The current official educational position about reading is that children need to be carefully kept to books that meet certain “readability†levels.The following comment from the Scholastic (Canada) site reflects the deplorable acceptance of an inexcusable situation:
Leveled reading removes the one size fits all approach to reading, giving each child the opportunity to develop essential skills at his own pace. With leveled reading, your child is usually placed in a group with other children who read at roughly the same level of ability. Rather than having the entire class read the same book (which some students might find too hard and some too easy), levelled reading allows teachers to use a more personalized and precise approach to monitor a child’s progress and help him learn to read.“—Deborah A. Wilburn
If these children are reading at such different levels, why are they being taught in the same classroom?
It makes no sense to warehouse children according to age without regard to reading ability.
Neither teachers nor students can be expected to do their best work in such a class.
A school that passes children along from grade to grade without having attained the same level of literacy as that of their classmates is not doing its job.
Reading is absolutely the most important academic skill your child can acquire. Classes in which children are reading at widely separated levels of ability should not be tolerated.
The best way to ensure that your children will learn to read to the top of their ability is to teach them at home before they go near the schoolroom.
The next best way is to monitor their progress at school and supplement the instruction and practice they receive there. You can also help by making your concerns known to teachers, school officials, and elected school board members.