[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21845]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  HONORING A HOOSIER HERO: KATHY ALFKE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. DAVID M. McINTOSH

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 6, 2000

  Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate a very 
special Hoosier who has been chosen to receive the Patrick Groff 
Teacher of the Year Award. This national award will be presented by the 
National Right to Read Foundation, an organization devoted to 
increasing literacy in America through scientifically-based reading 
research. Only one award is given each year, and this year the award 
will go to Indiana's own Kathy Alfke.
  In addition to teaching reading skills to fourth and sixth graders at 
Riverside school in Indianapolis, Kathy teaches other teachers, 
parents, aides, tutors, and principals the Direct Approach Method, a 
reading instruction technique which brings amazing results. Since last 
February, she has taught teachers at 12 Indianapolis Public Schools and 
is currently instructing educators in at least 15 other schools. In her 
home town of New Palestine, she provided training for the reading 
tutors and the Director for Instruction at the town's newest school. In 
all, Kathy trained over 60 teachers this summer and has taken on more 
students this fall.
  Her efforts are making a difference. Having taught the Direct 
Approach to Reading and Spelling teachers at Switzerland County 
schools, they scored sixth in the state on the Indiana Statewide 
Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP). Kathy has contributed to her 
own school's dramatic progress leading to its removal from double 
probation status. Kathy received a National Literacy Award from the 
James Flannigan Foundation and UPS last year.
  Kathy's success as a teacher was built on the determination to go 
beyond the status quo for the sake of children. Kathy graduated from 
Indiana State University with a B.A. in Education and a reading 
endorsement in 1983. She completed her Masters Degree at Indiana 
University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) three years later. 
For many years, Kathy taught at Indianapolis Public Schools. After 
transferring to a school near her home, Kathy faced a situation which 
tested her resolve as a teacher. The teaching philosophy embraced by 
the administration rejected formal learning. Teachers were forbidden to 
have text books or skills charts in the classroom.
  Of this experience, Kathy says, ``The principal made sure you did 
what she said or you stood the chance of being on the `hit list.' I 
withstood this environment for three years until I started feeling 
oppressed. I was losing my creativity and did not want to come to 
school. I felt like I was dying inside. I knew I was a good teacher and 
that God put me on earth to fulfill that position, but was I to 
continue to be in a building where things were so stressful and were 
not allowed to teach isolated skills? I was supposed to be a reading 
specialist, but I didn't know how to teach phonics.''
  Deeply discouraged with a system which was leaving kids without the 
most basic skills, Kathy took one year off on to home school her own 
son. During this time, she met a woman named Mercedes Russow, a 79-
year-old lady who introduced her to a direct, systematic phonics 
approach to teaching reading called the ``Direct Approach Method''. 
This program was developed in the late 1950's by Mercedes' mother, the 
late Pauline Banks, a former Indianapolis Public School Teacher.
  Mrs. Russow gave Kathy the skills and the hope she needed to return 
to the classroom. Since then, her success as a reading teacher has 
drawn the attention of teachers and principals alike. She divides her 
time between teaching children and other teachers.
  Her workshops are full. Speaking of last year's fall seminar, Kathy 
states, ``The meeting room was packed with teachers from all over 
Indianapolis who attended the training sessions in May and June to 
brush up on their phonics and word attack skills. Private school 
teachers, recently graduated ``prospective'' teachers, tutors, parents, 
principals, and Indianapolis Public school teachers and assistants from 
schools 14, 21, 37, 42, 48, 68, 81, 93, and 103 learned how to 
supplement their existing curriculum with the simple yet effective 
techniques of Direct Approach Phonics.''
  Kathy's success is an inspiration. Rather than accept a system that 
left some children behind, she sought the skills that were needed for a 
successful reading program, and now she is passing these skills on to 
others. Sound reading instruction is needed in Indiana. Kathy herself 
points out, ``As far as education in general, in the schools where I 
go, I see wonderful, dedicated teachers who a lot of times are spinning 
their wheels trying to think, `What is it that I need to do to improve 
what we're already doing?' Probably the most consistent thing I hear 
from teachers is the lack of training. From their university training 
they don't feel adequately prepared to teach reading, I see good 
things, but a lot of frustration.''
  Sadly, many of our students across the country do not have mastery of 
this basic skill of reading. The 1998 National Assessment for 
Educational Progress (NAEP) has found that 69% of 4th grade students 
are reading below the proficient level and that 85% of minority 4th 
grade students, most of whom are in Title I programs, are reading below 
the proficient level. Many of these students will end up in special 
education.
  Studies indicate that at least half of the students being placed in 
Special Education programs have not been taught to read. The cost of 
Special Education--federal, state and local--is exceeding $60 billion 
each year. The cost to those who never learn to read adequately is much 
higher. The job prospects for functionally illiterate adults are slim. 
Opportunities for those who cannot read are few.
  Reading is fundamental. To ensure mastery of these skills, correct 
teaching methodology is essential. According to the National Institute 
of Child Health and Human Development the ability to read depends on 
one's understanding of the relationship between letters and the speech 
sounds they represent. Intensive instruction in phonics teaches this 
skill--the 26 letters used to symbolize about 44 speech sounds and the 
most common ways they may be spelled.
  The National Reading Panel's report on successful reading strategies 
which was released on April 13, 2000 echoes this point. After reviewing 
30 years of reading research, the reading panel found that the most 
effective reading programs include instruction in phonemic awareness, 
phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary.
  The research in support of intensive, systematic phonics is widely 
available yet teaching colleges often neglect to provide their students 
with the skills to teach this body of knowledge. Too often, teachers 
like Kathy graduate without the tools to successfully teach reading. 
These teachers are deeply devoted to children and want to teach the 
best they can, yet they lack essential teaching skills. Until teaching 
schools adopt successful reading instruction methods, the only place 
teachers can learn these is in workshops like the ones Kathy provides.
  This is but one of the reasons Kathy is an education hero. In 
addition to helping children learn to read, she is providing other 
teachers the means to become excellent teachers. She is fighting the 
fight against illiteracy and arming others to do the same. Because of 
teachers like Kathy, I am hopeful that the literacy deficit in our 
country will become a thing of the past. It is for this reason that I 
will be presenting Kathy with a Certificate of Special Congressional 
Recognition for her service to Indiana next week. Her commitment to 
children and literacy is outstanding.
  I would like to thank the National Right to Read Foundation for 
selecting this wonderful Hoosier to receive the Patrick Groff Teacher 
of the Year Award.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak about this very 
special woman. I am reminded of the words of Historian Henry Brooks 
Adams who once said, ``A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell 
where his influence stops.''




                          ____________________