Do you know the “five finger rule”?

As I promised in a blog post last month, today the Journal published my story on reading instruction. Since New Mexico’s current administration has a strong focus on reading, I took a look at just how reading is being taught in Albuquerque Public Schools. I touched on the “reading wars,” between phonics and context-based reading, which I sort of thought died in the ’80s but which apparently still have a place in our discourse.

Some things that didn’t make it into the story are tips for parents on how to help your child read. The one I thought was the most interesting (although I guess it’s fairly intuitive) is making sure your kids are reading at an appropriate level. If they really love reading an easy favorite, that’s well and good, but parents should push them to try a tougher book. On the flip side, parents shouldn’t press students to read books that are too hard, because kids may start to dislike reading and find it frustrating.

Jami Jacobson, who heads curriculum and instruction at APS, suggests the “five finger rule.” When selecting a book, have your kid read the first page, and put up a finger every time they encounter a word they can’t read. If you get to five fingers before the end of the first page, the book is too hard. But if you don’t put up any fingers, it may be too easy. Jacobson said one or two fingers is the right amount.

Unrelatedly, I know I promised to attend the APS parent engagement meeting last night and tell you what kinds of comments I heard from parents. I also advanced the meeting here. But I’m ashamed to say I missed the meeting, because of this. But I’m told that about 90 people from the community went, and it will be interesting to see what kind of procedures the district comes up with.