CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT BANS NOVELS IN CLASSROOM

I received the following correction to this post....Thanks......PEACE....Scott

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Correct link is:
http://andyhilbert.blogspot.com
/2007/09/novels-no-no.html

Fight on,
Jo Scott-Coe

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CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT BANS NOVELS IN CLASSROOM AS "BASED ON
LITERATURE" RATHER THAN "BASED ON STANDARDS"

JO SCOTT-COE, HORSE SENSE AND NONSENSE - Southern California's Riverside
Unified School District, which at the beginning of the 2002-03 academic
year instituted a "no novels" policy for lower level English classes
grades 7-12, has now upped the stakes. As of Fall 2007-08, even honors
courses are bound by the policy, demanding that teachers stick to the
letter of the Holt, Rhinehart & Winston textbook and curriculum planning
map and avoid primary sources of literature.

Now, as then, district officials deny in public that there is an
official ban, while telling teachers through meetings and memos about
the need for uniformity and consensus on the subject of "no novels" and
curriculum maps for classes. The dissonance is migraine inducing.

While there was some limited outcry and public discussion in 2002,
district officials had little trouble containing the opposition because
the most vocal cohort of students and parents were apparently exempt
from the ban.

At the heart of this, of course, lies concern about test scores.
Superintendent Susan Rainey currently reasons that novels are "based on
literature" rather than "based on the standards." Perfectly consistent
with the 2002 view.

The current shock of parents, Honors teachers, and students
unfortunately comes five years too late. Coverage in the local press,
along with indignant presentations to the school board, have as yet made
no mention of the history and precedent already in place. I'd like to
cheer for the protesters, but the disconnect remains a depressing
commentary on the amnesia fostered by disinformation in school
districts.

The current outcry also smacks, however unintentionally, of elitism: The
lower-level students may not need literature, but we at the top deserve
it.

Ironically, the most accelerated levels of students in RUSD tend to
purchase their own books anyway, and no one can stop them from
continuing to do that on their own. Even if the district does relent on
the ban for honors students, there will be no remedy for the majority of
kids whose main opportunity and motivation for getting access to books
remains through school resources. The ban for them was set five years
ago.

http://andyhilbert.blogspot.com/2007/09/novels-no-no.htmlm/

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