The teachers where Theo and Sasha are in 4th and 2nd grades respectively use the reading reports as an incentive to get the kids to read more. Both teachers maintain, but do not make a big deal over, a wall chart showing the number and grade levels of the books the kids have read. It becomes a very mild competition among the kids, which I think is a good thing. I would not like it if this became a major part of a kid's day, though.
More concerning is the impact of the Federal legislation that gets right into every kid's school day and dictates that the teachers teach how to take standardized tests. The teachers hate it, but huge education dollars are up for grabs for those schools whose kids do the best on these tests. I deplore it, have written letters to Congresspeople and to the editor, but so long as (political rant omitted by the author).
