SAD 36 received a Maine Reading First grant of $609,000 (one of six statewide) intended to have all students at the Livermore Elementary School reading on grade level by the end of third grade.

The Maine DOE apparently identifies lack of money as why many students do not read well and why teachers haven’t been able to assess students’ reading abilities.

According to a Sun Journal article (May 29), “Teachers, administrators and support staff will receive training in scientifically based reading research practices.” It’s amazing that generations of students learned to read without benefit of these “research practices.”

There’s more: Following suggested Maine DOE guidelines, “Each teacher would receive a PalmPilot … for assessments …” Who assesses the value of PalmPilots?

Maine needs a serious discussion about what leads children to learn. Small class size? We have that. Architecturally unique schools? We build them even as the number of students decreases. Calculators on desk tops; small laptops in backpacks; or a PalmPilot in the hand of each teacher? Remember the much-touted “open school” of the ’70s? Each well-intended innovation seeks to improve education, but does it? Were these never assessed for lack of tools?

Could it be that parents who read to their children, limit TV and the Internet, and inculcate civil behavior would help students both to read and to learn? No public money required.

One worthwhile goal of these grants is better teacher preparation, but is this the best way to achieve it?

Judith Berg, Buckfield

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