Reading Education Policy —
Abstract of

The Use of Commercial Reading Materials in American Elementary Schools

Patrick Shannon

A model of reading programs in general is proposed to explain teachers' reliance on commercial materials during their reading instruction. The model is based on three tenets: (a) Reading programs attempt to actualize the principles of formal rationality; (b) participants in those programs reify reading instruction as the application of commercial materials; and (c) the combination of rationalization and reification leads to the alienation of teachers from their reading instruction. The usefulness of the model is tested quantitatively and qualitatively in one exemplary school district. Results suggest that the model is useful to explain teachers' reliance on commercial reading materials and imply that there is not an easy solution to the problem. (This article was published originally in Reading Research Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 1; Autumn 1983.)

Shannon, P. (2005). The Use of Commercial Reading Materials in American Elementary Schools. In P. Shannon, & J. Edmondson (Eds.), Reading Education Policy (pp. 298-324). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.