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DEL.ICIO.USFourth-grade slump
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DeKalb County school leaders are discussing putting fourth- and fifth-graders from three different elementary schools together in just one school. School officials say the change will relieve overcrowding.
But the design may have some academic benefits. It might fix the “fourth-grade slump.”
Researchers and teachers use the phrase to describe the struggles many older elementary students have with reading. Starting in fourth-grade, kids go from learning to read to reading to learn. Textbooks become more difficult. Students must be able to explain what they read and make inferences about what the author is trying to say.
Many children struggle with this. Check out the reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for proof.
Some say this happens because teachers spend so much time teaching children how to read; they spend little time emphasizing reading comprehension skills.
Others say elementary schools focus too much on the needs of younger children at the expense of older students. They might argue that could be avoided in a school with just fourth- and fifth-graders.
And then there are people who blame outside distractions - like videogames, sports and other activities - that lessen the amount of time students have to read outside of school.
Have you come across the fourth-grade slump with your children or students? What do you think can be done to reverse it?
Comments
By V for Vendetta
April 30, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this
Oh, JimD might not like this …
The problem starts at home. It has little or nothing to do with the style of instruction in the school, the emphasis placed on reading to learn vs. learning to read (or vice versa), and teaching to the test. I will concede that, as JimD says, none of that matters if you get a bogus teacher, either.
Still, reading begins in the home, and most parents to a pi$$ poor job of reading to kids, teaching kids that reading is fun, or using books in the first place. A young child should be excited about reading and he/she should view the library as a FUN place. My parents would NEVER cater to my insistencies for toys every time we walked by them in a store, but they would never hesitate to buy me ANY book I pointed out. The effect lasted well into my high school years. Now I bemoan the fact that my personal life can’t accomodate more reading time.
The more a child reads when young, the better reader he/she becomes. It’s as simple as that. Reading begins in the home and impacts elementary school performance more than any other grade level (assuming non-readers are weeded out by middle school and high school, which I know is not always the case. Heck, it’s rarely the case.)
If you want to know why a slump exists, especially in Dekalb of all places, you must look first at the parents. Read to your kids! It sounds corny, but the commercial is right—it only takes a few minutes per day, but the difference can last a lifetime.
By Stacey
April 30, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this
I agree with V that this lies largely with the parents. Kids need to have some level of reading and comprehension before starting kindergarten. Everything kids do in elementary school centers around reading so if the kid can’t read, he’s doomed long before fourth grade (IMO). My first grader’s math homework has reading problems everyday. I can’t imagine what his fourth grade work will look like.
By jim d
April 30, 2008 10:46 AM | Link to this
Ok, No problem with parents responsibility in early childhood learning to read.
However,the study sited in the article was pretty bogus and done over 10 years ago. Let me also say that the “4th grade slump”, in my opinon, has more to do with a child being 10 years old than it does with reading to learn skills. That opinon is based on having spent many hours working with 10 year old boys and understanding their intrests are far from reading at that age. 10 year old boys are generally more interested in living an adventure than in reading one.(and that my friend is just the nature of the beast)
By Teacher, Too
April 30, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this
I, too, agree that reading is the most fundamental skill that a child, teen, adult can possess. How can anything beat the time a parent spends reading to a child or having a child read to the parent?
On the grade level divisions, I’d like to see an overhaul of k-12. Eons ago, when I was in elementary school, the 4th and 5th graders had a separate wing, making us feel like the upper classmen. I still like that idea.
I would suggest a 6th and 7th grade center, and an old-fashioned junior high for 8th and 9th graders. Or, move 6th grade back to elementary school, and make junior high 7th, 8th, and 9th grades.
I just don’t think 9th grade students belong with high school seniors.
Even though I was in college when the middle school concept was implemented, and I began my teaching career in a middle school, I don’t see great advantages other than sharing the same group of kids (makes behavior management much easier).
By jim d
April 30, 2008 11:18 AM | Link to this
teach too,
“reading is the most fundamental skill that a child, teen, adult can possess.”
I concur, however we have a problem in our house. Seems we buy a book like “The Lords of Discipline” on a friday evening and it has been consumed before the following monday. Thus our library continues to grow. ;-o
By V for Vendetta
April 30, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this
LOL, JimD,
A good problem to have …
I agree with you on the possible real reason for the fourth grade slump. Sometimes, I think people lose sight of the fact that kids are, in fact, KIDS!
