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An Urban Legend
THERE ARE a number of ways to define an urban legend. Here's one from the Urban Legends Research Centre: "An Urban Legend is usually a (good/captivating/titillating/engrossing/incredible/worrying) story that has had a wide audience, is circulated spontaneously, has been told in several forms, and which many have chosen to believe (whether actively or passively) despite the lack of actual evidence to substantiate the story."

I wish to add another urban legend to those that already exist, a legend that I believe ranks with the legend of the alligators living in the sewers of New York City. I will refer to it as the "Plummet Legend." It goes like this. After whole language was introduced in California in 1987, test scores "plummeted" to the point where California's fourth-graders were last in the country in 1992. It makes a good story, if we can judge by the number of times it has been repeated. But this sudden plummet never happened. It is an urban legend, a captivating and worrisome story that has been told in several forms and that many people have chosen to believe despite the lack of actual evidence.
The Plummet Legend has had serious consequences. It has led to the discrediting of the whole-language approach to literacy and has nurtured a strong movement promoting a "skill-building" approach. I will try to show here both that the evidence does not support this legend and that the legend is inconsistent with the results of studies of literacy development.

— Stephen Krashen
Whole Language and the Great Plummet of 1987-92: An Urban Legend from California
Phi Delta Kappan
June 2002
http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0206kra.htm

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