RB,

Way to go! :) I'll keep an eye out for sources.

One thing: I'm not at all sure standardized tests are not steeped neck-deep in culture; every one I ever took seemed that way to me, and I have taken quite a few. My trick for consistently scoring in the top percentile on standardized tests was completely culturally-based, even though quite simple: I always asked myself, "What would a middle-aged midwestern Ph.D. in educational testing think was the best answer?"

Did you ever see one of those alternative, urban-street-culture-oriented tests? The ones filled with street and gang slang and situations? I would not have been able to score well at all on those since they did not reflect my culture.

But even though I was not from the Midwest, etc., my culture was still close enough to that of the folks who make up the official standardized tests to make those tests manageable.

Of course it could be argued the above is a minor point and does not detract from message of your excellent post.

Keep up the good work, RB! :)

-- OneTahiti

of the internet-available book on cultural literacy. In the "Preface"
(link...) they note:
"The public also understands that these shared meanings are essential for communication inside our nation—or, to put the matter simply, they are essential for reading. We all know that reading is the most important academic skill, and that there is a big reading gap between haves and have-nots in our schools. We know that reading skill is a key not just to a child’s success in school but also, in the information age, to his or her chances in life. That is why the federal government and now most of the states have started to place an enormous emphasis on reading.
This is good news and bad news. It’s good news because becoming a good reader is so enormously important. It’s bad news because the people who make and carry out school policies have not been very sophisticated so far about what is needed, beyond sounding out words, to become a good reader. On the important matter of reading comprehension, their vision is vague and clouded. Talking about reading comprehension reminds me of Mark Twain’s comment on the weather: everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. Reading comprehension scores have not gone up significantly." [emphasis mine - RB]

These paragraphs are immensely important in understanding not just the need to read well, but the need for cultural literacy in both understanding what is read AND in being able to communicate with others who may be different. They continue:

" In the United States, reading with understanding is based on the kind of background knowledge identified in this book, and it is to be hoped that our schools will begin to do a better job of imparting this kind of knowledge to all children in a coherent and cumulative way. When they do, reading comprehension scores will go up. (Data to support this can be found at the Web site of the Core Knowledge Foundation, (link...) ). From the start, the premise of this dictionary was that true literacy — reading with comprehension — requires a lot more than sounding out the words on the page. Those who possess the needed, taken-for-granted knowledge can understand what they read, and those who lack that knowledge cannot. The haves learn ever more from what they read and hear; the have-nots fall further behind and lose the chance to become participating members of the wider community." [emphasis mine - RB]

MY GOD! This paragraph just about says it all, doesn't it? I'm impressed more with these people and this concept the more I read!

There's a lot of work to be done, educators!

Reckon, really, when we get down to it, we all need to take the responsibility to take up the mantle of "educator," don't we?

RB