parents can do at home with their children, into the classroom is frightening – it takes the value away from what we, as teachers, do."