Group Issues Standards on Speaking, Listening for Preschool to 3rd Grade

By David J. Hoff

Washington

Elementary schools and preschools need to foster children's conversational and listening skills as they teach them to read and write, a national group urges in a new set of standards.

"It's clear on the face of it that one must learn to speak and listen before one learns to read and write," said Marc S. Tucker, a co-director of New Standards, which released the guide here last week.

"Speaking and Listening for Preschool Through Third Grade," explains what schools should do to help students master oral language while teaching...