Maybe you could give me a few more details about your “functional illiterates.”
What sort of tasks can they typically do without a problem?
They’ve been in school 10 or 11 years when you get them. This is way after elementary school. What were the schools and teachers doing with them when they were in the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades?
When the kids reach you, do they know any phonics. Can they sound out words even if slowly?
Success for All, this is so typically wonderful in what it claims. But I’ve heard lots of bad things about it. Is it basically a sight word program?
You know, the idea that people can learn to read in groups is a fascinating one. Each brain has to do some work, or nothing is going to advance. Probably in practice it’s just another ruthless sophistry.
Any info is welcome.
At all levels we have high stakes testing, so if a teacher's students do poorly the teacher suffers. Therefore, teachers teach to the test and then pass them on to the next grade. They look at it as not their problem anymore. At my school failing is frowned upon. By that I mean the students aren't frowned upon for failing, but teachers who actually teach are frowned upon for assigning a failing grade to students who earn failing grades. Ironically, the worst teachers have the easiest schedules and few high stakes testing classes. They are rewarded for just passing students who may or may not have learned the prescribed curricula.
As for functional illiterates, the students will fumble through grade level literature and not know what they read. Additionally, they will mispronounce grade level words and not catch their mistakes. Finally, they will butcher a sentence badly and not even recognize that the sentence doesn't make sense. For example, a student would read, “I was the house across the street,” instead of, “I saw the house across the street,” and just keep going.