Education news tends to catch the eye of most people as well it should, especially in our state, what with Texas’ low national ranking in several educational categories.

Spelling is the latest topic to stir interest. Educators want to move away from the old-fashioned spelling memorization tests and more to an understanding of language structures. Some parents are up in arms about that trend because they remember the days of spelling bees and/or tests. Most students’ approach, then and now, has been to memorize the words’ spelling, attain a grade and move on.

Those who make their living as wordsmiths tend to lean toward the language structure approach. Over the years, there seems to be a dearth of college graduates who can spell and, in all too many cases, even put a sentence together. The two talents are inextricably intertwined whether or not your livelihood is writing. Communications skills are extremely important in any job or profession.

Noah Webster once wrote: “Spelling is the foundation of reading and the greatest ornament of writing.” Webster, not to be confused with politician and orator Daniel Webster, wrote “An American Dictionary of the English Language,” a book of 70,000 words that is the second largest selling English book behind the Bible. The Merriam family bought the rights to the book and it has since been published as the Merriam- Webster Dictionary.

Understanding language structures is not a new theory. It was applied in my classes for grammar and spelling in fourth, fifth and sixth grades in 1946-49. In the process, a wonderful teacher, Miss Autrey Smith, taught about word roots and meanings as well as how to use words in sentences. She required students to learn to diagram sentences so they understood what words were and how they should be used. An adjunct, a spelling bee, was just a test to see if one understood the structure and use of words, adding a little fun to learning.

Miss Autrey’s classes weren’t called “language structure” but they certainly resembled the theory’s definition as presented in articles on spelling today.

Some who have given negative reactions to the “language structure” method, cited their memories of spelling tests as being extremely important. Educators say the results over the years prove spelling tests necessitating memorization do not prove mastery beyond a single day.

One of the most respected educational organizations in Texas — the Neuhaus Education Center in Bellaire — supports the idea of students being “graded” or “tested” for spelling through writing assignments .

Suzanne Carreker, Neuhaus vice president of research and program development, submitted an op-ed page article to the Houston Chronicle that ran Jan. 7, outlining the center’s support of using language structures to teach spelling. Her article was in response to a Dec. 25, 2009, Chronicle piece by reporter Ericka Mellon. In Mellon’s report, she referred to several school districts in the area taking “new” directions on spelling and also interviewed some parents who objected to something other than spelling tests.

Carreker also referred to two articles on spelling and informed spelling instruction by the American Federation of Teachers (www.aft.org): “How Words Cast Their Spell” and “How Spelling Supports Reading.”

Mellon referred to the Texas Board of Education’s curriculum standards for language arts, adopted in 2008, which do not address spelling tests, but note that students should be able to “spell correctly in the context of writing.”

She quotes Sarah Crippen, Texas Education Agency director of language arts and reading: “Spelling is interwoven all the way through (the standards). We know the ability to learn to read and spell go hand in hand.”

Moving away from spelling memorization and more into understanding language structure fits with the crucial idea to education of teaching critical thinking skills.

If Texas is to continue to create jobs, it must have people with the proper education to fill those jobs and that means being able to communicate well and to think on their feet.

Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor publisher. He can be reached by email at wwebb@wildblue.net.