The Beacon

The debate about the importance of data in education is nothing new. The answer is not necessarily more data, but rather better data.

With preliminary data on reading emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic suggesting further reading decline, it has never been timelier to harness the opportunity to rebuild and broaden a system of reading education for all children. 

Not being able to read proficiently can have a devastating impact on life. Entire futures, including job/financial security and confidence, rest on the ability to read and write.

Dr. Shawn Anthony Robinson is on a mission to change the narrative for students with dyslexia, particularly for African American boys. 

Including common dialect variants in whole-class lessons is one means to avoid shame associated with AAE and a powerful technique to further the classroom language development.

Families of Black children with dyslexia share a narrative of educators blaming them and their students for academic difficulties when seeking a diagnosis, with the added layer of language rooted in historical and systemic racism.

Mislabeling disabilities as differences allows schools to avoid the commitment they are required to make to teach their students appropriately.  

Magdalena Zavalía Miguens became a social entrepreneur to co-found Intelexia, a company that develops literacy programs for Spanish-speaking children. 

The full scope of the developmental and academic effects for the multitude of students the pandemic has touched is rooted in historical educational inequality.