As educators prepare for the upcoming school year, they may be tempted to figure out how to address the learning loss brought on by the pandemic. Understandably, they might look for simplified curriculum as a way to ease students back into learning.
This is the wrong focus, writes Paul Bambrick-Santoyo and Stephen Chiger in a Newsweek op-ed. Rather than avoiding the struggle, we should embrace the “productive struggle” and support our students as they challenge and stretch themselves.
“You might ask, what’s the harm of slowing things down? Quite a bit, it turns out.
When we fail to challenge all of our students, they begin to experience what literacy experts call the ‘Matthew Effect.’ Essentially, those who are already reading at grade level continue to grow, while those who aren’t lag further behind. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.”
Read the full op-ed here.