Debbie McCarthy, the executive director of The Augustine Literacy Project, a nonprofit based in Chapel Hill, insists “any child can be taught to read.” Her program uses volunteer tutors extensively trained in a research-based, phonetic, multi-sensory approach modeled on the Orton Gillingham system. Augustine tutors offer free, long-term, one-on-one instruction to low-income struggling readers across the Triangle. Orton-Gillingham is also the methodology used in most private schools for reading instruction. There must be something in this special sauce; so many of our neighbors are paying dearly for it so their children can read.
Why not consider using it in our public schools? Wouldn’t it be great if no student had to leave their school building in order to learn how to read? Wouldn’t it be great if a high school diploma also meant you could read?
UNC is facing some painful facts about its recent history. In an effort to keep athletes eligible, they worked around deficits in the education of their students. These deficits existed long before they stepped foot on campus.
Rather than just examining the actions of UNC, maybe we have to look at what wasn’t done 10 years earlier.