Some things I believe

Here, in no particular order are things I believe in relation to dyslexia and the subject of education in general:

1 out of 5 children has dyslexia to varying degrees (20% of the population).  I personally believe it could be an even higher number than this widely quoted one.

For the 2008-2009 school year Ohio (my state) had a high school dropout rate of almost 24%.  More than most states in the country. Strangely here again is a statistic that looks a lot like the 1 out of 5 people with dyslexia. 

Low income children are especially vulnerable to not being identified or re-mediated for dyslexia and therefore are more likely to drop out of high school and/or go through life with less literacy than they should have.

No Child Left Behind was based on false information by the state of Texas.  It was detrimental to teachers because it stripped them of the freedom to make decisions based on the children who were present in their classrooms.  The end result was a backsliding of education throughout the country.

Common Core is a well thought out concept that re-allows teachers to do their jobs.  I'm sure it has flaws but it reverses some of the worst aspects of No Child Left Behind.  I fully expect Common Core to be fought by varying politicians and whole states which I believe will, sadly, not allow it to have the full effect it should have. While I don't think it's reasonable for the federal government be too detailed in their overall governing of education (education should be a more state focused concern in my opinion) I think that the continuous fight for control by the Republican party is going to waste a lot of time, energy and money. 

32% of the inmates in the prison population have a learning difference.

Ohio has a major problem educating children with dyslexia because Reading Recovery (and LLI) are owned by The Ohio State University which refuses to acknowledge that these are not programs which work for dyslexic children.  Many dollars are spent promoting these methods to teachers around the state and there is very little support of any other programs in the public (or Catholic) schools. I saw firsthand how Reading Recovery did nothing for my own child when we read together nightly so I strongly believe this.

I believe there has been an increase in overall illiteracy in the past 20-30 years.  At this point I have very little to back this up but I expect that this will start to become more widely understood in the future.

A teacher who started in the 70's wrote that she saw textbooks increasingly watered down every 5 years.  I believe this.  I believe this is one of the places where capitalism gets in the way of education.

I personally believe one of the reasons a Catholic School education ends up being more academically sound is because the Catholic Church has historically taken on the burden of education without being too subjected to the influences of whatever is "hot" in educational politics at the moment.  Their "old school" methods may not be as much fun but the end result is that a Catholic School education is a solid education.  The flaw in Catholic education is that it cannot often meet special needs (and many schools don't even want to try).  Most Catholic schools do not understand dyslexia or have any idea about how to remediate it within their walls.   This is an area I believe the Catholic school needs to address since 1 out of 5 people (including their student population) has dyslexia. (By the way I'm not Catholic so I'm not personally promoting the Catholic school system, only observing it as a parent).

Although the district I live in has a very intense and active group of parents who whole heartedly support public schooling, I believe in a society such as ours where money speaks in too loud of a voice the districts with the most money and parents with influence will continue to be the more economically powerful districts with the "better" pubic schools. 

A few years ago a judge declared the whole system in my state to be unconstitutional and I do agree with that.  It all got swept under the carpet though and never was addressed to my knowledge. There is simply too much money in property values in "better" districts and to redesign the way tax money gets distributed on a statewide level (to make it fair in other words). This would upset the whole apple cart.  It is an interesting thing to think about though. What if, what if?