Groves Academy: MN Literacy Reform, Presented by John Alexander 11.17.11 (5 of 6)
Channel: Groves Learning Organization
Date: 04/09/2012

WORKSHOP: Minnesota Literacy Reform
Thursday, November 17, 2011 at Groves Academy
Presented by John Alexander M.Ed., Groves Academy Head of School
Minnesota's achievement gap between those students who can read and those who cannot is the largest in the country. We can't continue with the "business as usual" attitude in teaching our students how to read. While literacy reform is needed in Minnesota, we don't need to reinvent the wheel. We need only to look at what has happened in Florida. In the last decade, the state of Florida has enacted far-reaching education reforms that have achieved remarkable reading gains. In 1998, only about half of the state's fourth graders could read. Today, 72 percent can. Today Florida's black fourth graders are about a year and a half ahead of their black peers in Minnesota in reading, and Hispanic fourth graders are about three years ahead of their peers in Minnesota. John Alexander will explore Florida's literacy reform movement while discussing reforms already enacted in Minnesota.