Imagine that!
By almh
April 30, 2008 1:05 PM | Link to this
I think the city of Decatur already has a separate school for 4th and 5th graders. Does it work well for them?
By high school teacher
April 30, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
I just don’t think 9th grade students belong with high school seniors.
Many agree with you, teacher too. That’s one reason why freshman academies are popping up all over the place.
jimd, you raise a good point about the reading interest of 4th grade boys. I don’t have a fourth grader yet, but I have friends who blame the AR (accelerated reader) book selection; they say that the types of books that their sons want to read are not on the AR lists, so they can’t get points for reading them. I personally hate AR, but I am probably alone in that instance.
By dragonlady
April 30, 2008 1:39 PM | Link to this
High school Teacher: You are NOT alone. I, too, hate accelerated reader. There are all kinds of ways kids manipulate that program from deliberately missing questions to they won’t have to read more challenging works to starting off at a very low level, so they won’t have to work hard.
I can’t tell you how many parents have told me that the AR program ruined reading for their kids, turning them into children who loved to read to children who dread the next book.
By Teacher, Too
April 30, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this
jim d—
That’s a problem I frequently have. I buy a book and can’t put it down. Consequently, I finish it by the end of the weekend.
Unless it’s a must-have book, I just visit the public library and save a fortune!
If only that were our worst problem…
Regarding AR: I’ve never liked it. Books are leveled by vocabulary rather than content. So you have a book like The Giver rated as level 5 even though the concepts presented in the novel are so much more sophisticated and are more appropriate for middle school.
By high school teacher
April 30, 2008 2:06 PM | Link to this
Teacher Too, I get freshmen who have already read The Catcher in the Rye because it’s on a 7th grade reading level. Of Mice and Men is on a 4th grade reading level. I should think so! Both of the above mentioned books contains lots of 4 letter words, but not the ones I would want 4th graders to read. :)
By a high school mom
April 30, 2008 2:17 PM | Link to this
The AR program is supposed to encourage students to read. I was very involved in that program when it was introduced at my son’s elementary school, back in the ’90s. Over the years, I watched it get polluted; too much emphasis on points and competition. It is supposed to be a tool for encouragement and individual development; an enrichment program, not part of a curriculum.
My son, 17, is an avid reader, but not b/c of AR. He stopped reading AR books by the 4th grade and chose books written by favorite authors. Once he found an author, he read all of that particular author’s the books. Needless to say, he never racked up the AR points, but it really did not matter b/c he discovered a love for reading. I cannot recall any of his favorite titles or series at the moment, but I can check with him and get back later, if anyone really wants suggestions.
By jim d
April 30, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this
I actually found AR an interesting concept. understand the kid was already reading at a fourth grade level by the end of 1st grade and at an 11th grade level entering grade 4.
I think in his case he found it boring/just busy work, when he was already reading many of the classics and at times reading as many as 4 novels at the same time.(scattered in various rooms of the house) I also don’t understand how the program helps reading other than to encourage reading.
By jim d
April 30, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this
HSTeach,
What worked for us.
Continue to encourage reading books that will strenthen his skills. Also note that we as a family got very involved in Scouting when he was age 6 and remain somewhat involved even today, years after he had earned Eagle and 3 palms. The activities in scouting afforded him many opportunities to actually take part in adventures he had only read about. Scouting activities also encouraged him to read about adventures he had already had when he came upon others expierences in those areas.
He remains an avid reader.
By jim d
April 30, 2008 2:55 PM | Link to this
oh and HSteach,
one other thing that worked well.
The standard answer to almost any question in our home was “I don’t know——-let’s look it up” and off to the book shelves we’d go together to find the answer.
By Reader
April 30, 2008 4:13 PM | Link to this
From a recent topic on where to put money:
**By Reader
April 25, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this
School libraries, without a doubt. They provide resources to ALL the programs within the school, to ALL the students.
I need to find the author of this paraphrased quote: You can measure how much a school values education by how much it values its library.**
We all know that reading is the foundation of education. Why do our schools spend so little on books? Why are we not all outraged? Find out what your district spends per pupil on books: I’m betting they don’t allot enough to buy one book per student per year (and then remember they have to pay for magazine subscriptions, software & support, etc., etc., out of the same pot). We say we value reading, but do we put our money where our mouths are?
