Ep.22: The One About: NYC Continues to Use Teachers College Reading Curriculum Despite Push for Change

The Literacy View

Naomi Peña has spent years fighting the NYC school system to help her dyslexic children. Finally, she’s working with the Department of Education to launch the Literacy Academy Collective, a pilot program founded by parents to better serve students with dyslexia. She has a lot to say about a recent article written by Alex Zimmerman and Yoav Gonen, journalists for THE CITY and Chalkbeat. As stated in the article, “Officials have begun to address what they see as some of the curriculum’s biggest shortcomings…Data obtained by THE CITY and Chalkbeat
reveal for the first time how deeply enmeshed the Teachers College reading curriculum has become in classrooms serving the city’s youngest students — and how difficult it could be to unwind.” Peña talks to The Literacy View about her experiences and what she and other powerful parents are doing about it. Naomi Peña is a community and education activist. She is the VP of the District 1 Community Education Council and a co-collaborator on the first ever district-wide diversity admissions policy in NYC.
You can learn about the Literacy Academy Collective here:
https://www.literacyacademycollective.org/
Article: “Hundreds of NYC elementary schools used a Teachers College reading curriculum
Banks said ‘has not worked’”
https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2023/2/14/23598611/nyc-schools-reading-instruction-teachers-college-lucy-calkins-balanced-literacy-david-banks

Naomi's story can be heard in the podcast First Person
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-person/id1624946521?i=1000589383996

Additional Information:
Faith Borkowsky’s books:
Amazon.com: Faith Borkowsky: books, biography, latest update

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The Literacy View is an engaging and inclusive platform encouraging respectful discussion and debate about current issues in education.
Co-hosts Faith Borkowsky and Judy Boksner coach teachers, teach children to read, and hold master's degrees in education.
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