Teach the Child, Not the Grade Level

In a conventional grade-level classroom, a third- or fourth-grader who cannot yet read is constantly confronted with evidence that he is “behind.” The books are too difficult. The assignments assume skills he does not have. Intervention may remove him from the classroom or visibly separate him from his peers. Even when everyone is kind, the child knows.

Recently, two older elementary students came to Blue Horizons Knowledge Academy as nonreaders. Their families had already tried public school. They had also tried more traditional private-school settings. But the same fundamental problem remained: the instruction was not coming down far enough to meet the children where they actually were.

By the time an older child has spent years struggling to read, there is often something else that needs rebuilding along with phonics skills: confidence.

At Blue Horizons, we do things differently.

We are a small, multilevel K–6 school, which means children are not confined to an instructional box simply because of the grade printed beside their names. A fourth-grader and a first-grader may sometimes need exactly the same phonics lesson. If they do, I teach them together.

I have watched something wonderful happen as a result.

My older struggling readers will sometimes ask to come to my table when I am working with the kindergarten children. Instead of feeling embarrassed, they relax. They discover that there are things they already know. They help the younger children. They answer questions. They experience success.

The story in their heads begins to change.

Instead of “I'm the fourth-grader who can't read,” it becomes “I know this. I can do this. I can even help someone else.”

That does not mean lowering expectations. It means lowering the entry point while keeping the destination high.

A child who needs to begin with short-vowel words should begin with short-vowel words, whether that child is five years old or ten. At the same time, an older struggling reader should not receive a kindergarten education simply because he has kindergarten-level decoding skills.

That is why all of our students still encounter rich literature, history, science, vocabulary, art, music, discussion, and ideas. A child who cannot independently read The Trumpet of the Swan can listen to it, follow the story across chapters, discuss the characters, learn new vocabulary, make predictions, laugh at E. B. White's humor, and think about sophisticated ideas.

A child's reading level does not have to determine the level of his education.

Blue Horizons is not a school specifically for children with disabilities, nor are we equipped to serve every child's needs. We are a small general-education private school with a peaceful, academically focused classroom, so students must be able to learn and participate without behaviors that significantly disrupt the learning of others.

But a child does not have to arrive at Blue Horizons performing “on grade level.”

I teach children where they are.

If there are gaps, we find them. If a child needs instruction typically associated with a younger grade, we provide it without shame. If a child is ready to move ahead, we do that too.

There is something incredibly freeing about removing the artificial idea that every eight-, nine-, or ten-year-old must be on exactly the same page simply because they share a birth year.

The needs of children are vast. A small school cannot solve every problem. But sometimes a struggling child doesn't need another program, another label, or another year of being handed work he cannot do.

Sometimes he needs a teacher willing to say:

“Okay. Here's where you actually are. That's where we'll begin.”

And then we begin.