Resumo de Literacy As Snake Oil: Beyond The Quick Fix

Joanne Larson?s book Literacy as Snake Oil:
Beyond the Quick Fix is published by Peter Lang. Joanne
Larson holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los
Angeles, and is an Associate Professor and Chair of
Teaching, Curriculum and Change at the Margaret Warner
Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the
University of Rochester in New York. Although she has
written a dozen articles on subjects dealing with early
childhood, language arts and reading instruction, this is
her first text. She teaches courses in curriculum,
diversity, qualitative research methods, discourse analysis
and literacy learning in elementary schools.

Larson
has several writings in press, including a text titled,
Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy (with J. Marsh). She
has four articles in publication this year including
?Negotiating Race in Classroom Research: Tensions and
Possibilities,? in Green and Abt-Prekins text, Literacy
Research for Racial Understanding published by Teachers
College Press, ?Talk and Discourse in Formal Learning
Settings,? in Nigel Hall, Larson and Jackie Marsh?s Handbook
of Research in Early Childhood Literacy published by Sage
and Paul Chapman Publishing, and ?Tactical Underlife:
Understanding Students? Perspectives? in an upcoming volume
of the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.

The text
Literacy as Snake Oil: Beyond the Quick Fix is a book in the
New Literacies and Epistemologies Series that attempts to
trace the technological, political, social and economic
changes facing the education system since the 1950s. The
general editors of the series are Michele Knobel, Chris
Bigum, Colin Lankshear and Michael Peters. The title is
taken from the traveling medicine shows that traveled the
country before the Pure Food and Drug Act at the beginning
of the Nineteenth Century. The thesis is set from the title
that many of the so called ?cures? in literacy are nothing
but the quick fixes that were sold by the traveling medicine
shows that were banned with the modern concept of testing
drugs before they could be sold to the general public.

Each article is written by qualified scholars who
outline a specific type of literacy. Although the chapter
authors do not use terms such as ?snake oil.? Each author
examines a portion of federal and state education policy
relating to literacy. The conclusions determine that some of
the literacy policy has some value, but looking at the
policy in toto, there are many bottles of snake oil sold to
teachers, administrators and the general public.

The
bookis divided into eight chapters and opens with authors
Gee and Coles dissecting the National Research Council
report of 1998 and the 2000 report of the National Reading
Panel. They determine that the general recommendations fall
short of the mark in the areas that are suggested for the
causes of reading achievement and the type of reading
instruction that is outlined for use in public schools.
Another article is written by Gatto and explores the
effectiveness of commercial reading packages. She refuses to
use the programs in her award winning teaching and explains
the reasons why others should do the same. Gutierrez, Irvine
and Larson continue this theme with their article that
examines the role of race in teaching reading and language
arts. The policies of former education czar William Bennett
are examined in detail in an article by Shannon. The edited
work ends with an article by Brent outlining a cost
effective analysis of selecting literacy
programs.

Even though the book was published in 2002,
the impact of the article is somewhat dated, particularly
the Bennett review. With adoption of No Child Left Behind in
2001, much of the specific detail in the articles has been
modified under NCLB. The core federal philosophy regarding
literacy remains the same.

To appreciate the detailed
anaylsis of federal policy in relation to literacy, it would
help to review tthe following work: National Reading Panel
(2000). Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based
Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading
and Its Implications for Reading Instruction. National
Institutes of Health: Bethesda, Maryland. Available at
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.htm

The
National Research Council Report on Preventing Reading
Difficulties in Young Children pubished in 1998 is another
document that is dissected in the articles. Review the
details at:
http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/ReadDiff/index.html

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