SAReads Round-Up
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the SAReads Round-up, highlighting some of the best articles on education and literacy over the past week. The articles we’ve curated cover the gamut from closing the achievement gap to whether or not brick-and-mortar bookstores are economically viable.
The Brookings Institute blog highlights efforts to close the “achievement gap” in King County (the Seattle area) and to double the number of South Seattle students pursuing a college degree or career credential by 2020. As you have probably already surmised, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is heavily invested in this one.
On a less positive note, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran an article detailing that San Antonio came in a dreadful 66th in the annual survey of literacy resources conducted by researchers at Central Connecticut State University.
We also serve up an op-ed by Mark Schneider in Education Next examining “The Accountability Plateau“. Mark focuses on the Texas experience, and theorizes on why Texas’ test scores increased initially but appear to be flat-lining. Although this article was written in December, we missed it the first time and you may have as well.
A scathing op-ed in the WSJ asks why preschoolers are only spending 2-3% of their time in “vigorous activity” (what we used to call play time). Author Lenore Skenazy postulates that our obsession with safety and early education are smothering the natural joys of childhood.
Finally, the NYTimes ran a fascinating piece on Barnes & Noble’s fight for survival entitled “The Bookstore’s Last Stand.” Will the company survive? After weathering the loss of Borders last year, the bibliophiles here at SAReads can only hope the answer to that last question is yes.
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