Natalie Wexler: America's Knowledge Gap

In this episode, Therese Markow and Natalie Wexler discuss the poor reading skills of American students, as evidenced by NAEP test results. Natalie highlights the ineffectiveness of current reading programs and the focus on skills over content. She also talks about the discrepancies between students of different backgrounds, and how The Matthew Effect appears in reading comprehension and general knowledge. She also encourages teachers and parents to introduce their children, as early as possible, to higher concepts and vocabulary as children can and do understand more than many give them credit for. Natalie also discusses the role of writing in enhancing reading comprehension and the need for systemic changes in education to improve literacy outcomes.

 

 Key Takeaways:

• When it comes to literacy and reading, the standards don’t specify content. Therefore, the tests are not grounded in consistent content.

• Most kids need to learn their phonics in order to become fluent readers. Making this a more automated skill will free up brain power for comprehension. 

• Vocabulary is more likely to stick if it is heard in context and on repeat.

• Read aloud to your kids. Kids can take in more sophisticated concepts and vocabulary through listening than reading. This goes through age 13. 

• More than average amounts of social studies in elementary school are correlated with higher than average reading scores later in school. 

 

"Kids who started with less of that academic knowledge and vocabulary, if they don't acquire it through school, they're going to fall farther and farther behind, because they're going to be limited to those simple texts. Even if there's some new vocabulary, new information in those texts, they're less likely to be able to retain it because they don't have anything for it to stick to." —  Natalie Wexler

 

Episode References: 

• The Knowledge Matters Campaign: https://knowledgematterscampaign.org/ 

 

Connect with Natalie Wexler:

Professional Bio: https://nataliewexler.com/about/ 

Website: https://nataliewexler.com/ 

Substack: https://nataliewexler.substack.com/   

Books:

• Beyond the Science of Reading: https://nataliewexler.com/beyond-the-science-of-reading/ 

• The Knowledge Gap: https://nataliewexler.com/the-knowledge-gap/ 

• The Writing Revolution: https://nataliewexler.com/the-writing-revolution/twr-2-0-cover-amazon/ 

 

 

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

 

  

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