Leaving Johnny Behind:
Overcoming Barriers to Literacy and Reclaiming At-Risk Readers
Do Schools Really
Put Children First?
In 1955, a reading expert sounded an alarm:
Our methods for teaching reading were failing our children.
Since then, despite research that offers a cohesive message to guide early reading practice and a chance for all kids to read at grade level, America’s public schools have failed to take full advantage of the information offered to them. No one suffers more from that failure than the poor and disenfranchised families of our inner cities.
Readers of Leaving Johnny Behind will discover:
- We can teach every kid to read at grade level.
- Whole Language and Systematic Phonics can peacefully coexist.
- We can support, rather than undermine, teacher efforts.
Leaving Johnny Behind can inform teachers about whether critical information may have been omitted from their training. And parents will be able to determine if their child’s reading program has been proven effective through scientific evidence, and, if it is not, what they can do about it.
Proceeds from the sale of Leaving Johnny Behind will be donated to inner city school libraries.
Leaving Johnny Behind is a gift to anyone who desires to understand why so many of our most vulnerable citizens—our children—struggle to learn to read, and why we, as a country, have let them down.
—Dr. G. Reid Lyon, former branch chief, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Health, Child Development and Behavior Branch
Mr. Pedriana has written an important book. Refusing to become embroiled in dichotomous debates, he takes the novel approach of drawing extensively from the best evidence available. The result is a magnificent book that advocates for teachers, good research, and—most of all—student learning. I highly recommend this book for anyone concerned about why we in America don’t do a better job educating our children, and what we can do to improve.
—Dr. Janie Hatton, former high school principal, National Principal of the Year and Deputy Superintendent of Schools
In Leaving Johnny Behind, Mr. Pedriana confronts the issue of how low literacy and academic failure create pathways to violent crime. It is a compelling narrative of a fictional Johnny, but a realistic portrayal nonetheless. This book should be on every teacher’s reading list.
—Dr. Cecile Guin, Director, Office of Social Service Research and Development, Louisiana State University
Welcome
Greetings, and welcome visitors to leavingjohnnybehind.com
My name is Tony Pedriana. For over thirty years I worked as a teacher and administrator in a large urban school district. As such, my primary responsibility was to make proficient readers of all the students who passed through our doors.
In attempting to identify the best way to meet that goal, I discovered a fundamental disconnect between what the research recommended, and what normally happened in classrooms. When it came to meeting the needs of at-risk children, mixed messages seemed to abound.
I decided to conduct my own exploration into the matter in the hope of discovering a coherent message about which all reading practitioners might unite.
Leaving Johnny Behind: Overcoming Barriers to Literacy and Reclaiming At-Risk Readers is the product of that journey.
I look forward to collaborating with visitors to this site and maintaining an open dialogue about how we might best serve the literacy needs of all of our children.
Quotes
"... this is a search for truth, with the most amazing truth being the fact that I somehow had to search for it. I am at once outraged to have learned that those whose role it was to call it to my attention failed to do so, and embarrassed to have to admit that I was not smart enough to find it on my own. It’s like an experienced physician asking, “You mean you can immunize a kid by actually giving him the disease?" P. 2-3
If I were truly looking to advance the cause of children’s literacy, then I would be well- advised to find areas upon which all could agree, as opposed to ripping the scabs off old wounds. P. 3
On the reading wars
The whole debate is essentially a fraud. And the notion that we must draw lines in the sand over these issues while children fail to master essential literacy skills is a betrayal of our high-minded expressions of children first. P. 8
In reading education, protecting one’s professional turf seems to have eclipsed the ultimate purpose of making everyone a reader.
On the need to revise our notions of child centrism
School should be an enjoyable experience. But is that to suggest that children should never have to struggle, never be required to show resolve and perseverance when the solutions to problems don’t just fall into their laps?
A child-centric curriculum builds esteem based on performance rather than pretense. To be child-centric, therefore, is to be honest and straightforward so we do not give children the notion that they are doing well when, in fact, they are not.
The idea that learning should be motivated solely by interest and enthusiasm not only ignores the role of work, but also skews the focus of education. P. 221
If we wish to honor children’s lifelong needs, we need to let them know that when it comes to achieving at high levels, the operational words are practice, practice, practice.
Shielding our kids from a little hard work for fear that they will somehow come to despise reading is an expression of disrespect to students and teachers alike.
On Developmental Appropriateness
If one wants to observe developmental appropriateness in its purest form, all one would need to do is visit third grade classrooms where children are incapable of decoding even simple words.
On the fact that educational research does not drive educational practice
It is hard to fathom that those who sign off on teacher certification would choose to ignore the science that undergirds their profession.
