Orlando Sentinel, 8/4: Thousands will take intensive reading classes

[teach1st]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-a...home-headlines

Half the students in Florida's middle and high schools will be forced to take crash courses in reading this fall to overcome what officials call a crisis in learning.

More than 600,000 students statewide in sixth through 12th grades will have to spend up to a quarter of their day in special classes to catch up because they failed the reading section of the FCAT. In Central Florida, more than 126,000 middle- and high-school students could be in the state-required reading classes, including nearly 42,000 students in Orange County.

School districts have been scrambling all summer to set up the reading classes, which state education officials told them last spring would be required.

"I don't want to be here. I don't think anybody does," said Melissa Irizarry, a sophomore at Seminole High in Sanford, where classes got under way this week.

She is among 20 glum-faced 10th-graders in her class who say they can read and don't know why they must endure a daily double period -- 104 minutes -- reading books such as Kon-Tiki, a classic tale of exploration and adventure on the South Seas. Melissa wanted to take dance and interior-design classes, but those were bumped from her schedule to make room for reading.

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[lhagen]

I believe PCS will receive a similar reception from its high schoolers. Many will lose electives due to being scheduled for required intensive reading classes. Considering we could rarely get these kids to voluntarily take these classes, I can just imagine their reaction to being forced to take them.

Lucia