A Tale of 2 Schools

Both of the reading programs presented in "A Tale of 2 Schools" had positive and negative aspects. First, in Mississippi, Project Read gave students very structured program, but because it was so structured, it seemed as if the teachers were forced to stick to a script. The other program given to students in Texas, Reading Mastery, gave teachers a lot of freedom with their reading material, but the teachers lacked training in the program. Both programs focus on decoding as a skill needed to read. Although both programs has their strengths and weaknesses, I thought the Reading Mastery was a better program for the students that needed help with reading in this video. Reading Mastery was very demanding and scripted, but that is the type of program that lower class students need in order to excel. These students were far behind in their reading skills, so extreme measures needed to be taken. Although the Reading Master Program does not teach comprehension skills, I think it is important for students to learn basic reading skills before attempting to comprehend the text. I believe that the effectiveness of Reading Mastery is limited to lower class students. Students who live in affluent areas would probably not find success in the Reading Mastery program because their skills are more advanced. Schools in affluent areas have the privilege to  individualize their curriculum based on specific students' needs and that is the type of curriculum that their parents expect.