In a recent article, Houston Chronicle Senior Columnist Lisa Falkenberg wrote about how some HISD early elementary school teachers have to sneak books into the hands of their students because the lesson plans they’re required to follow don’t leave time for reading actual books.
Falkenberg says some of these teachers, both current and former, are frustrated by HISD Superintendent Mike Miles’ New Education System, where the curriculum is designed to teach reading skills, but leaves little time for actually reading from books.
Falkenberg writes, “…Teachers say that with few exceptions, the only stories allowed in the early grades… are minced into dry text that teachers read from manuals,” and that “the few approved books focus on phonics.”
Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg in the Houston Matters studios.
Miles responded in an article of his own on LinkedIn, saying Falkenberg’s column “reveals a fundamental lack of expertise in curriculum, instruction, and the science of how students learn.”
In the video and audio above, Falkenberg talks about her article and we hear an excerpt from Miles’ response.
Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media
Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles.
This back-and-forth exchange came just a month after a new law took effect in Texas governing what books could be in public school libraries. Senate Bill 13 shifts oversight of such material from school librarians to parents and school boards by creating parent-led advisory councils and giving school boards the final authority over what is allowed into libraries and classrooms and what must be removed.
Such efforts to control what books kids can access in public schools are one of the many examples of how politicized public schools have become in recent years, and that is the subject of a new documentary called The Librarians, which is screening this week at the River Oaks Theatre.
In the audio and video above, Academy Award-nominated director Kim A. Snyder talks about the film and the role Texas plays in this issue.