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Jul 14, 2023Liked by Natalie Wexler

Thank you for this response to the New Yorker article. I intended to write a letter pointing out that the article failed to address whether the curriculum is effective, evidence-based, and efficient. How much time do kids spend standing in line in the hall waiting for everyone to quiet down? How efficient are classroom routines? And do the teachers know enough about learning science to pivot quickly to, for example, abandon calling on students who show a lack of understanding, and switch to reteaching?

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Right. Unfortunately after 80 consecutive years of catastrophic failure in reading instruction (followed closely by math), it is time for us to give up on the idea that the public schools are searching for solutions, except of course the solution to the problem of how to get naive parents to cough up yet more money. When capitalists fail, they go out of business. When socialists fail, they play the victim and claim that we're not spending enough on them: http://mychildwillread.org/

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Thanks so much for sharing, Natalie! I'd love to discuss some other solutions to help improve children's literacy, including sharing some fresh new data. Hope we can connect!!

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