The 1950’s

1. The 1950’s A fear of declining education arose in the U.S. (i.e. not measuring up to other nations), due to political unrest and a rising sense of Nationalism. It was this fear that reformed the structure of literacy education in the schools. Programmed reading and statistical results became focus of literacy education. The“look-say” method (word repetition & memorization) that had been popular throughout the early to mid part of the decade was deemphasized and replaced by methods which, utilized a “back to basics” type of solution meant to alleviate the sub-standard reading levels of American children. Remedial courses in reading, spelling, and grammar were established as well. Early 1950’s: Look-Say method is still widely used in American classrooms. Phonics method is denounced. 1954:Cooperative Research Act is established which allows for “a research component for education. This act opens the door for new perspectives in literacy education. 1955: Rudolph Flesch publishes “Why Johnny Can’t Read” in which he asserts that students need to learn the individual sounds/letters of words or, phonics, in order to read effectively. 1957: “Sputnik” is launched and National awareness of poor literacy performance in U.S. increases. Research on how to get children to read most efficiently and effectively flourishes. 1958: Teaching machines, developed by B.F. Skinner, are introduced into the learning environment to provide “simple, convenient scanning methods for mass student self instruction” (Barlow and Gilpin p.360)

2. The 1960’s With the Civil Rights movement at its peak in the U.S., educational equality became the most prevalent goal of literacy education in the 1960’s. Theory on learning switched from factor-analytic to that of informational. Celebrating the individuality of the student, expanding the definition of literacy in the classroom, and using alternative more relaxed forms of assessment established new ways of thinking of about reading instruction. With new policy to support it, educational research grew significantly as did the number of social programs in and out of schools. Early 1960’s: Headstart program is established which leads to increased enrollment of elementary and secondary school students. Early to Mid 1960’s: Developmental reading programs are popular 1965:Elementary and Secondary Education act is established under the Johnson presidency with the goal of preventing poverty, supporting student achievement, and encouraging educational research. National Teacher Corps. is also formed to aid with this. “Regional laboratories for education offer great promise. They draw equally upon educators and the practitioners in all fields of learning--mathematicians, scientists, social scientists, linguists, musicians, artists, and writers. They help both to improve curricula and to train teachers.” (Johnson, 1965) 1967: Chall releases study which pushes for ….. 1969: Sesame Street debuts. Promotes and engages children to participate in skill-buillding learning outside of the classroom