By high school teacher
April 30, 2008 5:48 PM | Link to this
Thanks for the advice jimd. We have already discussed Scouts. I was a Girl Scout through high school myself. Our son has played baseball and soccer, but I think that Scouts is something that he might enjoy as well.
By jim d
April 30, 2008 6:04 PM | Link to this
AND THE WINNERS ARE
By jim d
April 30, 2008 6:15 PM | Link to this
HSteach,
Let me be brutally frank here,
the kid has always been smarter than me and the reason for going to the books was more to CMA, than to involve him in reading, since when he would ask a question he usually had a pretty good feel for the answer and would correct me if I answered wrong. :-)
By catlady
April 30, 2008 8:21 PM | Link to this
Lots of good stuff here today. I have seen the problem that Laura points out, however; the reading to learn vs learning to read. At our school (a Reading First! school), our kids spend k-3 with NO emphasis on reading comprehension. So—no shock—the majority of them have NO CLUE what they have “read” (decoded). Today I had a 3rd child tell me excitedly that he had DIBELed at 165 wmp! Hooray! But ask the child the simplest question about what he read, and he DOES NOT KNOW! Cannot even go back and FIND IT in the passage! They say the word and then it is gone for good (because they “read” it, rather than comprehending it). This kid will not pass the CRCT or any other measure of even semi-successful actual reading skill.
To some extent in third, but certainly in 4th, kids have to read for understanding. The majority of our kids have no idea what the text actually SAYS, but they can call those words like pros!
We’ve b******* AR to the point of meaninglessness.
Our new cure du jour is QAR. Anyone else doing that ad nauseum?
By 3rd grade teacher
April 30, 2008 11:29 PM | Link to this
The problem is these non-sense word calling tests. There are several. Do some small group reading with your students. Yes, I mean leveled groups. Groups of 3 struggling students and 5 at the most if they are on “grade level” or above work best. Discuss each page or paragraph with these students before you move on and focus on vocabulary. This takes additional reading teachers which takes more money but it does work if done daily.
By JustMe
May 1, 2008 7:43 AM | Link to this
The ability to read is taught in school. The enjoyment and practice of reading is taught at home.
An interesting thing I heard from a librarian friend…. She works in DeKalb County but paid Gwinnett County a fee for the ability to check out books from their schools. She said that for the same book, there was a wait list of about 10 people in DeKalb County, but the wait list in Gwinnett County was over 100 people. Was the book different? No. Is there that much of a difference in population between the Countys? No. Hmmmmm - what does that tell you about what’s going on at home in those Countys?
As an aside and on a more relavent and important topic (do you hear, Laura?) - DeKalb County is now saying that they will ‘allow’ the teachers to get the 2.5% increase in pay from the State, but will instead not allow the step increase due to the teachers for next year. I just don’t understand what DeKalb County is thinking! They want to screw the teachers yet give Principals a raise! There is an email circulating for teachers to have a call-in-sick day to protest. Again, I simply think that all teachers should join a realy union (not PAGE or NEA or MACE) like AFT. These games being played by the school system is hurting the teachers AND will hurt the students. What are they thinking?
By lovemy4kids
May 1, 2008 11:28 PM | Link to this
Our history lesson today included a man named Robert Raikes. If that name doesn't ring a bell, you are not alone. It was briefly noted that he was the founder of the Sunday School Movement in England during the mid- 1700's. Curious to know more, I did a quick internet search and found the information on him to be quite fascinating. Raikes had a heart to help the poor unschooled children of his day (most worked six days a week in the factories) and started one day a week "Sunday" schools to teach these children how to read and understand the Bible and help them to become productive, moral citizens. His successful school model was rapidly copied by many other churches and individuals; the rest is history. What struck me, was that he had hope for these children of the working poor, even thought they did not have a home life that would have supported their academic or moral pursuits; no Mom or Dad to read to them, much less buy them a book. Yet through these ONE DAY A WEEK schools, the "riffraff" of society was taught to not only read, but understand THE KING JAMES BIBLE! As a result, the children's lives were dramatically changed for the better. For more details on the life of this amazing gentleman, check outhttp://chi.gospelcom.net/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps034.shtml
By ma976zda
May 5, 2008 6:58 AM | Link to this
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