To the Editor:
I am not sure this letter will ever reach anyone who will care, but I am saddened by the publishing of Lucy Calkins’ opinion essay in the Nov. 23 Education Week issue (“Lucy Calkins Revisits and Revises Her Reading Curriculum”). I have been an avid supporter and reader, but I am disappointed that EdWeek promoted “the important truth about how to teach reading” by printing a piece by Calkins.
EdWeek is helping to tip the scales by allowing misinformation to continue. I think the paper has done a deep disservice to our children and our advocacy efforts to shift how reading is taught. This piece will be used as “evidence” that Calkins and colleagues’ Units of Study is effective or acceptable to keep in our classrooms.
I have lost a bit of respect for EdWeek, as it is supposed to follow evidence and find best practices for students. Again, I realize my words are a drop in the bucket, but I couldn’t just leave it. EdWeek should be ashamed to have allowed those words to be published.
Opinion or not, when a piece appears in print, it carries weight, and EdWeek just hurt all of the teachers in the struggle to improve our schools.
Elise Lovejoy
CEO & Founder
Express Readers
Pasadena, Calif.
